PREVIEW: FLYERS VS. HURRICANES
Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (12-12-6) are home on Tuesday night to take on Bill Peters' Carolina Hurricanes (12-14-4). Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 7:00 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on CSN Philadelphia.
This is the third of four meetings between the teams this season, and the last of two in Philadelphia.
On Nov. 14 in Raleigh, the Flyers overcame a mid-game 2-0 deficit and being held to just seven shots over the first two periods as they came back to earn a 3-2 overtime win. On Nov. 23, the Flyers dominated the opening 40 minutes and took a 2-0 lead into the third period only to see Hurricanes return the favor from nine nights earlier to come back and force OT. However, the Flyers rescued a 3-2 victory in the extra frame. The season series concludes in Raleigh on Feb. 23.
The Flyers have had three idle nights on the schedule since losing 3-1 in Dallas on Friday, ending a back-to-back game and three-in-four scheduling stretch. The Hurricanes have had two nights off since concluding a back-to-back set with 5-1 and 5-4 (regulation) wins over the Anheim Ducks and Arizona Coyotes.
Flyers Outlook
The Flyers have taken at least one point in 10 of the last 14 games (7-4-3). Friday's loss in Dallas snapped a four-game winning streak on the road.
A tired-legged Flyers team wasted a 41-save goaltending performance by Michal Neuvirth against the Stars. The Flyers spent most of the game in penalty trouble. Despite winning the special teams battle by going six-for-six on the penalty kill and one-for-two on the power play, the Flyers lost the war by sapping too much energy. Closely spaced Dallas goals by Mattias Janmark and Antoine Roussel in the second period enabled the Stars to overcome a 1-0 deficit on a Shayne Gostisbehere power play goal. Jamie Benn added a late empty net goal.
With Jakub Voracek stuck on one goal through the first 30 games of the season, Hakstol changed the lineup at practice over the weekend by moving Voracek from right wing to the unfamiliar left wing spot; a position he has not played since a brief early-season stint in 2011-12. Voracek will play with Sean Couturier and Wayne Simmonds as his linemates.
Claude Giroux took a maintenance day off from practice on Monday; his second one within a week. He is expected to play on Monday. Sam Gagner (concussion/laceration) skated in Giroux's spot on the top line at Monday's practice. Gagner has not played since getting hurt in the Nov. 23rd game against the Hurricanes on a hit by Brad Malone. Gagner is now healthy and ready to be re-inserted into the Flyers' lineup when Hakstol chooses to do so. However, he officially remained on the injured reserve list as of Monday.
Giroux leads the Flyers with 11 goals, 17 assists and 28 points in 30 games. He is followed by Wayne Simmonds (seven goals, nine assists, 16 points), Jakub Voracek (one goal, 15 assists, 16 points) and Brayden Schenn (six goals, eight assists, 14 points). In 14 games since his recall from the AHL, offensive-minded rookie defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere has contributed five goals (four on the power play, two in overtime), four assists and nine points.
Nevirth was tabbed to start both ends of the back-to-back games in St. Louis and Dallas after coming in to relieve Steve Mason early in the second period of last Tuesday's 4-3 home shootout loss to the New York Islanders. He is likely to get another start. Neuvirth leads the NHL in save percentage (.939) and has posted a 7-4-2 record and 2.00 goals against average to date.
Luke Schenn sustained a left foot or ankle injury in the Dec. 5 game. He is officially out for approximately two weeks from that date. Defenseman Mark Streit is on long-term injured reserve for surgery to repair a displaced pubic plate. Streit is expected to miss approximately six weeks from Nov. 17. He has resumed skating on his own.
Hurricanes Outlook
Things have been clicking offensively as of late for the Hurricanes. The team has won four of its last five games (4-1-0) while racking up 23 goals in that span. Tuesday's game is the final match of a four-game road trip.
On Friday, the Canes never trailed in a 5-1 romp in Anaheim led by a Jeff Skinner hat trick. The next night in Arizona, Carolina was unable to nail down a 4-1 lead in the third period, yielding a tying goal in the final 16 seconds before Victor Rask won the game for the Hurricanes in overtime.
High-scoring defenseman Justin Faulk was named the NHL's third star of the week for a six-point outburst (three goals, three assists) during the team's schedule for the week ending on Dec. 13. Faulk leads the Hurricanes in scoring with 12 goals (all on the power play), 13 assists and 25 points in 30 games.
Rask is second on Carolina with nine goals and 22 points. He is followed by Eric Staal (five goals, 13 assists, 18 points), Kris Versteeg (four goals, 13 assists, 17 points), Elias Lindhol (four goals, nine assists, 13 points), Jordan Staal (six goals, 12 points) and defenseman Ron Hainsey (three goals, 11 points). Cam Ward has made 22 appearances in goal to date, posting a 9-8-3 record, 2.73 goals against average and .893 save percentage. Eddie Là¤ck has posted a 3-6-1 record, 3.28 GAA and .876 save percentage in 11 outings.
On the injury front, the Hurricanes remain without forward Nathan Gerbe (IR, lower body) and defenseman James Wisniewski (IR, knee). Healthy defenseman Michal Jordan was placed on an AHL conditioning assignment on Monday.
Key team stat comparisons (NHL overall ranking)
Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 2.03 (29th), Hurricanes 2.47 (21st) Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 2.70 (20th), Hurricanes 3.03 (28th) 5-on-5 Goals For/Against Ratio: Flyers 37/45, Hurricanes 61/53 Power play efficiency: Flyers 17.2% (T-23rd), Hurricanes 17.2% (T-23rd) Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 80.2% (17th), Hurricanes 75.3 (29th) Shots per game: Flyers 30.4 (10th), Hurricanes 30.1 (12th) Shots against per game: Flyers 32.4 (29th), Hurricanes 25.9 (1st) Faceoff percentage: Flyers 49.2% (23rd), Hurricanes 54.2% (1st)
Projected lineups (subject to change, will be updated)
Flyers
12 Michael Raffl - 28 Claude Giroux - 10 Brayden Schenn 93 Jakub Voracek - 14 Sean Couturier - 17 Wayne Simmonds 76 Chris VandeVelde - 78 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 25 Ryan White 24 Matt Read - 21 Scott Laughton - 20 R.J. Umberger
15 Michael Del Zotto - 3 Radko Gudas 55 Nick Schultz - 82 Evgeny Medvedev 23 Brandon Manning - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere
30 Michal Neuvirth / 35 Steve Mason
Scratches: Vincent Lecavalier (healthy), Sam Gagner (could be activated from IR), Mark Streit (LTIR, displaced pubic plate), Luke Schenn (left foot/ankle).
Hurricanes
32 Kris Versteeg - 12 Eric Staal - 16 Elias Lindholm 42 Joakim Nordström - 11 Jordan Staal - 15 Andrej Nestrasil 53 Jeff Skinner - 49 Victor Rask - 34 Phillip DiGiuseppe 24 Brad Malone - 18 Jay McClement - 25 Chris Terry
65 Ron Hainsey - 27 Justin Faulk 26 John-Michael Liles - 54 Brett Pesce 5 Noah Hanifin - 74 Jaccob Slavin
30 Cam Ward / 31 Eddie Là¤ck
Scratches: Riley Nash (healthy), Nathan Gerbe (IR, lower body), James Wisniewski (IR, knee).