UPDATE 10:30 AM EST
The Flyers have recalled winger Tye McGinn from the Phantoms. He will be in Ottawa and available for tonight's game.
FLYERS-SENATORS GAME PREVIEW (1:15 AM EST)
Looking to ensure at least a .500 record on their six-game road trip, the Philadelphia Flyers (13-14-2) are in Canada tonight to take on the Ottawa Senators (11-14-5). Game time is 7:30 p.m. EST. The match will be televised locally on The Comcast Network.
This is the third and final meeting between the teams this season; all of which have taken place within the last month.
On Nov. 12 in Ottawa, the Flyers played virtually a perfect game of hockey in a 5-0 romp. Steve Mason recorded a 24-save shutout.
On that night, the Flyers got even strength goals from the first line (Jakub Voracek), second line (the now-injured Vincent Lecavalier) and third line (Matt Read). They got power play goals from the first unit (Voracek, going to the net to finish off a nifty tic-tac-toe passing sequence from Giroux in the circle to Wayne Simmonds along the goal line to the goal scorer) and second unit (a Brayden Schenn deflection goal from the doorstep). Additionally, Philly only took one minor penalty in the game.
One week later in Philadelphia, the Flyers captured a 5-2 victory. Mason made 32 saves, including a penalty shot stop on Kyle Turris. Kimmo Timonen, Sean Couturier, and Adam Hall (empty net) each scored their respective first goals of the season. Claude Giroux (power play) and Wayne Simmonds also tallied for Philly.
The Flyers were not nearly as good in this game as they'd been in the first meeting but managed to build a 2-0 lead. Power play goals by Clarke MacArthur (8:13 of the second period) and Turris (3:12 of the third) enabled Ottawa to come back from a 2-0 deficit.
The key moment of the game happened with the score tied 2-2 at the 9:30 mark of the third period. With Mason out of the play, a would-be goal by Turris bounced off both of Nicklas Grossmann's skates along the goal line. Although Grossmann's right skate appeared to behind the goal line, there was no conclusive video evidence to overturn the no-goal ruling on the ice. The Flyers then went on to score three unanswered goals.
After tonight's game, the road trip concludes on Wednesday with a tilt against the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks, who also currently sport the best record in the NHL this season. The next night, the Flyers are home in Philly to take on the Montreal Canadiens in the Flyers' third game in four nights.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
The Flyers are coming off a 5-1 loss in Dallas on Saturday afternoon. Things started out well but then the wheels fell off.
Philly managed to kill off nine minutes worth of penalties in the first period -- including a continuous seven-minute 5-on-4 caused by Zac Rinaldo attacking Antoine Roussel early in the opening stanza -- and went to the locker room with a 1-0 lead on an Andrej Meszaros goal.
The Dallas top line of Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn and Valeri Nichushkin took over the game in the second period. Seguin knotted the score at 1-1 early in the period and then went on to score each of the next two goals to complete a natural hat trick. Nichushkin then followed it up with a goal of his own. The latter three goals came in the span of 63-seconds, and turned a 1-1 tie into a 4-1 Dallas lead.
Mason, who allowed more than three goals for the first time as a Flyer but actually had been playing a stellar game prior to the rapid-fire outburst by the Seguin line int the latter stages of the middle stanza, gave way to Ray Emery at the start of the third. Cody Eakin added an additional tally for Dallas in the final frame.
Lecavalier remains out of the lineup for the Flyers. He will miss at least three to four weeks with a non-displaced fracture in his lower back. Timonen had to leave Saturday's game early with an upper body injury and is officially day-to-day. However, Timonen tends to play through just about any injury if at all possible; even in games where most others would miss.
SENATORS OUTLOOK
The Senators are coming off a 4-3 shootout loss to the visiting Maple Leafs on Saturday. Toronto led 3-1 after two periods but goals by Erik Condra and Erik Karlsson (power play) in the third period forced overtime. Back in the first period, MacArthur (power play) even the score after Toronto had scored first.
Ottawa outshot Toronto by a 50-31 margin in regulation and overtime. Craig Anderson made 28 saves in regulation and OT but yielded skills competition goals to James van Riemsdyk and Mason Raymond. Neither Jason Spezza nor Milan Michalek were able to convert their shootout attempts for the Senators.
The Senators are just 3-6-1 over the course of their last 10 games, including a 1-2-1 mark thus far in December. Additionally, the club has a losing record (4-8-3) on their home Canadian Tire Centre ice this season.
High-scoring defenseman Karlsson leads the team in all-around scoring with 28 points (eight goals, 20 assists) in 30 games but is minus-six. Bobby Ryan paces the squad in goals with 14. Turris, who was leading the team in scoring when the Senators last played the Flyers, has no goals and two assists in his last eight games.
The Senators currently have a fully intact lineup with no reported injuries.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (Subject to change)
FLYERS
19 Scott Hartnell - 28 Claude Giroux - 92 Jakub Voracek
12 Michael Raffl - 10 Brayden Schenn - 17 Wayne Simmonds
24 Matt Read - 14 Sean Couturier - 9 Steve Downie
37 Jay Rosehill - 18 Adam Hall - 36 Zac Rinaldo
44 Kimmo Timonen - 5 Braydon Coburn
8 Nicklas Grossmann - 32 Mark Streit
41 Andrej Meszaros - 22 Luke Schenn
35 Steve Mason
[29 Ray Emery]
Potential Scratches: Vincent Lecavalier (back), Erik Gustafsson (healthy), Hal Gill (healthy), Chris Pronger (LTIR, post-concussion syndrome).
SENATORS
16 Clarke MacArthur - 19 Jason Spezza - 93 Mika Zibanejad
9 Milan Michalek - 7 Kyle Turris - 6 Bobby Ryan
14 Colin Greening - 15 Zack Smith - 22 Erik Condra
28 Matt Kassian - 68 Mike Hoffman - 25 Chris Neil
3 Marc Methot - 65 Erik Karlsson
4 Chris Phillips - 77 Joe Corvo
2 Jared Cowen - 46 Patrick Wiercioch
40 Robin Lehner / 41 Craig Anderson
Possible scratches: Cory Conacher (healthy), Eric Gryba (healthy).
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