Carolina Hurricanes vs. Philadelphia Flyers: Preview, Lineups and Game Discussion

Everybody here just loves when the Hurricanes play on national TV, right?

The Canes host the Flyers Saturday afternoon on ABC, hoping to go against the trend and win a nationally televised game.

The good news for Carolina in this one is that it’s the Flyers, who are 18-29-10 and have lost three of five in March. The Canes-Flyers games this year have actually been pretty interesting, though.

Philadelphia handed Carolina just its second loss of the season back in November. Later that month, the Canes won 6-3 in Philly. Then just a few weeks ago, Brett Pesce won a game in overtime against the Flyers after Philadelphia had answered a Canes goal in regulation three separate times.

It’ll be interesting to see who will be in net for the Hurricanes. Rod Brind’Amour said he expects Frederik Andersen to return this weekend, but there’s no indication on whether that means Saturday or Sunday. Antti Raanta has been hot, and former Flyer Alex Lyon was returned to the Wolves Saturday morning.

In some off-ice news for the Hurricanes, it looks like Jesperi Kotkaniemi may be in Raleigh to stay.

Kotkaniemi is just 21, and his upside is big. The Carolina brass clearly thinks so, too. As far as Carolina’s center depth, Jordan Staal isn’t going to be around forever and there’s not huge optimism surrounding the ability to retain Vincent Trocheck. Kotkaniemi, along with of course Sebastian Aho, could provide some stability there.

Anyway, back to Canes-Flyers, which will come your way on ABC at 3:00.

Game Notes

• The Canes are 49-73-14-15 overall against the Flyers, including a 26-34-9-6 mark at home.
• Sebastian Aho, who is on a three-game point streak, also has 21 points in 20 career games against Philadelphia.
• Carolina is on a 12-game home point streak, the longest active such streak in the NHL. It’s also the second-longest home point streak in franchise history.
• Speaking of franchise records, a win on Saturday would give Carolina just its fourth ever sweep of a four-game homestand.
• At some point, Derek Stepan will play in his 800th NHL game and he will score his 500th NHL point. Stepan sits at 799 in games played and 499 in points right now, but he hasn’t played in the Canes’ last three games. Good chance he hits that 800-game mark this weekend with the back-to-back. As far as the points, Stepan scored 499 all the way back on Feb. 7.
• Philadelphia ranks in the bottom six in the NHL on both the PP and PK. Carolina ranks in the top four in both, with the league’s best PK.

Lineups

Carolina Hurricanes

Andrei Svechnikov - Sebastian Aho - Teuvo Teravainen
Jordan Martinook - Vincent Trocheck - Martin Necas
Nino Niederreiter - Jordan Staal - Jesper Fast
Steven Lorentz - Jesperi Kotkaniemi - Seth Jarvis

Jaccob Slavin - Ethan Bear
Brady Skjei - Brett Pesce
Ian Cole - Jalen Chatfield

Frederik Andersen
Antti Raanta

Injuries and Scratches: Derek Stepan (healthy), Tony DeAngelo (upper body), Brendan Smith (upper body)

Philadelphia Flyers

Oskar Lindblom - Morgan Frost - Travis Konecny
Claude Giroux - Derick Brassard - Cam Atkinson
Joel Farabee - Kevin Hayes - James van Riemsdyk
Gerry Mayhew - Patrick Brown - Zack MacEwan

Ivan Provorov - Justin Braun
Travis Sanheim - Rasmus Ristolainen
Keith Yandle - Cam York

Martin Jones
Carter Hart

Injuries and Scratches: Nick Seeler (healthy), Kevin Connauton (healthy), Ryan Ellis (lower body), Nate Thompson (shoulder), Scott Laughton (concussion)