Steven Stamkos

Since their last meeting, the Lightning not only claimed the 2020 Stanley Cup, but followed it up with another title in 2021. The two-time defending Stanley Cup champions are in town and the circumstances remain the same. The Flyers are in for another early season test.

The Tampa Bay Lightning built the foundation of their championship team through the draft and had to experience a lot of failure before reaching the top. The Flyers may be in the early stages of following the same blueprint.

With goals from Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point and Ondrej Palat, the Lightning scored two goals in the first and three in the second to cruise to a 5-2 win over the Dallas Stars in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday night, taking a 2-1 series lead in the process.

For Saturday’s Round Robin finale against the Tampa Bay Lightning, a battle that will be for the top seed in the Eastern Conference, both teams will be missing a key part of their offense. Jake Voracek will not be available for the Flyers. Steven Stamkos will be out for the Lightning.

The Flyers final game of a three-game road trip comes against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Much like the first meeting against the Lightning, Tampa enters as the hottest team in the league, currently on a nine-game winning streak, just as they were when they paid a visit to Philadelphia on Jan. 11.

The Flyers next opponent was one of the bigger disappointments in the NHL a month ago, but since then, the Tampa Bay Lightning have risen to second place in the Atlantic Division and sixth in the league in points, due in large part to a current nine-game winning streak that they will bring to Philadelphia on Saturday night.