PREVIEW: FLYERS VS. HURRICANES

Opening a two-game mini road-trip, Craig Berube's Philadelphia Flyers (26-23-11) are in Raleigh, NC, on Tuesday to take on Bill Peters' Carolina Hurricanes (21-30-7). Game time at PNC Arena is 7:00 p.m. EST. The game will be televised locally on CSN Philadelphia.

This is the third of five meetings between the Metropolitan Division teams this season, and the second of three in Raleigh. On Dec. 13, the Flyers enjoyed a 5-1 rout on home ice. On Jan. 2, the Flyers were stymied and lost a 2-1 road decision in regulation.

The Flyers had a travel day on Monday after playing three times in less than four nights, including a pair of afternoon games on Saturday and Sunday. After this game, the Flyers play in Toronto on Thursday.

The Hurricanes played a home game against the Toronto Maple Leafs last Friday and then traveled to Newark to play the New Jersey Devils on Saturday. The team was idle on Sunday and Monday nights. On Friday, the Canes will host the Washington Capitals.

Flyers outlook

The Flyers have gained at least one point in 12 of their last 13 games (8-1-4). The Flyers enter Tuesday's play four points behind the Boston Bruins for the final wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race. Boston holds a game in hand and also currently holds an edge in the non-shootout wins tiebreaker should the two teams finish with the same number of points.

Philadelphia went 2-1-1 in its recent homestand. Two days after sustaining a 3-2 shootout loss to the Buffalo Sabres and falling to 0-1-1 on the homestand, the Flyers rebounded to claim a 3-2 shootout win on Saturday afternoon over the President's Trophy leading Nashville Predators. On Sunday afternoon, Philly captured a 3-2 regulation victory over the Washington Capitals.

In the game against Washington, power play goals by Claude Giroux and Wayne Simmonds built a 2-0 lead before the Capitals came back to tie the game. In the third period, Michael Del Zotto put the Flyers ahead to stay. Winning goaltender Rob Zepp turned back 21 of 23 shots, and the team in front of him blocked 19 shot attempts. Philly went 2-for-4 on the power play and 5-for-5 on the penalty kill.

The Flyers announced on Monday that goaltender Ray Emery will miss some time with a nagging lower-body injury. Top Flyers goaltender Steve Mason has been skating for a few days, rehabbing after arthroscopic right knee surgery. He is still a few days from being ready to return to game action.

Until Mason is ready to return, the Flyers will continue to start Zepp, who broke into pro hockey 14 seasons ago as a member of the Carolina Hurricanes organization. The club has recalled rookie Anthony Stolarz to back up Zepp in the interim.

Barring any additional injuries or illnesses, Craig Berube's lineup will probably remain unchanged from the Predators and Capitals games. That means Vincent Lecavalier and Luke Scenn would be healthy scratches, along with eighth defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo. Veteran defenseman Kimmo Timonen (blood clot) skated on Monday as part of his continuing drive to return to play NHL hockey this season.

Hurricanes outlook

Carolina is 4-4-1 in the month of February. Over the past week, the club split a pair of back-to-back games (2-2-0).

On Friday in Raleigh, the Canes nursed a 2-1 lead through the final 40 minutes to earn a regulation win over Toronto. The next night in New Jersey, the Canes fell into a 3-0 hole in the first period against the Devils and never recovered. Jeff Skinner's mid third-period tally was the lone Carolina goal in a 3-1 loss. Anton Khudobin took the loss, stopping 16 of 19 shots.

Historically, the Whalers/Hurricanes franchise has been one the Flyers have often dominated but that has not been the case in recent years. Philly is just 1-3-2 in its last six meetings with the Canes.

The one win was a blowout in Philly earlier this season with Khudobin struggling in net for Carolina. Cam Ward was sharp in the early January game the teams played in Raleigh. Brad Malone and Eric Staal gave the Hurricanes a 2-0 lead, and Philly was not able come back all the way. The game was overshadowed for Philadelphia by a skate cut to the leg of team captain Claude Giroux,which thankfully turned out not to be nearly as serious as it initially looked.

If there is one thing the Flyers last four games have shown, it is that there is no such thing as automatic win or a guaranteed loss in the NHL. Carolina may already be spoiler mode on the ice -- and seller mode on the trade market -- but they remain a team that is capable of making an unprepared opponent pay for taking them too lightly. The Hurricanes' biggest problem is that they struggle to score. Defensively, the club is a middle-of-the-pack team that boasts the top-ranked penalty kill in the NHL.

On the injury front, defenseman Ryan Murphy is sidelined by a lower-body injury.

Key team stat comparisons (NHL overall ranking)

Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 2.63 (20th), Hurricanes 2.17 (28th)
Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 2.78 (23rd), Hurricanes 2.64 (16th)
Even strength Goals For/Against Ratio: Flyers 1.00 (20th), Hurricanes 0.72 (27th)
Power play efficiency: Flyers 23.6% (3rd), Hurricanes 17.8% (20th)
Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 75.9% (28th), Hurricanes 87.8% (1st)
Faceoff percentage: Flyers 51.4% (9th), Hurricanes 51.9% (T-6TH)


Projected lineups (Subject to change, will be updated)

FLYERS

12 Michael Raffl - 28 Claude Giroux - 17 Wayne Simmonds
24 Matt Read - 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jakub Voracek
25 Ryan White - 10 Brayden Schenn - 18 R.J. Umberger
76 Chris VandeVelde - 78 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 36 Zac Rinaldo

55 Nick Schultz - 32 Mark Streit
15 Michael Del Zotto - 5 Braydon Coburn
8 Nicklas Grossmann - 47 Andrew MacDonald

72 Rob Zepp
[79 Anthony Stolarz]

Scratches: Vincent Lecavalier (healthy), Luke Schenn (healthy), Carlo Colaiacovo (healthy), Steve Mason (arthroscopic right knee surgery), Ray Emery (lower-body), Kimmo Timonen (LTIR, blood clot).

HURRICANES

12 Eric Staal - 11 Jordan Staal - 19 Jiri Tlusty
14 Nathan Gerbe - 49 Victor Rask - 16 Elias Lindholm
53 Jeff Skinner - 20 Riley Nash - 28 Alexander Semin
15 Andrej Nestrasil - 18 Jay McClement - 39 Pat Dwyer

4 Andrej Sekera - 27 Justin Faulk
26 John-Michael Liles - 47 Michal Jordan
65 Ron Hainsey - 73 Brett Bellemore

30 Cam Ward
[31 Anton Khudobin]

Scratches: Ryan Murphy (lower body), Tim Gleason (healthy), Brad Malone (healthy), Chris Terry (healthy).

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