Lightning face Flyers in key matchup for both teams

The Philadelphia Flyers will look to snap a two-game losing streak when they host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday.

After a tough 2-1 loss to the New York Rangers on Saturday, the Flyers fell 7-6 in a wild road game against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday.

Travis Konecny missed both games with an upper-body injury and key defenseman Jamie Drysdale left midway through the second period of Sunday's game with an apparent shoulder injury. The status of both players is unclear for Tuesday.

"They played free, they played hard," said Philadelphia coach John Tortorella, whose team sits in third place in the Metropolitan Division. "To come back like that as many times as we did, we weren't playing safe. We were playing. I give our team a lot of credit for their resiliency to keep on coming back."

Tyson Foerster and Scott Laughton each recorded two goals and one assist. Travis Sanheim also had one goal and one assist. One of Laughton's goals was short-handed, the team's league-leading 14th of the season.

In the end, six goals weren't enough.

"It's a tough one," Sanheim said. "Score six, you hope you win most nights. We shot ourselves in the foot too many times. They're a good team. They capitalized on their chances and made us pay."

Laughton has registered 10 points -- four goals, six assists -- during a seven-game points streak.

"You're chasing it. You're trying to get back," Laughton said. "We were close. Played until the last minute there, but it's not good enough at this time of year. Guys know it. We have to be better."

The Lightning will arrive in Philadelphia with two straight wins and enter Tuesday holding the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

Tampa Bay defeated the New York Islanders 4-2 on Saturday, then ousted the New Jersey Devils 4-1 on Sunday.

The Lightning were anchored by Nikita Kucherov, who scored a goal and added three assists Sunday. In the process, Kucherov became the first NHL player to reach the 100-point milestone this season.

Kucherov needed only 59 games to set the club record for fastest to 100 (he reached 102). In 2018-19, he achieved the feat in 62 games.

"He's a special, special player and it was never more evident than tonight," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said after Sunday's win. "It was fun to watch. You don't win in this league without being a team. One guy can't do it himself, but you do need a leader out there, and (Kucherov) leads in the locker room, but he really leads on the ice, and when your top guys are playing the right way, everybody follows suit.

"It's no surprise he's where he's at right now."

These two victories came at a crucial time in the season following three consecutive losses.

"We all understand where we're at. It's crunch time," said Brandon Hagel, who had one goal and two assists. "We need to play that way every single night if we want to get to where we want to get to, and that's the Stanley Cup playoffs."

While Kucherov played a stellar all-around game, Hagel's performance also stood out. Riding a 13-game points streak, Hagel has nine goals and 11 assists in that span.

"If you had to pick an MVP on our team, ‘Kuch' would be leading the way, but I would be hard-pressed to say, especially after coming back from the All-Star break, that (Hagel) isn't right there with him," Cooper said.