PREVIEW 9 AM EST

Coming off their first win in Detroit in 22 years, the Flyers (24-10-5) now begin the second phase of their current stretch of nine of 10 games on the road with the front end of a home- and-home set with the New Jersey Devils (10-26-2). Thus far, Philly is 2-2-0 on the road trip. On paper, the Flyers should sweep both the road and home games against the Devils with a pair of regulation wins. In reality, these may be more difficult games than they seem, but anything less than four points in the next two games will be considered a disappointment.

New Jersey has the worst record in the NHL and has scored by far the fewest goals in the league (a paltry 69 goals in 39 games, 1.77 goals per game). The Devils have lost 8 of their last 10 and two in a row. However, New Jersey has played the Flyers tough this season, winning 2-1 via shootout on Nov. 27. One week later, the Flyers played two poor periods before rallying in the third period to go ahead in the game and prevail, 5-3.

If there's any signs of hope in an already-lost season for the Devils it's that Ilya Kovalchuk finally seems to be rounding into form offensively. He scored the game-winner against his former Atlanta Thrashers team on New Year's Eve and tallied the Devils' lone goal in their 2-1 loss to Minnesota in their last game. He has points in three of his last four games.

The Flyers have had their share of defensive problems of late both at even strength and on the penalty kill. They showed improvement against the dangerous Red Wings but still gave back two goals of a three-goal lead in the third period. A few days of practice time following the win in Detroit, coupled with playing the weakest offensive team in the league will hopefully get the team back on track.

Offensively, Philly has run a bit hot-and-cold of late. There have been stretches where goal scoring is no problem and other stretches where they haven't forechecked as effectively or created as many quality chances as they normally do when things are clicking. The hottest two players of late have been Jeff Carter and Danny Brere. Carter has 3 goals and 2 assists in his last four games, while Briere has 2 goals and 3 assists over the same span.

PROJECTED LINES (subject to change)

FLYERS

JVR - Richards- Nodl
Hartnell - Briere - Leino
Powe - Carter - Giroux
Shelley - Betts - Carcillo

Meszaros - Carle
Coburn - Timonen
Bartulis - O'Donnell

Boucher/Bobrovsky


DEVILS

Kovalchuk - Zajac - Palmieri
Rolston - Elias - Langenbrunner
Zharkov - Arnott - Tedenby
Pelley - Sestito - Clarkson

White - Tallinder
Greene - Volchenkov
Fraser - Corrente

Hedberg
[Brodeur]

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