GAME 81 PREVIEW: FLYERS VS. HURRICANES
Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (40-26-14) are home on Thursday to take on Bill Peters' Carolina Hurricanes (35-34-11) at the Wells Fargo Center. Game time is 7:00 p.m. EDT. The game will be televised on NBCSNP.
Prior to Thursday's game, the Flyers will present their annual team awards. Claude Giroux is a virtual lock to be announced as the winner of the Bobby Clarke Trophy (team MVP) for the fifth time in his career. The other awards include the Barry Ashbee Trophy (best defenseman, a neck-and-neck race between Ivan Provorov and Shayne Gostisbehere), the Pelle Lindbergh Memorial Trophy (most improved, as selected by the players), Yanick Dupre Memorial Award (the former Class Guy Award selected by the media), the Gene Hart Memorial (player with the most heart, selected by the Flyers Fan Club) and the Toyota Cup for the most three-star selection points.
This is the fourth and final meeting of the season between the teams, and the second game in Philadelphia. The Flyers are 2-1-0 in the season series. However, Carolina has played the Flyers tough in all three games, and Philly trailed at some point in every game.
On Feb. 6 in Raleigh, the Hurricanes took a 1-0 lead to the first intermission on an Elias Lindholm power play goal before Wayne Simmonds tied the game in the latter stages of the second period. After a scoreless third period, overtime was moments away from begetting a shooting. In the final four seconds, Jordan Weal fired a shot from the top the left circle. The shot fooled Cam Ward and went in the net to win the game for Philly.
On March 1 in Philly, a Flyers team that was on a 10-0-2 run did not come in mentally ready to compete. The results were ugly. The Flyers were outscored in opening 40 minutes, 3-0, and outshot by a 28-14 margin. Philadelphia finally showed some urgency in the third period but it was much too little, too late. The Canes won, 4-1.
On March 18 in Raleigh, the Canes gave the Flyers all they could handle for two-plus periods and held a 1-0 lead until Travis Konecny stepped up to tie the game at the 8:19 mark of the third period. The Flyers promptly coughed up a go-ahead goal less than two minutes later on a miscue down low in the defensive zone. Philly then dug deep, bounced back and scored three unanswered goals -- Jakub Voracek, Valtteri Filppula and Michael Raffl (empty net) -- to win the game and deal a virtual death blow to Carolina's playoff hopes.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
The Flyers magic number remains at three. They still control their own destiny in terms of getting into the playoffs -- two wins or a win and a regulation tie would be enough regardless of what any other teams do. However, Philly no longer controls its own destiny for finishing at least in the upper wildcard spot.
On Tuesday in Brooklyn, a so-so first period, a terrible second period, a third-period three-goal comeback that was given right back and a desperation late push that fell just short resulted in a 5-4 loss to the New York Islanders at Barclays Center.
Brian Elliott will make his return to the lineup for the Flyers, starting in goal. Michael Raffl, who played on the top line in the third period, will remain there. Travis Konecny will skate the left wing of Valtteri Filppula's line. Scott Laughton will return to the lineup after one game as a healthy scratch, will skate the left wing of Jori Lehterà¤'s line. Jordan Weal will be a scratch. The defense pairings are the same.
HURRICANES OUTLOOK
The Hurricanes still had faint playoff chances the last time they played the Flyers. A regulation loss to Philly after leading in the third period mortally wounded what was left of their hopes. Carolina has since been mathematically eliminated. Now there is a chance for the Hurricanes to play spoiler and potentially take away the Flyers' ability to control their own playoff destiny on the final weekend.
Carolina has played roughly about the same on the road (17-18-5) and at home (18-16-6) this season. Overall, the team is 5-5-0 in its last 10 games but is coming off back-to-back regulation losses.
There will be no morning skate for the Hurricanes on Thursday. On Monday, they got outplayed in the first period but otherwise hung in tight against the Florida Panthers. The Panthers skated away with a 2-1 win.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change for Carolina, 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 21 Scott Laughton - 15 Jori Lehterठ- 24 Matt Read
9 Ivan Provorov - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere 47 Andrew MacDonald - 6 Travis Sanheim 23 Brandon Manning - 3 Radko Gudas
37 Brian Elliott [34 Petr Mrazek]
Scratches: 20 Taylor Leier (healthy), 22 Dale Weise (healthy), 8 Robert Hà¤gg (healthy), 29 Johnny Oduya (healthy), 40 Jordan Weal (healthy), 30 Michal Neuvirth (lower body).
HURRICANES
23 Brock McGinn - 11 Jordan Staal - 14 Justin Williams 53 Jeff Skinner - 28 Elias Lindholm - 34 Phillip DiGiuseppe 73 Valentin Zykov - 20 Sebastian Aho - 86 Teuvo Terà¤và¤inen 42 Joakim Nordström - 7 Derek Ryan - 21 Lee Stempniak …‹
74 Jaccob Slavin - 6 Klas Dahlbeck 5 Noah Hanifin - 57 Trevor van Riemsdyk 4 Haydn Fleury - 55 Roland McKeown …‹
33 Scott Darling [30 Cam Ward ] …‹ Scratches 22 Brett Pesce (shoulder), 27 Justin Faulk (upper body), 49 Victor Rask (shoulder).