UPDATE 3:00 P.M. EST
Jakub Voracek (hand injury) will be in the Flyers lineup tonight. Projected lineups have been updated accordingly.
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Following yesterday's cancellation of the Flyers-Hurricanes game due to heavy snow, arctic temperatures and heavy wind gusts in the Delaware Valley, the game was rescheduled for tonight. Yesterday's game preview is updated below, including the club's rankings in various statistical categories following last night's NHL games.
With today initially scheduled to be an off-day for the Flyers, I had planned to do a Meltzer's Musings blog assessing Steve Mason's contract extension. That will run instead on Friday.
FLYERS VS. HURRICANES GAME PREVIEW (7:30 A.M. EST)
Sporting an 11-1-1 record over their last 13 home games, the Philadelphia Flyers (25-19-6) are back at the Wells Fargo Center tonight to host the Carolina Hurricanes (20-19-9). Game time is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. EST. The match will be televised locally on TCN Philadelphia.
This is the third of four meetings between the teams this season and the first of two in Philly. The season series will conclude with a Sun. April 13 afternoon game at the Wells Fargo Center.
Historically, the Flyers have dominated the Hurricanes, with a 20-3-3 mark over the last 26 meetings and a 10-1-2 record over the last 13 games in Philadelphia. It has been a different story so far this season, however, with the Canes winning each of the first two games.
On Oct. 6, Carolina defeated the Flyers by a deceptive 2-1 score. The game proved to be Peter Laviolette's final game as the Flyers' coach. Coincidentally, Laviolette's last game was against the team he'd led to a Stanley Cup.
In the game, the Hurricanes outshot the Flyers by a 34-18 margin, with a 60-40 differential in attempted shots. Much of that differential due to a lopsided first period, in which the Flyers struggled to cope with Carolina's speed. Jeff Skinner dominated in particular.
Only the strong play of goaltender Steve Mason, who was stellar after allowing an early soft goal, kept the score respectable for the Flyers. Luke Schenn scored the lone Flyers goal, directly off a faceoff win. A few minutes later, the defenseman gave the goal back on a bad giveaway into the slot.
Philadelphia had several good chances to re-tie the game in the third period, but they were unable to find an equalizer.
On Nov. 5, the Flyers lost 2-1 in overtime. Philly was just 53 seconds away from its second straight 1-0 road victory when a downward spiral began against a team that brought a five-game losing streak into the game and had been having great difficulty scoring goals.
At 16:02 of the third period, Scott Hartnell tipped home a Kimmo Timonen point shot to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead. Both Hartnell and Timonen recorded their first point of the 2013-14 season. Claude Giroux got the secondary assist.
With Carolina goaltender Justin Peters pulled for an extra attacker, the Flyers lost a defensive zone faceoff. Carolina pinned the Flyers in deep, and eventually cashed in as Jordan Staal got loose behind Giroux and scored after receiving a pass from his brother Eric. The faceoff deep in Philadelphia territory was set up by a needless icing by Flyers defenseman Nicklas Grossmann, who inexplicably hammered the puck down the ice when under no pressure.
In overtime, the Flyers played things almost too conservatively at first and then made final costly gaffe. With no support nearby, Mark Streit attempted to stickhandle the puck into the offensive zone and lost the disc to Ron Hainsey. Hainsey got the puck quickly to veteran defensive forward Manny Malhotra, who skated off on an breakaway. Malhotra slid a backhanded shot past Mason at the 2:40 mark of OT.
The Flyers got outshot 36-29 in regulation and 2-0 in OT. Mason was once again excellent in making 36 saves, and could not be faulted for either of the late Carolina goals.
After tonight's game, the Flyers return to action tomorrow night, paying a visit to Columbus. On Saturday, the defending Eastern Conference champion Boston Bruins come to Philly for a 1 p.m. matinee. Due to cancellation of last night's game, the Flyers will end up playing three games in a span of roughly 92 hours.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
The Flyers have a 5-3-2 record thus far in January. On the positive side, the club has scored three or more regulation goals in eight of the 10 games (5-1-2 record). Of great concern is the fact that Philly has simultaneously allowed three or more regulation goals in seven games (3-2-2 record), including each of the last six matches.
In the front half their home-and-home set with the Islanders, the Flyers tied a franchise record for games won after trailing at some point of the third period. On Tuesday, the Flyers blew a 3-1 lead in the third period and went on to lose via shootout. It was the sixth game Philly has lost when leading after two periods (15-2-4).
Matt Read was the big standout offensively for the Flyers on Tuesday, potting a spectacular shorthanded goal on an elevated backhand shot and later scoring an even strength goal on the rush. Read has scored 13 goals this season and 48 in his 164 career regular season games. He's scored six this season against the Isles (three empty net, two even strength, and one shorthanded) and 10 for his career.
Wayne Simmonds also scored for the Flyers on Long Island, following up his own rebound after a good feed by Scott Hartnell. Simmonds leads the club with 17 goals and bring a four-game point streak (two goals, seven points) into tonight's game. Dating back to Dec. 17, Simmonds has racked up 12 goals, 10 assists and 22 points in 17 games. The power forward has recorded at least one point 14 of the 17 tilts.
The Flyers had been winning the special teams battles in the majority of their recent games. Despite Read's shorthanded tally, yesterday's outcome was largely due to bad penalties -- both Steve Downie and Hartnell were guilty parties-- and special teams failures.
Philly was unable to cash in on any of its three power plays against the Islanders on Tuesday, who came into the game ranked last in the NHL on the penalty kill. Early the third period, the Flyers had a 4-on-3 power play with an opportunity to extend a 3-1 lead. They were unable to cash in, and New York began its comeback shortly thereafter.
Penalty killing, which had been a rock of strength for the Flyers heading into the game but which has stumbled in two of the last three games, was also a trouble spot on the Island. The Islanders went 2-for-6 on the man advantage yesterday, and their lone even strength goal (which cut the deficit to 3-2) was scored moments after the expiration of an Adam Hall penalty.
In the second period of yesterday's game, Hartnell took a needless tripping penalty behind the Islanders' net. New York's deadly John Tavares made the Flyers pay, tying the game at 1-1.
In the latter stages of the third period, the Flyers were hemmed in deep in their own zone for an extended period of time but all play was along the perimeter. Outworked along the boards inside the left point, Downie grabbed defenseman Calvin de Haan and took a holding penalty. The Isles cashed in on the power play to tie the game.
The Flyers lost top line right winger Jakub Voracek to a hand injury in the third period of Tuesday's game, resulting from a slash by New York's Cal Clutterbuck. He briefly returned from the locker room but was unable to continue. Officially, he is a game-time decision to play against the Hurricanes.
Elsewhere on the injury front, Zac Rinaldo (high ankle sprain) is slated to remain out of the lineup until after the Olympic break.
Mason is likely to return to the net in tonight's game after a strong outing by Ray Emery in Tuesday's game. Mason is coming off a hard-luck game on Saturday, in which he was pulled in the second period with the team trailing 4-3. The Flyers' goaltender had no chance on any of the four goals that got past him on 24 shots, and actually had to make numerous tough saves to even keep the Flyers within shouting distance at times.
HURRICANES OUTLOOK
The Canes are 5-3-0 thus far in January. After staging a comeback on New Year's eve to defeat Montreal, Carolina began the 2014 calendar year with four more consecutive wins.
The club has cooled off of late, however. The Hurricanes have dropped three of their last four games, including a 5-3 home loss to Tampa Bay on Sunday. The Bolts built a 4-0 lead from which the Canes were not quite able to recover.
Alexander Semin (power play), Eric Staal and Ron Hainsey scored in a losing cause against the Lightning. Peters started the game, getting pulled at 15:07 of the first period after Tampa scored its third goal on seven shots. Anton Khudobin took over, stopping 15 of 17 shots over the remainder of the game.
Eric Staal leads the team in overall scoring, with 11 goals and 28 assists for 39 points. Skinner's 21 goals in 37 games paces the club in the goal-scoring department.
On the injury front, goalie Cam Ward remains shelved with a lower body injury and defenseman Joni Pitkänen is out for the season after undergoing heel surgery.
KEY STAT COMPARISONS (NHL OVERALL RANKING)
Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 2.68 (16th), Hurricanes 2.42 (25th)
Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 2.78 (17th), Hurricanes 2.79 (18th)
Even strength Goals For/Against Ratio: Flyers 0.93 (19th), Hurricanes 0.81 (26th)
Power play efficiency: Flyers 18.2% (19th), Hurricanes 14.6% (25th)
Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 84.1% (7th), Hurricanes 79.4% (24th)
Faceoff percentage: Flyers 49.4% (18th), Hurricanes 51.6% (9th)
PROJECTED LINEUPS (Subject to change)
FLYERS
12 Michael Raffl - 28 Claude Giroux - 93 Jakub Voracek
19 Scott Hartnell - 10 Brayden Schenn - 17 Wayne Simmonds
24 Matt Read - 14 Sean Couturier - 40 Vincent Lecavalier
9 Steve Downie - 76 Chris VandeVelde - 18 Adam Hall
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: Jay Rosehill (healthy), Hal Gill (healthy), Erik Gustafsson (healthy), Zac Rinaldo (high ankle sprain), Chris Pronger (LTIR, post-concussion syndrome).
Hurricanes
19 Jiri Tlusty - 12 - Eric Staal - 28 Alexander Semin
53 Jeff Skinner - 16 Elias Lindholm - 15 Tuomo Ruutu
14 Nathan Gerbe - 11 Jordan Staal - 39 Pat Dwyer
22 Manny Malhotra - 20 Riley Nash - 18 Radek Dvorak
27 Justin Faulk - 4 Andrej Sekera
26 John-Michael Liles - 65 Ron Hainsey
73 Brett Bellemore - 7 Ryan Murphy
35 Justin Peters / 31 Anton Khudobin
Scratches: Mike Komisarek (healthy), Jay Harrison (healthy), Drayson Bowman (healthy), Cam Ward (IR, lower body), Joni Pitkänen (IR, heel surgery).
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