The first time the Flyers faced the Lightning this season, the big storyline was the return of Simon Gagne to Philadelphia. Though it was just four games into his tenure with the Lightning, there was much fanfare, and, as expected, a very warm reception for Gagne by a packed house at the Wells Fargo Center.
The Gagne trade was an emotional one for Flyers fans, as he was a very good player here for a decade, and he didn't want to leave. At all. However, some fans disliked the move for practical purposes as well. Could the Flyers survive the loss of a scoring winger with only the addition of Nikolay Zherdev?
For anyone even remotely following the Flyers this season, the answer at least lately is yes, and then some.
Despite being a healthy scratch for a few games and averaging only 13 minutes on ice per contest, Zherdev has tallied five goals, putting him on pace for 20 or more this season. But he's only a small part of the answer to the question of whether the Flyers could make up for the lack of Gagne's production. The bigger story is that Claude Giroux has emerged as a focal point of the Flyers' offense, which is currently fourth in the NHL in goals per game. There's been plenty of goal-scoring from Danny Briere, Jeff Carter, Mike Richards, and Scott Hartnell, and Ville Leino's club-best 12 assists have been a huge factor as well.
And, unfortunately, there has been no Gagne to miss this season. He's played in only six games for the Lightning, and he's been out of the lineup since October 21st with a neck injury. No one is taking any comfort in that aspect of how the Gagne trade hasn't come back to hurt the Flyers; we'd be more than happy to have him on the ice and productive in Tampa on any night he isn't playing the Flyers, and plenty satisfied that our own guys have stepped up to fill the scoring void.
The Flyers lost that first meeting with the Lightning, part of their sluggish start to the season. But they've been a steamroller since that stretch, losing just once in regulation. That loss obviously came in their most recent action, so tonight needs to be a response game to prevent any kind of slide. Judging by their words after the shutout in Montreal, they're plenty pissed off and ready to get back on track.
Tampa Bay meanwhile has had a dreadful November, winning only two of their eight games, including last night's 4-2 defeat of the Islanders. They're leaking goals, and the Flyers are due for some after getting blanked by Carey Price. Despite the loss, Peter Laviolette will keep riding Sergei Bobrovsky in net. No argument here, although we'd have no argument with a night off sometime soon either.
Photo by Getty
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