GAME 72 PREVIEW: FLYERS @ HURRICANES
Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (35-25-11) are in Raleigh on Saturday to take on Bill Peters' Carolina Hurricanes (30-29-11) at PNC Arena. Game time is 7:00 p.m. EDT. The game will be televised on NBCSNP.
This is the third of four meetings between the Metro Division teams, and the second and final game in Raleigh. The Flyers scratched out a 2-1 overtime win in Raleigh on Feb. 6 as Jordan Weal's shot from the top of the left circle leaked through goaltender Cam Ward with just four seconds left in OT. On March 1 at the Wells Fargo Center, the Flyers were both thoroughly outworked and outskated by the Canes and lost, 4-1.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
Tuesday is the middle game of a home-road-home set of three games in less than four nights. The Flyers will have a 22-hour turnaround between opening faceoffs when they take on a more rested Washington Capitals team (in action Friday but idle on Saturday) at the Wells Fargo Center on Sunday.
The Flyers are just 1-6-1 through their first eights games in March. The club entered the March 1 game against Carolina with a chance to move back into first place in the Metro. Eight games later, the team is clinging to third place in the division by a mere one ROW tiebreaker over the Columbus Blue Jackets. The New Jersey Devils are now just one point -- with one game in hand -- behind the Flyers. The Florida Panthers are four points behind with three games in hand.
Philly enters this game coming off a 5-3 home loss to Columbus on Saturday. The club showed some resiliency in trimming 2-0, 3-1 and 4-2 deficits to a single goal but never drew even in trailing the game for 50+ minutes. A parade of turnovers, lost coverages, and a lack of clutch goaltending from starter Petr Mrazek resulted in a hole that was too deep to climb out of as the game progressed.
The Flyers got two goals from their defense corps -- Shayne Gostisbehere (power play) and Andrew MacDonald -- in Thursday's game. However, the team continued to get no goals from any forwards apart from team captain Claude Giroux. There were plenty of scoring chances, but no results.
Rookie goaltender Alex Lyon
battled his way to making 18 saves on as many shots after coming into Thursday's game to relieve Mrazek with the Flyers' trailing 4-2 in the second period. Lyon is expected to get the start in goal in Raleigh.
The Flyers held an optional practice in Voorhees on Friday before leaving for Raleigh. It is not clear as of yet whether there will be any changes to the lineup.
Defensemen Johnny Oduya (lower-body injury, day-to-day) and Robert Hägg (lower body) have been full participants in practices and morning skates but neither is expected to play in Raleigh. Rookie defenseman Travis Sanheim remains with the team, officially on emergency recall. As soon as Hägg or Oduya are declared ready to play, the Flyers must either use a regular recall on Sanheim or return him to the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms. That decision would largely depend on the decision makers' assessment of Sanheim's play since his recall and whether Hakstol is inclined to sit out a veteran such as Brandon Manning in favor of the rookie.
HURRICANES OUTLOOK
The Hurricanes would need a near-miracle to make the playoffs at this point. Despite their impressive win in Philadelphia to start the month, the team has gone 3-6-1 in its last 10 games. A gut-wrenching 6-4 home loss to the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night dealt a potential death blow to the Hurricanes' bid for a late-season blitz.
In Tuesday's game, the Hurricanes appeared to have an insurmountable lead when Brock McGinn scored shorthanded in the opening minute of the third period to open up a 4-1 lead for Carolina. It wasn't to be, even as the three-goal lead held until just past the midway mark of the final stanza.
Over the horrific span of 1:17, the Hurricanes saw the Bruins score three times to tie the game at 4-4. Boston then went ahead as David Pastrnak scored his second goal of the period. The Hurricanes pulled Ward for an extra attacker, but were unable to score. Instead, Pastrnak completed a hat trick to seal a 6-4 final.
Carolina has had three days to try to put the disastrous third period behind them. Sitting six points behind Florida (who has two games in hand) and a whopping nine points with a 31-27 ROW disadvantage behind New Jersey, however, the Hurricanes are now essentially in spoiler mode for the Flyers.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (will be updated)
FLYERS
28 Claude Giroux - 14 Sean Couturier - 12 Michael Raffl
54 Oskar Lindblom - 19 Nolan Patrick - 93 Jakub Voracek
11 Travis Konecny - 51 Valtteri Filppula - 17 Wayne Simmonds
40 Jordan Weal - 21 Scott Laughton - 24 Matt Read
9 Ivan Provorov - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere
47 Andrew MacDonald - 6 Travis Sanheim
23 Brandon Manning - 3 Radko Gudas
39 Alex Lyon
[34 Petr Mrazek]
Scratches: 15 Jori Lehterä (healthy), 20 Taylor Leier (healthy), 22 Dale Weise (healthy), 29 Johnny Oduya (lower body), 8 Robert Hägg (lower body, out two weeks from March. 10), 37 Brian Elliott (IR, core muscle surgery), 30 Michal Neuvirth (lower body, out until April).
HURRICANES
20 Sebastian Aho - 11 Jordan Staal - 86 Teuvo Teräväinen
23 Brock McGinn - 28 Elias Lindholm - 14 Justin Williams
53 Jeff Skinner - 49 Victor Rask - 34 Phillip DiGiuseppe
42 Joakim Nordström - 7 Derek Ryan - 21 Lee Stempniak
74 Jaccob Slavin - 22 Brett Pesce
4 Haydn Fleury - 27 Justin Faulk
5 Noah Hanifin - 57 Trevor van Riemsdyk
30 Cam Ward
[33 Scott Darling ]
Scratches: 6 Klas Dahlbeck (healthy).
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