The Lightning’s final round-robin game, a 4-1 loss to the Flyers on Saturday night, did not come without a cost.
Tampa Bay started the contest without defenseman Jan Rutta — who missed Friday’s practice after blocking a shot against the Bruins on Wednesday — and lost Victor Hedman after the Norris Trophy finalist seemed to hurt his right ankle in the first period. He left the game and didn’t return.
With the loss, the Lightning settled for the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. They will meet the winner of Sunday’s qualifier elimination game between the Maple Leafs and Blue Jackets in the first round, which starts Tuesday.
“I thought there was some pretty big positives in our game, so you can take that, but, you know, I still think we need to kind of play a full 60 (minutes),” said right wing Tyler Johnson, who scored the Lightning’s goal. “You know, I think we knocked some rust off and played some really good teams, got a couple wins there, and then obviously the last night. But, you know, I think we’re excited for the challenge.”
The Flyers got on the board first, as Nicolas Aube-Kubel scored twice in the first 14 minutes.
Johnson finally put Tampa Bay on the board early in the second period with a power-play goal, sneaking the puck past Philadelphia’s Carter Hart.
Brayden Point passed the puck along the boards to Alex Killorn, who was standing just behind the left goal post. Killorn passed in front of the crease as Johnson crept down the slot.
The goal was Johnson’s second of the postseason. He passed Steven Stamkos and moved into third place among the Lightning’s all-time playoff scoring leaders with 54 points.
The Flyers restored their two-goal lead before the end of the second period on a goal from Joel Farabee, who was left alone in front of Andrei Vasilevskiy and one-timed a shot from the right faceoff circle.
Philadelphia capped off the night with an empty-net goal with less than 1:30 remaining in the game.
Stamkos didn’t play in the game, sidelined by a leg injury suffered in voluntary workouts before training camp last month. He missed all three round-robin games for playoff seeding and is uncertain for the playoffs’ start.
Contact Mari Faiello at mfaiello@tampabay.com. Follow @faiello_mari.
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Lightning lose to Flyers, settle for No. 2 seed - Tampa Bay Times
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