PREVIEW
The injury-racked Flyers (20-10-7) will look to even up their record in the fourth game a season-high six-game road trip as they take on the Anaheim Ducks (19-15-4) tonight. Anaheim struggled in December and has won only one of its last five games coming into tonight. The Ducks were shut out 2-0 by Columbus in their last game.
With a win tonight, the Flyers will pull even with the Atlantic Division-leading New York Rangers, who are idle tonight. The Flyers, however, have won four of their last five games against the Ducks, including 3-0 at home last season, sparked by a Mike Knuble hat trick.
On paper at least, there could be a lot of special teams play tonight. Both teams are among the most heavily penalized clubs in the NHL: The Ducks are the second-most penalized team, the Flyers third. The Flyers have faltered a bit on the penalty kill of late, and need to get back to where they were a few weeks ago. Over the last dozen games, opponents have converted 23.7 percent (14-for-59) of their powerplay against the Flyers. While Philly has been tremendous on the powerplay at home (35.7% efficency), things seem to go awry on the road (13.8%).
The Ducks have been a good first-period team for the most part but have struggled mightily when playing from behind early. Anaheim has only gained five points (2-11-1) out of games where they trail first. Philadelphia, meanwhile, is 15-1-4 when scoring first. When Anaheim scores first, the Ducks are 17-4-3, but the Flyers have gained a respectable 13 points (5-9-3) out of games where the other team scores first.
POTENTIAL FLYERS LINEUP (subject to change)
Giroux - Richards - Knuble
Hartnell - Carter - Lupul
Kalinski - Metropolit - Asham
Cote - Powe - Gratton
Timonen - Vaananen
Coburn - Carle
Alberts - Jones
Biron
[Niittymaki]
Notes:
* Randy Jones is nursing a hip flexor
* There is a chance that Scottie Upshall could return tonight
DUCKS (subject to change)
Kunitz - Getzlaf - Perry
Ryan - Ebbett - Morrison
Moen - Pahlsson - R. Niedermayer
May - Marchant - Parros
S Niedermayer - Pronger
Festerling - Mikkelson
Montador - McIver
Giguere
[Hiller]
Notes:
* Teemu Selanne remains out of the lineup with a quadriceps laceration
* Bret Hedican (back spasms) is still listed as day-to-day
Contact Bill at
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Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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