Beginning a rare back-to-back home set against the same opponent, Rick Tocchet’s Philadelphia Flyers (22-12-8) will host Jon Cooper’s Tampa Bay Lightning (26-13-3) on Saturday evening. The Flyers are 0-1-0 to date against the Bolts this season.

Game time at Xfinity Mobile Arena is 7:00 p.m. EST. The game will be televised on NBCSP.

Back on November 24 in Tampa, Andrei Vasilevskiy recorded a 20-save shutout in a 3-0 win over the Flyers. Brandon Hagel led the way offensively, scoring 5-on-5 and empty net goals. Hagel also assisted on an Anthony Cirelli tally. Nikita Kucherov assisted on all three Tampa goals.

The Flyers enter this game coming off a 2-1 overtime home loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday. A late third-period shorthanded goal by longtime Flyers center Scott Laughton forced overtime before Easton Cowan scored the winner in sudden death. Travis Konency notched the lone Flyers goal before leaving the game after the second period.

The Lightning bring an eight-game winning streak into Saturday’s tilt. In the last game, Cooper’s squad earned a 4-2 home win over the league-leading Colorado Avalanche. Hagel broke a 2-2 tie in the third period. Vasilevskiy made 31 saves to earn the win. Kucherov and Darren Raddysh had two assists apiece.

Here are the RAV4 Things to watch on Saturday in Philadelphia.

1. Home ice advantage

Periodic home-and-home sets — one game apiece in each of the two teams’ home venues — are common each season. It’s much rarer during the regular season for one team to host back-to-back games against the same opponent. The only exception was during the Covid pandemic shortened season of 2020-21 when teams played their entire schedules within the temporarily realigned divisions.

With the Flyers and Lightning playing back-to-back games at Xfinity Mobile Arena, it’s especially important for Tocchet’s team to lean into the home-ice advantage the Flyers have begun to re-establish. The Flyers are 12-5-5 at Xfinity Mobile Arena so far this season, collecting points from 17 of the 22 games to date. Additionally, each of the last two games have been sellouts, with another big crowd expected on Saturday night. The home barn will be rocking right from the outset again. The banged-up Flyers team needs to feed off the adrenaline in similar fashion to Tuesday’s emotional win over Anaheim.

2. All hands on deck

The Flyers are catching Tampa at a time when the Lightning have been playing their best hockey of the season. It will be a tall order to halt the Lightning’s eight-game winning streak. For one thing, Vasilevskiy (16-4-1 record, 1.98 GAA, six shutouts) has dominated most of his career starts against the Flyers. So has Kucherov (37 points in 29 career games). Secondly, the Flyers are currently dealing with various injuries to key players.

Konecny is day-to-day with an upper body injury. The two-time Bobby Clarke Trophy winner hit a groove after an uneven start to the season. Over the team’s past 20 games, Konecny leads the squad with 21 points (9g, 12a). He’s one point ahead of Trevor Zegras (10g, 10a) over the same span. If Konecny is unable to play on Saturday, it’s even more important for the Flyers to get contributions from different spots around the lineup.

Bobby Brink (upper body) is also day-to-day. Noah Cates’ regular linemate had to leave Tuesday’s game after his first shift against Anaheim. In Brink’s absence on Thursday, Cates skated on a line with Carl Grundstrom and Matvei Michkov.

The Flyers placed defenseman Jamie Drysdale (upper body) on Injured Reserve on Friday and recalled Adam Ginning (five NHL games this season) from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

3. Structure and discipline

During Tampa’s eight-game winning streak, the Lightning have been firing on all cylinders: 4.75 goals per game, 2.75 goals against average. The power play has connected on 30.8 percent of their opportunities. Kucherov has an eight-game point streak with multi-point performances in each of the last seven games. Hagel has seven points (2g, 5a) in the last four games.

For the Flyers to bottle up the Lightning defensively, tight structure and clean puck management are imperative. That’s especially true whenever Kucherov is on the ice. The Russian superstar can make plays even when opposing teams check him properly. Make a mistake, however, and the next faceoff is more often than not at center ice.

How do the Flyers get to Vasilevskiy? Screens, deflections and scrambles are the net. The big goalie rarely beats himself, as the Flyers can attest over the years. The Flyers need to get to the inside and force the netminder to contend with traffic in his line of vision.

4. Key game for Tippett

Owen Tippett has focused of late on playing a more consistently physical brand on hockey to go along with his speed. Lately, he’s been using his big frame to his benefit with regularity. Tippett is habitually a streaky scorer. He has scored two goals on 15 shots on net (many others have been fired wide or high) in his last five games. That’s not overwhelming recent production but the player appears to be right on the verge of another one of his goal-scoring binges that last roughly five to seven games at a time.

Given the team’s injury situation and the importance of the back-to-back home games against Tampa, Saturday’s game would be a very opportune time for Tippett to duplicate his multi-point day from the January 3 match in Edmonton.