Game Day Canes at Flyers: Canes Recall Keegan Lowe

Carolina Hurricanes at Philadelphia Flyers
April 9, 2015 - 7:00 pm ET
Wells Fargo Center - Philadelphia, PA
TV - Fox Sports Carolinas
Radio - 99.9 FM The Fan
SB Nation Rival Blog - Broad Street Hockey

Fancy Stats

	Hurricanes	Flyers
Record	29-40-11	33-29-18
Points	69	84
Division Rank	8th Metro	5th Metro
Conference Rank	14th EC	12th EC
Streak	Lost 2	Won 2
Power Play %	19.0%	23.8%
Penalty Kill %	84.5%	77.0%
Goals/Game	2.25	2.62
Goals Against/Game	2.70	2.71
Shots/Game	30.8	29.4
Shots Against/Game	27.2	30.4
ES Goals For %	43.3%	50.0%
ES Corsi For %	52.5%	49.2%
ES PDO	97	100.2
PIM/Game	6.6	9.8
Goaltender	Ward	Mason
Record	21-23-5	18-17-11
ES Save Percentage	.912	.941
GAA	2.46	2.23
Goaltender	Khudobin	Emery
Record	8-17-5	10-10-7
ES Save Percentage	.902	.912
GAA	2.72	3.10

Stats via NHL.com and War on Ice

First things first, there is a transaction to announce. As first reported by Zach Boychuk yesterday on twitter, and later confirmed by the Hurricanes and Checkers, defenseman Keegan Lowe has been called up from Charlotte. Assuming he's in the lineup tonight, Lowe will become the eighth player (can you name them all?*) to make his NHL debut with the Canes this season. Lowe has two goals and nine assists in 55 games for the Checkers this season, only recently returning to the lineup on March 25 after missing eleven games with an injury.

The Canes have also reassigned Danny Biega to Charlotte. Biega talled two assists and averaged 16 minutes time on ice per game in 10 games played for the Canes.

From the press release:

RALEIGH, NC - Ron Francis, Executive Vice President and General Manager of the National Hockey League's Carolina Hurricanes, today announced that the team has recalled defenseman Keegan Lowe from Charlotte of the American Hockey League (AHL). The Hurricanes also reassigned defenseman Danny Biega to Charlotte.

Lowe, 22, is in his second professional season and has totaled 11 points (2g, 9a) and 106 penalty minutes in 55 games for the Checkers this season. Born in Greenwich, CT, he has appeared in 118 career AHL games with Charlotte, earning 23 points (4g, 19a) and registering 192 penalty minutes. Lowe (6'2", 195 lbs.) was selected by the Hurricanes in the third round, 73rd overall, of the 2011 NHL Draft, and spent four seasons with the Edmonton Oil Kings of the Western Hockey League (WHL), totaling 92 points (22g, 70a) and 470 penalty minutes in 276 career regular-season games. Lowe is the son of six-time Stanley Cup champion and current Edmonton Oilers President of Hockey Operations Kevin Lowe.

Game Notes

• Now to the task at hand.... Welp, it's the penultimate game of the Hurricanes' 2014-15 season, and their road finale. They faced the Flyers just five days ago in Raleigh, winning 3-2 in a shootout. It was the third win for the Canes this season against the Flyers, all on home ice, with the Flyers owning the 5-1 win at Wells Fargo Center back in December.
• The Canes left the friendly confines of PNC Arena and proceeded to lose their next two games, the first an odd, ineffective performance against the league-worst Sabres on Monday night, the second a more valiant effort but eventually the same outcome against the Red Wings on Tuesday night. Entrenched at 26th in the league standings, the Canes can't finish any higher but could technically drop one spot if they lose both of their remaining games and the Leafs win Saturday against the Canadiens.
• Meanwhile, the Flyers have spent their last two games playing spoiler in a big way. They manhandled the Penguins 4-1 at home on Sunday, then ripped the hearts out of the Islanders on Tuesday with a 5-4 victory in the waning seconds, leaving both opponents scrambling for their playoff lives with two games left. The Flyers can't finish lower than 24th in the league but could move up in the standings if they win out their last two games.
• A couple of interesting stats for the Flyers; though eliminated from playoff contention they do have a few players in the NHL's elite statistically. Jakub Voracek (fourth with 81 points) and Claude Giroux (tied for ninth with 72 points) are in the NHL's top ten points leaders. Voracek is tied with Nicklas Backstrom for the NHL lead in assists (59). Steve Mason is ranked in the top 10 in both GAA (2.23) and save percentage (.928), though he only broke an NHL .500 'winning' record as of Tuesday night's game.
• Victor Rask's 33 points (11g, 22a) are good enough to claim the NHL's tenth spot in rookie scoring for the season.
• Neither team practiced yesterday so stay tuned for updates after the morning skates.

Projected line-ups

Hurricanes (from Tuesday's game)

Injuries and Scratches: Jack Hillen (concussion), Rasmus Rissanen (MCL), Riley Nash (upper body)

Flyers (from Tuesday's game):

Injuries and Scratches: RJ Umberger (abdominal/hip surgery), Luke Schenn (lower body), Wayne Simmonds (lower body), Andrew MacDonald (upper body), Radko Gudas (knee)

*The eight making NHL debuts this season: Danny Biega, Patrick Brown, Keegan Lowe, Rasmus Rissanen, Justin Shugg, Brody Sutter, Victor Rask, Brendan Woods