Flyers Game

Flyers Game 43: Lines, Notes, & How to Watch vs. Lightning

Published

2 weeks ago

January 10, 2026

The Philadelphia Flyers (22-12-8) play their first of two back-to-back games against the Tampa Bay Lightning (26-13-3) at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. EST.

Tampa Bay is one of the hottest teams in the league, winning eight straight games. The Lightning are on an unbelievable run, winning four of their last eight on the road. It will be quite the test for the Flyers on Saturday.

The Flyers enter Saturday’s game after a 2-1 overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday, losing a game that they controlled for most of. Philadelphia is 2-2-1 in its last five games.

Puck drop at Xfinity Mobile Arena is at 7:00 p.m. EST. Here is how the Flyers are expected to line up.

Flyers lines & pairs vs. Lightning

Forwards

Matvei Michkov–Christian Dvorak–Trevor Zegras
Denver Barkey–Sean Couturier–Owen Tippett
Carl Grundstrom–Noah Cates–Nikita Grebenkin
Nick Deslauriers–Rodrigo Abols–Garnet Hathaway

Defensemen

Cam York–Travis Sanheim
Emil Andrae-Noah Juulsen
Nick Seeler-Ramsus Ristolainen

Goaltenders

Sam Ersson
Dan Vladar

Special Teams
PP1: Ristolainen, Dvorak, Michkov, Tippett, Zegras
PP2: York, Sanheim, Cates, Barkey, Grebenkin

PK1: Couturier, Dvorak, York, Sanheim
PK 2: Abols, Grundstrom, Seeler, Ristolainen

Things to watch

Tampa Bay is on fire. We all knew that they were a great hockey team before, but they have been lethal on their winning streak. One of the key reasons has been Nikita Kucherov’s surge. The Lightning’s star winger has 14 points over the last 5 games, including 5 goals.

One area that can be key to the Flyers’ success is the faceoff circle. The Lightning are one of the 11 teams in the league that are worse at the dot than the Flyers. Tampa is a team that scores a lot and allows few goals. So, the Flyers are really going to have to take advantage of their faceoffs.

The Flyers will be without Travis Konecny, Jamie Drysdale, and likely Bobby Brink in Saturday’s matchup. In turn, the team has put Matvei Michkov on the top line with Dvorak and Zegras. While that will be a fun pair to watch offensively, I am curious to see how that unit works out defensively.

Sam Ersson is the confirmed starter for the Flyers. It has not been the season he had hoped for. With Aleksei Kolosov doing great in the AHL, there may be a little pressure on Ersson to have a good game or two in the near future. Saturday is a big night for Ersson. Can he rise to the occasion?