Motion-blurred skater in a Tampa Bay Lightning sweater
Preview · PHI at TBL

The Lightning are the model's lean over the Flyers — with PDO regression in play

Written from the numbers

The read

Model draft
◆ By the ModelOct 5, 9:22 AMRaw model copyDrafted from NHL play-by-play by Backcheck's model. Nobody at Backcheck was at the rink. How this works

The model projects a PHI 2.9 - 3.4 TBL game with the Lightning at 58% win probability.

Keys to the game

  • The Lightning own the underlying play . The Lightning own the underlying play — 51.7% 5v5 xG vs 30.8%.
  • The Lightning drive Corsi at 52.1% . The Lightning drive Corsi at 52.1% — expect territorial tilt.
  • Regression watch: Lightning. The Lightning's PDO is 0.962 — running cold, due for positive regression.

Season 5v5 Numbers

MetricPHITBL
xG%30.8%51.7%
Corsi%33.7%52.1%
PDO0.9920.962

Where the Edges Live

  • The Lightning own the underlying play — 51.7% 5v5 xG vs 30.8%.
  • The Lightning drive Corsi at 52.1% — expect territorial tilt.

Regression Watch

  • The Lightning's PDO is 0.962 — running cold, due for positive regression.

Goaltending Matchup

  • Goalie matchup: J. Woll (+2.6 GSAx in 2 GP, 92.9% SV) vs A. Vasilevskiy (+1.1 GSAx in 2 GP, 88.9% SV).

Players to Watch

Key Matchups

TBL

  • Most goals from slot (3G on 21 shots, 14%) — deny that lane

Data: NHL API, Backcheck xG model

Live from the league

The game, as it happens

Puck drop 7:00 PM ET

Once the puck drops, every goal and every shot lands here as it happens — the scorer, the clock, and the shot map with the replay — straight from the league's feed. The desk writes the recap after the final horn.

Win probability

The model's lean

TBL 58%
58%
TBL
Model favorite
42%
58%
PHI50TBL

TBL by 16 points of win probability — a clear lean. Projected score PHI 2.9–3.4 TBL; 16% chance it's tied after 60.

Source · Backcheck Poisson projection · season scoring rates
New to these numbers?

This is a preview, so every number on it is about form and rates — what each club has been doing, not what it will do tonight.

The strip above is the model's lean, built from each side's chance creation and prevention, goaltending, rest and home ice. It is not a betting line and nobody here is telling you to wager on it. Full glossary →

Win prob
How often this matchup ends in a win for that club, over many simulated tries. It is a lean, not a prediction — 60% teams lose plenty.
xGF/60
Expected goals a club creates per sixty minutes of play — its scoring-chance rate, independent of how many games it has played.
xGA/60
The same rate for chances it gives up. Lower is better.
PDO
Shooting % plus save % — a luck gauge that drifts back toward 1.000. Well above it flags a club that has been running hot.
Season rates · 5v5

Tale of the tape

NHL stats API · our xG
PHI← edge
edge →TBL
30.8%51.7%
33.7%52.1%
1.973.42
4.443.20
1.332.00
4.333.00
0.9920.962

TBL holds 6 of 6 process categories — and the luck row (0.992 vs 0.962) says PHI has been getting the bounces, which tends not to last.

Source · NHL stats API + our xG · 5v5
Form · Last 2–3
PHI
0-1-2
-9 GD · 1d rest
TBL
1-1-0
-2 GD · 1d rest
0.992
PHI PDO
Luck gauge · drifts to 1.000
0.962
TBL PDO
Luck gauge · drifts to 1.000
What decides it

Keys to the game

TACTICAL

The Lightning own the underlying play

The Lightning own the underlying play — 51.7% 5v5 xG vs 30.8%.

TACTICAL

The Lightning drive Corsi at 52.1%

The Lightning drive Corsi at 52.1% — expect territorial tilt.

WARNINGTBL

Regression watch: Lightning

The Lightning's PDO is 0.962 — running cold, due for positive regression.

Weight the underlying numbers over the recent results.

TACTICALTBL

Hot Zone: Lightning

Their most productive scoring zone over last 5 games.

Most goals from slot (3G on 21 shots, 14%) — deny that lane

Where the edges live
  • The Lightning own the underlying play — 51.7% 5v5 xG vs 30.8%.
  • The Lightning drive Corsi at 52.1% — expect territorial tilt.
Regression watch
  • The Lightning's PDO is 0.962 — running cold, due for positive regression.
Things to watch
  • The Lightning own the underlying play — 51.7% 5v5 xG vs 30.8%.
  • The Lightning drive Corsi at 52.1% — expect territorial tilt.
  • Goalie matchup: J. Woll (+2.6 GSAx in 2 GP, 92.9% SV) vs A. Vasilevskiy (+1.1 GSAx in 2 GP, 88.9% SV).
  • The Lightning's PDO is 0.962 — running cold, due for positive regression.
Last game's lineup · confirmed at warm-up

Lineups

NHL box score
PHI
vs CAR · Sat, Oct 3
Expected in goal
J. Woll
1 day rest.925 last start62:48 played
Backup Dan Vladar · -3.0 GSAx this season
Forwards · 12
  • T. Konecny16:08
  • S. Couturier15:58
  • A. Bump13:27
  • C. Dvorak14:29
  • N. Cates09:13
  • M. Michkov16:08
  • T. Zegras22:53
  • N. Acciari15:53
  • T. Foerster18:43
  • O. Tippett17:47
  • C. Grundstrom13:45
  • P. Martone11:02
Defence · 6
  • D.Jiricek13:10
  • T. Sanheim27:05
  • C. York22:10
  • J. Drysdale24:33
  • N. Seeler18:07
  • R. Ristolainen14:26
TBL
vs WSH · Sat, Oct 3
Expected in goal
A. Vasilevskiy
1 day rest.952 last start60:00 played
Forwards · 11
  • B. Point20:32
  • J. Viel07:34
  • Z. Girgensons14:27
  • P. Holmberg15:25
  • B. Hagel22:07
  • J. Guentzel18:18
  • A. Cirelli17:42
  • N. Kucherov22:46
  • G. Goncalves15:47
  • C. Geekie09:10
  • I. Mikheyev13:57
Defence · 7
  • R. McDonagh15:52
  • C. D'Astous13:47
  • J. Carlson20:35
  • V. Hedman13:34
  • E. Lilleberg10:30
  • E. Cernak20:34
  • J. Moser19:23

Lineups are the players who dressed in each club's last game, with their minutes; clubs confirm tonight's at warm-up. Every player this preview names was in that lineup.

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