The Philadelphia Flyers will try to bounce back from Sunday's dreadful defensive performance, as they visit the Carolina Hurricanes for this evening's clash at RBC Center.
The Flyers had won two straight heading into Sunday's finale of a home-and- home series with Ottawa. After notching an overtime win in Saturday's opener in Philly, the Flyers held a 4-2 edge over the Senators heading into third period at Scotiabank Place on Sunday, but Ottawa scored four unanswered goals to steal the game in regulation.
Filip Kuba notched the game-winner with just over one minute left in regulation for the Senators, who torched Flyers goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov for five goals on 37 shots.
"To close the game like that is tough," Bryzgalov said.
Matt Read, Sean Couturier, Marc-Andre Bourdon and Andrej Meszaros scored for the Flyers, who have been outscored, 9-2, in their last four third periods.
Philadelphia, which is two points ahead of Ottawa for the fourth seed in the East, began a four-game road trip on Sunday. The Flyers boast an impressive 14-6-2 record as the guest this season, but Philly has dropped three of its last four road tilts.
Carolina, meanwhile, is just one point ahead of the New York Islanders for 14th place in the East. The Hurricanes have dropped three of their last four and are coming off Saturday's 5-2 setback in Nashville, which went 4-for-5 on the power play against Carolina.
Jay Harrison had both tallies for Carolina in Saturday's loss and Justin Peters allowed five goals on 36 shots.
"Obviously special teams was the difference," Harrison said. "It's an unacceptable performance by our special teams to allow that to happen. You're not going to win when you allow that many power-play goals against."
The Hurricanes will not have forward Chad LaRose tonight, as he was hurt during practice on Monday. The team recalled forward Jerome Samson from its AHL affiliate in Charlotte on an emergency basis.
The Hurricanes termed it an upper body injury for LaRose, but the Raleigh News & Observer reported that it could be a head injury. The paper said LaRose's head hit the cage during a battle in front of the net, forcing him to the locker room for treatment. LaRose is the third-leading goal scorer for the Hurricanes this season with 11 and has 21 points in 43 games.
Carolina is 10-10-3 as the host this year compared to a dreadful 4-12-4 mark on the road.
Tonight's test marks the last of four scheduled meetings between the Hurricanes and Flyers this year. Philadelphia won the first two encounters before Carolina earned a 4-2 road win on Nov. 21. The Flyers have taken 11 of 13 overall in the series and eight of the last nine matchups in Raleigh.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.