TAMPA, Fla. _ If they could just avoid the bad teams, the Flyers might just be all right after all.
Over the last four games, it sure seems that way. Last week, they followed a mind-numbingly listless loss to Buffalo the very next night with a spirited shootout loss in Columbus. On Friday, just 24 hours after losing a similar clunker to the Panthers in South Florida, they handed the NHL's best team only its third home regulation loss of the season, breaking Tampa Bay's eight-game home winning streak with their 5-3 victory.
They did so by exploiting the Lightning's Achilles' heel. Tampa Bay is now 1-5 in the second game of back-to-backs, and its penalty kill ranks just 24th overall in the NHL. The Flyers converted on consecutive second-period power plays to flip a 1-0 disadvantage into a 2-1 lead and then got that unlikely insurance goal from Brandon Manning early in the third period to create a 4-2 cushion.
As is their habit, the Flyers fell behind early. Jake Voracek was sent off for a dubious trip in one of those familiar puck battles along the boards. The Lightning, with the NHL's top power play, needed 19 seconds to grab a lead, Steven Stamkos one-timing a quick cross-ice pass from Nikita Kucherov into the open side of the net for a 1-0 lead.
For Stamkos, it was his league-leading 23rd point and 11th power-play goal. He has at least one power-play point in 21 of the 37 games he has played in.
Then, Valtteri Filppula was sent off for lazy hook up near his own blueline. The Flyers killed that one but only after Yanni Gourde's slapshot through traffic knocked goalie Brian Elliott's mask from his head.
As he had the night before, Elliott limited the early damage, later making a spectacular left-to-right save on Victor Hedman after a similar cross-ice feed to the one that produced Stamkos' goal.
After mustering little in two previous power-play opportunities, the Flyers tied the game at 6 minutes, 55 seconds of the second period via a nifty backhanded pass through the crease that Wayne Simmonds banged past Tampa goaltender Peter Budaj. The backup to Vezina candidate Andrei Vasillevskiy was playing in just his seventh game this season. After being helped off the ice following a third-period collision with Laughton, he is not likely to be playing in his eighth for a while.
The Flyers capitalized again after Kucherov was sent to the box for a slash of Ivan Provorov. This time it was Simmonds with the pretty pass, collecting the rebound of Claude Giroux's shot and sliding it across the crease to Shayne Gostisbehere, who banged it in for a 2-1 lead at 10:03 of the second.
Brayden Point tied it again at 15:37 after the Lightning pounced on an uncharacteristic turnover by Provorov. But Couturier's 18th goal of the season, collecting a loose puck after a spectacular save by Budaj on Claude Giroux, allowed the Flyers to enter the third period with a 3-2 lead.
It was only the eighth time all season the Lightning trailed after two periods. The Flyers are 12-0-3 when leading after two periods.
