Carolina Hurricanes vs. Philadelphia Flyers
February 24, 2015 - 7:00 pm ET
PNC Arena - Raleigh, NC
TV - NBCSN
Radio - 99.9 FM The Fan
SB Nation Rival Blog - Broad Street Hockey
Fancy Stats
Hurricanes | Flyers | |
Record | 21-30-7 | 26-23-11 |
Points | 49 | 63 |
Division Rank | 8th Metro | 5th Metro |
Conference Rank | 15th EC | 10th EC |
Streak | Lost 1 | Won 2 |
Power Play % | 17.8% | 23.6% |
Penalty Kill % | 87.8% | 76.5% |
Goals/Game | 2.17 | 2.63 |
Goals Against/Game | 2.64 | 2.78 |
Shots/Game | 30.1 | 29.4 |
Shots Against/Game | 27.8 | 29.7 |
ES Goals For % | 42.0% | 49.0% |
ES Corsi For % | 51.2% | 49.3% |
ES PDO | 97 | 100.1 |
PIM/Game | 7.2 | 10.2 |
Goaltender | Ward | Mason |
Record | 15-19-4 | 11-12-7 |
ES Save Percentage | .913 | .938 |
GAA | 2.39 | 2.27 |
Goaltender | Khudobin | Zepp |
Record | 6-11-3 | 5-1-0 |
ES Save Percentage | .901 | .900 |
GAA | 2.73 | 2.63 |
Stats via NHL.com and War on Ice
Game Notes
- Tonight the Canes play their third of five games this season against the Flyers, and the second at PNC Arena. The Canes stunk up the joint in a 5-1 loss in Philly on December 13th, then won here 2-1 on January 2nd. The teams will play each other twice in April to close out the series.
- The big story for the Canes is that Cam Ward is scheduled to start in net in his 500th career NHL game, becoming the fifth currently-active goaltender to reach the milestone (behind Roberto Luongo, Henrik Lundqvist, Marc-Andre Fleury, and Ryan Miller). He ranks first in Hurricanes franchise history in games played, wins (239), and shutouts (22). Congratulations to Wardo on this major milestone.
- Most of the other Hurricanes team news revolves around the trade deadline, and general manager Ron Francis has indicated he plans to move players, especially pending UFAs, but not (I repeat not) Jordan Staal.
- All current Hurricanes players were present and accounted for on the PNC Arena casino floor for Sunday night's Casino Night and Wine Tasting benefitting the Kids 'n Community Foundation. The event is the marquis fundraiser for the foundation, and this year raised a record $291,000. Check out video (ch.com) and photos (mine) of the good time that was had by all.
- The big news on Broad Street is that the Flyers have scrapped their way back into playoff discussions after back-to-back wins over the weekend (3-2 shootout win against the Predators Saturday and a 3-2 win over the Capitals on Sunday). They have only one regulation loss in their last 13 games, and they are only four points behind Boston for the last wildcard spot.
- The other developing story is the Flyers' situation in net for tonight's game. While the Hurricanes will have their tenured veteran manning the crease, the goaltending line-up for the Flyers features two players with eight combined NHL games of experience between them. Steve Mason remains out of the line-up recovering from knee surgery, and Ray Emery participated in an optional team practice yesterday but aggravated a lower body injury and ended up not traveling with the team. Starting tonight for the Flyers is 33-year-old rookie netminder Rob Zepp, who has a 5-1-0 record in eight games played, including the two wins over the weekend. Backing up Zepp is Anthony Stolarz, called up from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, who does not yet have an NHL start. To further weave this goaltending tale, Zepp was a product of the Plymouth Whalers and a fourth round draft pick of the Hurricanes back in 2001 (after a botched pick by the Atlanta Thrashers several years prior), but he never progressed past the AHL while in the system and ended up overseas before eventually hooking up with the Flyers.
- Jakub Voracek leads the Flyers with 63 points (19g, 44a). Claude Giroux is second with 57 points (17g, 40a). Giroux leads the team in power play points (29). The Flyers currently have the third best power play in the NHL (23.6%) with Giroux and Wayne Simmonds (both career point-per-game players agains the Canes) chipping in power play goals in Sunday's win.
- In other Flyers news, defenseman Kimmo Timonen continues to progress with his recovery from blood clots and hopes to be back in the Flyers lineup before the end of the month. Timonen recently began practicing with the team, to much fanfare.
- Oh, Zac Rinaldo says he gets targeted by officials for, um, being Zac Rinaldo.
- Neither team held a full practice yesterday so stay tuned for further line-up information after the morning skate.
Projected line-ups
Hurricanes (from Saturday's game)
Eric Staal - Jordan Staal - Jiri Tlusty
Nathan Gerbe - Victor Rask - Elias Lindholm
Jeff Skinner - Riley Nash - Alexander Semin
Andrej Nestrasil - Jay McClement - Patrick Dwyer
Andrej Sekera - Justin Faulk
John-Michael Liles - Michal Jordan
Ron Hainsey - Brett Bellemore
Cam Ward
Anton Khudobin
Injuries and Scratches: Ryan Murphy (IR leg), Tim Gleason (lower body), Chris Terry, Brad Malone
Flyers (from Sunday's game):
Michael Raffl - Claude Giroux - Wayne Simmonds
Matt Read - Sean Couturier - Jakub Voracek
Ryan White - Brayden Schenn - R.J. Umberger
Chris VandeVelde - Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - Zac Rinaldo
Nick Schultz - Mark Streit
Michael Del Zotto - Braydon Coburn
Nicklas Grossmann - Andrew MacDonald
Rob Zepp
Anthony Stolarz
Injuries and Scratches: Kimmo Timonen (blood clots), Steve Mason (knee), Ray Emery (lower body), Vincent Lecavalier, Luke Schenn, Carlo Colaiacovo