That game on Saturday sure wasn't any fun, was it? The Tampa Bay Lightning waxed the Philadelphia Flyers 7-2, and there weren't really any positives to take from it. Sure, Garnet Hathaway got his first point of the season (a goal!), and Owen Tippett scored on the power play (his first since the 2023-24 season!), but Sam Ersson's -4.55 goals saved above expected sunk any hope of getting a point in the standings. Brutal.
Are you ready to do it again? Because they're playing each other again.
The Flyers haven't played the same team back-to-back at their home arena since the shortened 2020-21 Covid season, but the schedule makers decided to give them the Lightning twice in a row. With a win tonight, Tampa will extend its win streak to double digits with its tenth in a row. Here's hoping the Flyers can rebound and keep that from happening.
Three Storylines
Battling through injuries
Bobby Brink, Jamie Drysdale, and Travis Konecny all sat out Saturday's game against Tampa. Drysdale is definitely out tonight, as he isn't eligible to come off IR until Wednesday against the Buffalo Sabres, and Brink has been ruled out for tonight, too. Complicating matters are the less clear injuries to Konecny and now Carl Grundstrom.
Per Tocc, Brink is still not ready to play tonight. There are a couple unclear players: Konecny and Grundstrom. Those will be decided later today. Konecny is cleared from the UBI, yesterday's LBI is the nebulous part.
— Bill Meltzer (@billmeltzer) January 12, 2026
If they're not available, the Flyers' depth risks being exposed much like it was on Saturday, and the rest of the team's really going to need to step up.
The goaltending
It should come as no surprise that Dan Vladar is getting the start tonight after Ersson's disastrous showing over the weekend. The difference between the two cannot be more stark: Ersson's rocking a .858 SV% for the season, while Vladar's sitting pretty with a .910 SV%. The Lightning may be a fierce opponent, but starting Vladar absolutely gives the Flyers a fighting chance.
There is risk here, though: Vladar's on pace to crush his previous career high in games played of 30 last season--he's at 26 going into tonight. If Vladar wears down or starts to slide, this team's playoff positioning becomes far more precarious--and Ersson isn't cutting it as a backup.
Zegras playing with Michkov
At times during Saturday's defeat, Rick Tocchet ran a line that comprised Trevor Zegras, Matvei Michkov, and Christian Dvorak, something he's been wary to do all season--Michkov and Zegras even got some power play time together. With the lineup so depleted elsewhere, it's interesting to see Tocchet top-loading the upper half of the lineup, instead of spreading his highest-ceiling players around.
However, that does mean more potential offensive wizardry from the team's two most skilled players in Michkov and Zegras, at the expense of some defense. Following a game, the Flyers were outscored 7-2, this seems like a risk worth taking.