GAME 67: FLYERS vs. HURRICANES
Returning home after an emotional win in Washington, Alain Vigneault's Philadelphia Flyers (39-20-7 overall, 23-5-3 home) host Rod Brind'Amour's Carolina Hurricanes (35-24-5 overall, 16-12-3 away) on Thursday night. Game time is 7:00 p.m. ET.
The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast will be on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on the Flyers Radio 24/7 component of the Flyers Broadcast Network.
This is the fourth and final meeting of the season series between the teams, and the second and final one in Philadelphia. The Flyers are 2-0-1 in the season series thus far.
On Nov. 5 in Philadelphia, the Flyers earned a 4-1 win. Carter Hart turned in an outstanding performance in net, stopping 33 of 34 shots, and the offense was opportunistic against ex-Flyer netminder Petr Mrazek. The game entered the third period tied at 1-1 on goals by Sean Couturier and Carolina's Lucal Wallmark. Then Philly pulled away on even-strength tallies by Travis Konecny, Joel Farabee and Claude Giroux.
On Nov. 21 in Raleigh, the Flyers won, 5-3. The Flyers trailed 2-0 early but Giroux and Ivan Provorov (power play) answered right back to send the game to intermission tied. A Morgan Frost shorthanded goal right off a clean faceoff win by Giroux put Philly ahead in the second period. Wallmark tied the game at 3:24 of the third period but another goal by Giroux and an empty-netter by Kevin Hayes sealed the win. Along the way, Konecny collected three assists. Brian Elliott settled in after a tough early portion of the game to earn a 33-save victory.
Back in Raleigh on Jan. 7, the Flyers sustained a 5-4 overtime loss that ended a post-Christmas road trip with a 1-4-1 mark. However, the Flyers being able to rescue a point from this game marked the start of the team's sustained run of success thereafter. The Flyers saw an early 2-0 lead (goals by Konecny and Michael Raffl) slip away in the first period, and then Philly fell behind, 4-2, in the middle frame. Nicolas Aube-Kubel started a comeback bid against a shaky-looking James Reimer in the latter stages of the second period, and Travis Sanheim forged a 4-4 tie with 4:11 left in the third period to rescue a point. Dougie Hamilton scored the winner for Carolina in OT. Elliott stopped 28 of 33 shots.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
The Flyers have won seven straight games and bring a 15-4-4 record against Metro Division teams into this game. On Tuesday in Washington, the Flyers overcame an early 1-0 deficit to defeat the Capitals, 5-2.
Goals by Konecny (24th), Hayes (23rd) and Tyler Pitlick (8th) built a 3-1 lead for the Flyers before Washington got one back late in the frame. In the third period, Philadelphia pulled away on goals by Provorov (12th) and Scott Laughton (13th). Eliott earned the win, stopping 25 of 27 shots. For more about the game, see "Dominance in DC" on the Flyers official website.
James van Riemsdyk was hit in the hand by the puck during the first period of the game in Washington. Xrays revealed a fracture. The Flyers have recalled Joel Farabee from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms to replace JVR.
Hart will get the start in goal for the Flyers against Carolina. It is likely that Hart will start each of the next three games.
Thursday's game is a potential fatigue factor match working against the Flyers, as the Hurricanes were already in Philadelphia while the Flyers were playing in Washington last night. The Flyers also have to be on guard against any emotional letdowns. While the Canes are another divisional opponent and their speed and skill has given the Flyers problems in each of the three meetings so far, a game against Carolina doesn't have the same urgency and emotion that one against the Capitals does.
However, this should be plenty of motivation to play another tightly focused 200-foot game: A Flyers win by any means against Carolina, paired with a Capitals regulation loss on the road against the New York Rangers, would put the Flyers in first place in the Metropolitan Division. If the Flyers win and the Capitals lose in overtime or via shootout, Washington would remain in first place via tiebreaker. The Caps currently have a 30-29 lead in regulation wins (primary tiebreaker) and a 36-34 edge in regulation plus overtime wins (secondary tiebreaker).
HURRICANES OUTLOOK
An Eastern Conference Final participant last season, the Hurricanes currently find themselves beneath the playoff cutoff line; three points behind the New York Islanders for the lower wildcard spot. The Canes are four points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for the upper wildcard. Carolina has one game in hand on the Islanders and a whopping four games in hand in Columbus.
The Hurricanes are 4-4-2 over their last 10 games. They have been idle the last four nights -- an extremely long schedule break, especially this time of year -- since picking up one point from a 4-3 overtime loss in Montreal. The schedule break has enabled Brind'Amour and the Canes to start to better incorporate the trade deadline acquisitions in practices and team meetings. Now the team will have a stretch of three divisional road games in four days, which very well could be crucial toward determining the team's fate in the playoff race.
The Canes were very active at the trade deadline, picking up forward Vincent Trocheck and defensemen Brady Skej and Sami Vatanen (on injured reserve). Oddly enough, they left the team's biggest weakness unaddresed. Even before Mrazek and Reimer were sidelined by injuries in the same game in Toronto, goaltending was the most suspect area of the Hurricanes team. The team recalled AHL goaltenders Alex Nedeljkovic and Anton Forsberg.
Mrazek and Reimer are both now on day-to-day status. Mrazek might join the team later during their current three-game road trip, which will continue with back-to-back games against the Rangers on Saturday and Penguins on Sunday. Reimer will be out at least another week with a lower body injury.
The team remains without key defenseman Dougie Hamilton (on IR since Jan. 15 with a broken fibula) and Vatanen is still not available to play. There is no timetable yet for Vatanen to make his Hurricanes debut.
PROJECTED STARTING LINEUPS (subject to change)
FLYERS
28 Claude Giroux - 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jakub Voracek 49 Joel Farabee - 13 Kevin Hayes - 11 Travis Konecny 21 Scott Laughton - 38 Derek Grant - 18 Tyler Pitlick 12 Michael Raffl - 44 Nate Thompson - 62 Nicolas Aube-Kubel
9 Ivan Provorov - 15 Matt Niskanen 6 Travis Sanheim -5 Phil Myers 8 Robert Hà¤gg - 61 Justin Braun
79 Carter Hart [37 Brian Elliott]
Power Play 1: Giroux, Couturier, Konecny, Voracek, Provorov. Power Play 2: Grant, Hayes, Aube-Kubel, Sanheim, Niskanen.
Scratches: 53 Shayne Gostisbehere (healthy), 25 James van Riemsdyk (hand).
LTIR: 55 Sam Morin (torn ACL, out for season), 23 Oskar Lindblom (Ewing sarcoma, out for season), 19 Nolan Patrick (migraines).
HURRICANES
37 Andrei Svechnikov - 20 Sebastian Aho - 86 Teuvo Terà¤và¤inen 21 Nino Niederreiter - 16 Vincent Trocheck - 88 Martin Necas 13 Warren Foegele - 11 Jordan Staal - 14 Justin Williams 18 Ryan Dzingel - 48 Jordan Martinook - 23 Brock McGinn …‹
74 Jaccob Slavin - 6 Joel Edmundson 51 Jake Gardiner - 57 Trevor van Riemsdyk 4 Haydn Fleury - 76 Brady Skjei…‹
39 Alex Nedeljkovic [31 Anton Forsberg]
Power Play 1: Svechnikov, Aho, Williams, Terà¤và¤inen, Slavin Power Play 2: Niederreiter, Dzingel, Trocheck, Gardiner, Necas…‹
Scratches: 34 Petr Mrazek (concussion), 47 James Reimer (lower body). IR: 19 Dougie Hamilton (broken fibula, Jan. 15), 22 Brett Pesce (shoulder, Feb. 21), 45 Sami Vatanen (leg, Feb. 2)