Tampa Bay Halts Flyers Winning Streak

The Philadelphia Flyers were defeated tonight by the Tampa Bay Lightning, 5-1.

Leighton reacts to another goal against

Special teams play was the story again as it has been several times for the Flyers this season. Philadelphia went 0-6 on their man advantage while Tampa Bay went 2-5 (and also added a goal 2 seconds after one of their PowerPlays expired).

The Lightning set the tone in the 1st period, despite the Flyers scoring the opening goal.

Sean Couturier got the Flyers on the board 59 seconds into the game on a bad angle shot from the corner boards. The Flyers had all the momentum and then were given an opportunity to expand their lead when Lightning forward BJ Crombeen was called for an unprecedented triple minor (6 minutes of penalties), which led to a 4 minute PowerPlay (Wayne Simmonds was also called for 2 minutes during the play).

But instead of increasing their lead on the lengthy PowerPlay, it was Tampa Bay who gained all the momentum with a great kill.

That was the early turning point in the game. The Lightning stole the momentum and ultimately went on to score 5 unanswered goals including 3 in the final 6 minutes of the period.

Stamkos adds to TB's lead

When it became Tampa Bay's turn on the PowerPlay, they took full advantage. The Flyers got into penalty trouble, taking 3 penalties in 5 minutes towards the end of the period. And as bad as the Flyers PowerPlay was, their penalty kill was worse. The Lightning scored on 2 of those 3 penalties.

Teddy Purcell got the first goal, while Vincent Lecavalier scored the second PowerPlay goal, both of which came on one-timers (Purcell from the left side, Lecavalier from the right).

Eric Brewer beat Flyers goaltender Michael Leighton, who was playing so Ilya Bryzgalov could rest (he played 5 games in 8 days), from the point. Brewers goal plus the 2 PowerPlay goals gave Tampa Bay a 3-1 lead after 1.

Philadelphia had very little fight in them as they generated very few chances throughout the rest of the game. Even their PowerPlay, which they had 6, couldn't generate any momentum at all.

Tampa Bay tacked on 2 more goals in the 3rd period: the first from Victor Hedman on a 3 on 2 and the second from Steven Stamkos, seconds after another Flyers penalty had just expired.

The 5-1 loss today snapped the Flyers first winning streak and they fall to 2-4 on the season.

Game Notes:

• The Flyers sent Scott Laughton back to his junior OHL team after his 5 game tryout. GM Paul Holmgren thinks it's better for his development to be playing more often with his junior team rather than just 10 minutes per game in the NHL on the 4th line.
• Claude Giroux didn't have any points, shots, or hits and was a -1 in 22:55 minutes.
• Michael Leighton started in goal for the first time this season. Leighton made 21 saves on 26 shots.
• Wayne Simmonds played frustrated all night taking 14 penalty minutes, including a 10 minute misconduct and an unsportsmanlike conduct.

Highlights:
To view highlights: CLICK HERE

Drop the Puck:
The Flyers will continue their road trip on Tuesday when they face the NY Rangers for the second time this season.