The Philadelphia Flyers, (38-14-5) are in town to battle with the Carolina Hurricanes, (27-23-8) tonight in a game with a late 8 p.m. start because of the jersey retirement ceremony for Rod Brind`Amour. The ceremony will start at 7.
As of the morning skate, things were still up in the air regarding Ian White. While the defenseman did skate with the team, coach Paul Maurice said after the brief practice that White's status has not changed and he would be a healthy scratch in tonight's game.
Ryan Carter is still injured and will also be out. Brett Carson and Jerome Samson will stay in the lineup and will take their respective places as they fill in for the missing players.
Cam Ward will make his 18th consecutive start tonight and will face rookie Sergei Bobrovsky.
The lines were switched up a bit at the skate as Jussi Jokinen was moved up and will skate tonight with Eric Staal and Erik Cole.
Of course, the lines could be mixed and matched later tonight, but for now:
- Staal, Cole, Jokinen
- Ruutu, Skinner, LaRose
- Sutter, Tlusty, Samsonov
- Dwyer, Samson, Bodie
- Gleason, McBain
- Corvo, Pitkanen
- Harrison, Carson
The Canes are coming off a listless loss against the Devils on Wednesday and will be looking for more energy tonight. They should find plenty of emotion for this game, but there is always a chance they could be too overwhelmed because of all the festivities beforehand.
This is another important game for Carolina's playoff hopes, but keep in mind, the Canes have not beaten the Flyers in regulation in what seems like forever. The team from Philadelphia is 15-0-3 against Carolina in their last 18 meetings.
Broad Street Hockey will have the latest and greatest about the Flyboys.
Hockeymom's Game Day Guide can be downloaded and printed from the following link.
Flyers @ Canes Game Day Guide 2/18/11
This game is on the local tube and John and Tripp will begin their coverage of the Brind'Amour ceremony starting at 7. The puck drops sometime around 8. We will have our open game thread ready to go at the usual time, 6:30.