Lightning 5 - 3 Flyers
Final
  for this game

Flyers close out homestand against Lightning

Mar 26, 2012 - 2:58 PM (Sports Network) - The playoff-bound Philadelphia Flyers will try to close a successful homestand with a victory tonight, as they host the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Wells Fargo Center.

The Flyers have posted a 3-1 record on a five-game residency, bringing their record in March to 10-2-1. Philadelphia has recorded two straight wins and Saturday's victory over Montreal allowed the Flyers to clinch a playoff berth for the fifth straight year and for the 16th time in the past 17 seasons.

Thanks in part to a two-goal effort from Danny Briere, the Flyers earned a 4-1 win over the Canadiens on Saturday. It was Philadelphia's seventh win in eight home games, improving the club's record as the host this season to 21-11-5.

Kimmo Timonen scored a goal while Ilya Bryzgalov posted 23 saves and added an assist for the Flyers, who have won five of their last seven games.

"Obviously it helps confidence wise because I was in a bit of a drought there," said Briere, who has scored three goals in his last seven games after going his previous 23 tests without a marker. "The last three weeks I felt my game was turning around and tonight felt real good."

The Flyers are currently seeded fifth in the Eastern Conference, where they sit four points behind Pittsburgh and six ahead of sixth-seeded New Jersey. The Devils and Penguins are both off on Monday.

Philadelphia will visit Toronto on Thursday before returning home to host Ottawa on Saturday.

The Lightning are still trying to claw their way into the playoff race in the East, but Guy Boucher's club is running out of time quickly. With eight games left, Tampa Bay is nine points out of the conference's final postseason berth.

Tampa Bay has won two straight on the heels of an 0-3 stretch and the Bolts are coming off Saturday's regulation win over the visiting New York Islanders.

Tim Wallace scored the winner with under eight minutes to play, lifting Tampa to a 4-3 win in the finale of a seven-game homestand on Saturday. The Lightning went 3-4 on the residency and will now play three straight on the road, where Tampa has a dreadful 11-19-5 record this season.

Steven Stamkos posted two goals and an assist against the Islanders, while Dwayne Roloson stopped 34-of-37 shots.

"We've always battled back as a team all year," said Roloson. "Sometimes it's too big of a hole for us to rally from or we fall just short, but tonight we worked hard and got the win."

With 52 goals, Stamkos is six markers ahead of Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin for the league lead. However, Malkin leads the NHL with 97 points -- 10 more than Stamkos. Philadelphia's Claude Giroux is third in the league in scoring and is one point behind Stamkos with 86 points.

Tampa Bay has taken two of three from the Flyers this season and tonight's test is the final scheduled encounter between the teams this year. The Bolts have won five of seven in this series overall, but Philly has claimed four of the last six in the City of Brotherly Love.






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