MINI-PREVIEW 9 AM EST

Coming off a disappointing loss in Boston last night, the Flyers (27-11-5) will play their third road game in four nights tonight when they travel to Atlanta to take on Craig Ramsay's Thrashers (22-16-7). The game will mark the first of four meetings between the clubs this season. Last year, the Thrashers swept the season series against Philly. Prior to that, however, the Flyers had won 14 consecutive games against Atlanta.

There is little question that, with even an average performance by Brian Boucher in the third period of last night's game, Philly would have won the game. After rallying from deficits of 1-0 and 2-1 to take a 3-2 lead heading into the third period, the Flyers promptly found themselves trailing 4-3 early in the third period. Philly then waged another two-goal comeback to take a 5-4 lead only to give up three unanswered goals (the final one an ENG) and go down, 7-5. At least three of the goals Boucher allowed in the final stanza were ones he should have stopped. In the bigger picture, however, there was plenty of blame to go around. Forwards coasted defensively. Defensemen committed bad giveaways. Danny Briere and Mike Richards took undisciplined penalties.

Now the Flyers face a dual challenge tonight. Atlanta has been struggling of late (3-5-2 over its last 10 games) but can be a handful to deal with when they are on their game.

Just as important, it often proves tough for players to avoid both physical and mental fatigue at the end of a three-game-in-four-night stretch. Coming off such a seesaw affair that ended badly, the Flyers are going to have to dig deep to match or surpass Atlanta's energy for the better part of three periods. The Thrashers are a rested team, having had four days between games, Atlanta will now play three games over the next four days.

Offensively, the Flyers have been doing just fine. Danny Briere and his linemates have been on a tear and the club also got goals last night from Jeff Carter, a returning Nikolay Zherdev and the Mike Richards line. Philly only earned one power play last night, but pumped five even-strength goals past Tim Thomas two nights after solving Ryan Miller four times on goals the defending Vezina Trophy winner had no chance to stop.

Defensively, the club has not really been in synch for a sustained stretch since Chris Pronger went down. It isn't all Pronger's absence, of course, but there has been a ripple effect on the blueline. But Oskars Bartulis struggled when he was inserted in the lineup, and Matt Walker didn't fare any better last night after being activated from injured reserve to play in his first regular-season game as a Flyer. Sean O'Donnell scored a rare goal last night but has looked fatigued of late, and has not played as effectively as he did before Pronger's injury. Matt Carle was one of last night's goats.

On the flip side, Andrej Meszaros has generally continued to play well even after Pronger's injury forced the Slovak to assume more minutes and caused his pairing with O'Donnell to be split up by Peter Laviolette until last night. Kimmo Timonen has shined of late, and Braydon Coburn is coming off one of his best games of the season.

Offense hasn't been a problem for the Thrashers of late, either. Atlanta has been scoring its fair share goals, but giving up far too many. This is especially true over the last two games, in which the Thrashers yielded a combined 13 goals in losses to the Maple Leafs (9-3) and Hurricanes (4-3). However, the Thrashers came back from behind in the third period in Carolina, forcing overtime before Erik Cole's OT goal sealed the win for the Canes.

Defenseman Dustin Byfuglien (16 G, 6 PPG, 41 PTS) has led the way offensively for his new club this season. Meanwhile, Thrashers defenseman Tobias Enstrom (1-6-7), captain Andrew Ladd (2-3-5) and forward Niclas Bergfors (2-2-4) all bring four-game points streaks into tonight's tilt.

PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change)

FLYERS

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

Coburn - Timonen
Meszaros - O'Donnell
Carle - Walker

Bobrovsky
[Boucher]


THRASHERS

Ladd - Peverley - Bergfors
Thorburn - Little - Stewart
Boulton - Antropov - Stapleton
Cormier - Burmistrov - Machachek

Byfuglien - Enstrom
Bogosian - Hainsey
Oduya - Sopel

Pavelec
[Mason]


[Maso

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