UPDATE 5:30 PM
According to CSN Philly, Chris Pronger and Braydon Coburn will miss tonight's game for as-yet-undisclosed reasons. The club has called up Kevin Marshall and Marc-Andre Bourdon from the Phantoms to make their NHL debuts in their absence. In order to clear cap room, the Flyers have assigned Harry Zolnierczyk to the ECHL's Trenton Titans (a paper move, in all probability).
UPDATE 11:15 AM
Jaromir Jagr took part in the morning skate today but will not play tonight,
according to PSD's Dave Isaac.
In addition, Andreas Nodl (knee) is a go for tonight. He'll replace Jody Shelley in the starting lineup.
Projected lineup (subject to change)
Hartnell - Giroux - Zolnierczyk/others
JVR - Briere - Simmonds
Read - Talbot - Voracek
Nodl - Couturier - Rinaldo
Carle - Pronger
Timonen - Coburn
Lilja - Meszaros
Bryzgalov
[Bobrovsky]
PREVIEW 8:45 AM
For the third time in less than a month, the Flyers (11-5-3) will take on the Carolina Hurricanes (7-11-3). Tonight's game will be the final meeting at the Wells Fargo Center. The teams will conclude the season series in Raleigh on Jan. 10. Tonight's game starts at 7 PM EST and will be broadcast locally on CSN Philly.
The Flyers have handled the Canes with relative ease in the first two games. Claude Giroux has been a one-man wrecking crew, with 3 goals and 7 points in the two games. Philly is coming off an ugly loss in Winnipeg on Saturday, while the Canes beat Toronto (3-2) last night but have only won twice in their last nine games and are playing for the third time in four nights.
With the two teams have played each other so often of late, there are few surprises that either side can throw at the other at even strength. The Flyers will try to pressure the Hurricanes down low and create space while Carolina will try to be opportunistic off Philadelphia turnovers.
Carolina finally tallied a power play goal (Jussi Jokinen) last night but remains the worst team in the NHL (11.6 percent) on the man advantage. The Canes have killed penalties at a pedestrian 79.8 percent rate. Philly's PK had been on a roll until the Winnipeg game (now 85.1 percent overall), while the power play had been struggling until potting a couple in that game to raise the team's season percentage to 18.1 percent.
Ilya Bryzgalov has been hot of late in goal, and should be back between the pipes tonight. Carolina's Cam Ward was pulled in the last game against Philly and started last night, so the nod tonight may go to ex-Flyer Brian Boucher. Boosh was solid for two periods against his old club in the first meeting before letting down in the third period. He played extremely well in relief of Ward last Monday.
Jaromir Jagr (groin pull) skated on his own yesterday after missing Saturday's game. He is not definitely out for tonight, but it seems more prudent to give him an extra game to heal. Brayden Schenn (broken foot) is skating with the club but not ready to return. Erik Gustafsson (wrist surgery) is out, while Andreas Nodl (left knee sprain) is day-to-day. For Carolina, ex-Flyer Joni Pitkanen (foot) has missed the last week (four games) but is considered day-to-day.
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