Flyers vs. Hurricanes, Game 35: Lines, Notes & How to Watch

The Philadelphia Flyers (11-16-7) will play their last game before the holiday break Friday, meeting the Carolina Hurricanes (20-6-6) at 7 p.m. in Raleigh.

Philadelphia hopes to head into Christmas with a present of its own  — a victory. It will certainly be a tough test against once of the best in the Metro.

The Flyers will give goalie Samuel Ersson, 23, his first NHL game. He had a 2.72 GAA and .910 save percentage in 18 games with the Phantoms this season.

Carolina is coming off a penalty-filled, back and forth overtime win over the Penguins. Jalen Chatfield scored his first NHL goal in the 4-3 victory. Brent Burns also grabbed his 800th career point with an assist on the OT winner.

The Philadelphia Flyers are coming off what looks like it was a close 4-3 loss in Toronto. The score, however, doesn’t tell the real story. Philly had just three shots after the first, and ended with 19 shots, equaling a season low. Morgan Frost did score in his third straight game, and has four goals in his last six games.

“I probably feel the best I’ve ever felt in my pro career right now,” Frost said after the loss. “So, hopefully keep it going.”

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This is the second of four meetings between the Flyers and Hurricanes. The last time was on Oct. 23. The Flyers blew a late third-period lead that saw Martin Necas tie it with almost two minutes to go. Burns scored the overtime winner with less than a minute left.

Pytor Kochetkov, who has a 50/50 chance of being in tonight according to Rod Brind’Amour, has been quite the story for the Canes. He has won his last five starts and is on an 8-0-2 run. Expect the Flyers to have to get creative in finding ways to score on him if he does play. If not, it’ll be Antti Raanta.

There is also a chance that both Sebastian Aho and Brady Skeji will return to the Canes lineup. They are both game time decisions. Aho missed the last seven games due to a lower body injury. Skeji left the team for personal reasons.

So a lot could change in regards to their lineup before the puck drops.

Expected Philadelphia Flyers lines

van Riemsdyk – Frost – Tippett

Farabee – Cates – Konecny

Hayes – Laughton – Allison

Deslauriers – Brown – MacEwen

Defense:

Provorov – Ristolainen

Sanheim – DeAngelo

York – Braun

Goalie:

Samuel Ersson

Expected Carolina Hurricanes lines

Svechnikov – Stastny – Necas

Teravainen – Kotkaniemi – Jarvis

Martinook – Staal – Fast

Noesen – Drury – Stepan

Defense:

Slavin – Burns

Pesce – Chatfield

de Haan – Coglan

Goalie:

Pytor Kochetkov

Special Teams:

Flyers Power Play: 15.5%, 30th

Flyers Penalty Kill: 75.3%, 24th

Hurricanes Power Play: 16.8%, 27th

Hurricanes Penalty Kill: 79.8%, 14th

Breakaways

Andrei Svechnikov leads the Canes with 17 goals, while Martin Necas has a team-high 30 points. … Kochetkov (10-1-4) is hard to beat with a 1.94 GAA and a .928 save percentage.

The Flyers have earned points in five of their last nine games, posting a 3-4-2 record.

They have also scored three or more goals in five of their last nine. In games in which they score that many, they are 2-2-1.

The Flyers have scored the first goal in three consecutive games. For the season, they are only 3-6-2 when doing so, though.

How to Watch Flyers Game: