After a lengthy five day break, the Flyers are back in action tonight against the Carolina Hurricanes. The Canes are coming down from Newark, New Jersey where two nights ago they lost to the Devils in overtime. The Canes gave up a game tying goal with less than three minutes left in the game, and only made it to overtime because of a couple of great saves by Cam Ward. The defeat was the Canes third in their last four games. The one win was against the Thrashers which lifted the Canes into eighth place in the East. A win tonight could bring the Canes within one point of the Rangers and widen the gap on an idle Thrashers team. The Canes will have to play better than they did against the Flyers in November, losing 2-3 and 8-1 in the span of eleven days.
The Canes' biggest threat is Eric Staal. His 26 goals and 45 points lead the team, and his 28 assists are only one behind team leader Tuomo Ruutu. Stall has averaged a point per game over his last 18 games. Despite being a top ten point producer in the NHL this season, Staal is -11. Another player to keep an eye on is 18 year rookie old Jeff Skinner. Skinner is currently second on the team in points with 43, and third on the team in power play points with 16. Although these two have only combined for one point in the two previous games against the Flyers this season, they should still be the focal point for the Flyers tonight.
The last time the Flyers had a break this long, they were dismantled by the Canucks 2-8 in their first game back, I don't foresee the same happening tonight. The Flyers' top two scoring lines have had a filed day against the Canes this season. The Briere-Hartnell-Leino and Carter-Zherdev-Giroux lines both have five goals and nine points in the two games, which accounts for all 10 of the goals the Flyers have scored against Canes this season. I doubt the Canes defensive core, which is -18 for the season, and Cam Ward, who has started the last 13 games, can keep either or both of these lines off of the scoreboard tonight.
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