, which entered 15 points ahead of Calgary for the most in the league. The Lightning were 16 points clear of Boston, the Eastern Conference's next-best team, beginning Tuesday. Louis Domingue made 28 saves in place of Andrei Vasilevskiy, who rested after making 39 stops in the Lightning's 5-1 win at Columbus on Monday night. Domingue improved to 19-4. Oskar Lindblom and Travis Konecny scored for Philadelphia, which lost for just the third time in the last 15 contests. The Lightning scored three goals in the opening 10:23 to chase rookie Carter Hart. The 20-year-old Hart, who was starting his third game in four days, was lifted after allowing three goals on nine shots. He had won 10 of 11 games. Sergachev started the Lightning scoring 2:22 into the first when his wrist shot from long range went off defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere's left skate and through Hart's legs. Killorn netted his 13th of the season 2:51 later on a rebound after Adam Erne's deflection of Anthony Cirelli's shot went off the post. Miller scored unassisted with 9:37 left in the period, beating Hart on the glove side on a 2-on-1. Brian Elliott, in his first game since Nov. 15 due to a lower body injury, replaced Hart. Lindblom notched his third goal in two games, pulling the Flyers within 3-1 when he redirected Sean Couturier's pass past Domingue 1:03 into the third. Tampa Bay got that one back by recording a power-play goal for the sixth straight contest when Gourde's slap shot from a sharp angle sneaked past Elliott, who was without a stick, with 12:18 remaining. Konecny made it a two-goal game again when he finished a cross-ice pass with a wrist shot from a sharp angle with 9:09 left. Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos extended his point streak to seven straight games with an assist, but Nikita Kucherov went without a point to snap his five-game multipoint streak. Kucherov, who had 18 points in the five games entering Tuesday, entered with an NHL-leading 99 points. Notes: Tampa Bay D Victor Hedman (lower body) didn't play after being injured in the first period Monday. ... Lightning C Brayden Point also sat out due to disciplinary reasons after missing a team meeting. ... The Lightning swept the season series 3-0. Tampa Bay took the first two games, both by 6-5 in overtime, on Nov. 17 and Dec. 27. ... With two assists on Tuesday, Couturier now has 27 points (9 goals, 18 assists) in his last 19 games. UP NEXTTampa Bay: Host Buffalo Thursday. Philadelphia: At Montreal Thursday.---More NHL: https://apenws.com/NHL and https://twitter.com/-Sports)
Time: 7:00 PM EST Venue: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, Pa., 19148 / The Philadelphia Flyers will look to continue their recent surge when they host the league-leading Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday. The Flyers improved to 12-1-1 in their past 14 games when they earned a 3-1 road win over the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday. One night earlier, the Flyers blew a 5-1 lead but still beat the visiting Red Wings 6-5 in overtime. Philadelphia rookie goaltender Carter Hart, the league's Rookie of the Month in January, topped Detroit twice to bump his record to 13-6-1. Hart recently won eight in a row, which tied a league record for goaltenders under the age of 21. Hart, 20, has won 10 of his past 11 games." I'm not trying to get too far ahead of myself or live in the past," Hart said. "I just want to worry about every challenge that I'm presented with." Oskar Lindblom scored twice Sunday and Ivan Provorov added a goal for the Flyers, who are within six points of the final Eastern Conference wild-card playoff position. It was the first career two-goal performance of Lindblom's career. On Saturday, Flyers captain Claude Giroux was taken down on a questionable hit by Detroit's Anthony Mantha. In the first minute of the Sunday rematch, Philadelphia's Wayne Simmonds sought out Mantha for a fight. It helped catapult the Flyers to yet another victory." I just had to finish it off really quick and get back to playing hockey," Simmonds said. "You just want to make a stand that we're not going to get bullied. If teams are going to try that, we're going to step up and defend one another." The Lightning continued to prove their mettle as the NHL's best with a 5-1 road victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday night. Tampa Bay won its sixth straight game, having produced at least five goals in five of those contests. Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy was on the verge of his third consecutive shutout before the Blue Jackets' Lukas Sedlak scored with 1:45 remaining. Vasilevskiy finished with 39 saves. Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov, who leads the league with 99 points, recorded his second five-point game of the season. He collected his 28th and 29th goals of the season to go along with three assists. Kucherov has seven goals and 11 assists in his past five games." He's a special player," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said postgame Monday. "The night when you are not your best, the team is not at its best, a big-time player came to play and our goaltender held us in. We felt pretty fortunate to come away with two points tonight." Brayden Point contributed two goals and an assist, yet he wound up raving about Kucherov." Every time he's on the ice, he makes something happen," Point said. Steven Stamkos scored a goal to extend his point streak to five games (five goals, five assists). Tampa Bay, which has a league-high 21 road wins, is 8-0-2 over its past 10 games. The road trip continues with the second leg of a back-to-back set in Philadelphia. Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman left after the first period Monday with a lower-body injury and didn't return. His status for the Tuesday game was unclear." I don't think it will be too serious," Cooper said midgame on NBCSN regarding the extent of Hedman's injury.--Field Level Media
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