Flyers vs. Hurricanes: Preview, lineups, TV coverage and discussion thread

Get the Carolina perspective on tonight’s game at Canes Country.

Remember this time last week, when the Flyers were undefeated* and everything was sunshine and roses? Things change quickly in sports, don’t they?

(*Undefeated, in this case, meaning 1-0-0. Still counts.)

This past week was a bit tumultuous, as the Flyers lost two games in regulation and are a bit stuck in the mud. They’ll try to bounce back tonight against the Carolina Hurricanes, in their first game against a divisional rival this season.

Last season’s four Flyers-Hurricanes tended to go well for the orange and black, as they picked up three overtime victories — two of which featured Shayne Gostisbehere game-winners in 3-on-3 play — and one loss. Today, the Flyers will try to pick up their first home win of the season, and their first win at all since their season-opening defeat of the Kings.

Oh, also, the ‘Canes have some nerd in their front office, so it’d be nice to stick it to him. Let’s get a win, the Flyers.

Thanks to Dale Weise’s three-game suspension that begins tonight, and thanks to some general struggles the Flyers have had defensively so far this season, we’ll see lineup changes (courtesy of the Courier-Post’s Dave Isaac) both up front and on the blue line in this one. As expected, Roman Lyubimov finds himself in the lineup on the fourth line for the suspended Weise, while Nick Cousins moves up into Weise’s third-line winger role itself.

Meanwhile, on defense, Nick Schultz and Ivan Provorov have swapped partners. Schultz will now be with his most frequent defensive partner from last season, Mark Streit, while Provorov will get a chance to play with Brandon Manning, who’s had a very solid start to this season. Steve Mason will start, via the Inquirer’s Marc Narducci.

Tonight’s game can be found locally on CSN Philly and 97.5 The Fanatic. In North Carolina, the Carolina broadcast can be seen on FS Carolinas. Nationally, you’ll need an NHL.tv or NHL Center Ice subscription.

Philadelphia lineup

Forwards

1. Brayden Schenn – Claude Giroux – Wayne Simmonds
2. Travis Konecny – Sean Couturier – Jakub Voracek
3. Nick Cousins – Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – Meat Read
4. Chris VandeVelde – Boyd Gordon – Roman Lyubimov

Defense

1. Andrew MacDonald – Shayne Gostisbehere
2. Ivan Provorov – Brandon Manning
3. Nick Schultz – Mark Streit

Goalies

1. Steve Mason
2. Michal Neuvirth

Scratches: No healthy scratches

Injured: Michael Del Zotto, Scott Laughton, Michael Raffl

Suspended: Radko Gudas, Dale Weise

Carolina lineup

Forwards

1. Jeff Skinner – Victor Rask – Lee Stempniak
2. Joakim Nordstrom – Jordan Staal – Sebastian Aho
3. Teuvo Teravainen – Elias Lindholm – Phil Di Giuseppe
4. Bryan Bickell – Jay McClement – Viktor Stalberg

Defense

1. Ron Hainsey – Justin Faulk
2. Jaccob Slavin – Brett Pesce
3. Noah Hanifin – Klas Dahlbeck

Goalies

1. Eddie Lack
2. Cam Ward