Flyers at Hurricanes
THE STORY: The Philadelphia Flyers were well on their way to capping a home-and-home sweep of the Ottawa Senators on Sunday until the bottom fell out during a four-goal third period in Canada's capital city. The Flyers will look to rebound against a familiar foe in the form of the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday. Philadelphia has posted an impressive 17-3-3 mark against Carolina - including a 9-1-1 record in the Tar Heel State. Claude Giroux continued his team's dominance by collecting three goals and four assists in the teams' first three meetings this season. He'll look to get back on track after his entire line (with LW Scott Hartnell and RW Jaromir Jagr) has been held off the scoresheet in two straight games. "I think it's not the way (Ottawa was) playing, it was the way I was playing," Giroux said of Sunday's troubles. "Obviously I'm frustrated with the game I had. I've got to move my feet and work harder." For its part, Carolina limped to its third loss in four games with a 5-2 loss to the Nashville Predators in Music City on Saturday.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, TCN, FSCR
ABOUT THE FLYERS (24-12-4): While Philadelphia has plenty to reason to hang its head for a lost opportunity on Sunday, it did see rookies Marc-Andre Bourdon, Sean Couturier and Matt Read score successive goals in the setback. Despite his own solid game, Read was more concerned with the team's plight. "We've got to learn from our mistakes, how to get pucks deep in the third period and how to keep a lead," Read said. Philadelphia fell to 19-2-1 this season when leading after two periods.
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (14-22-7): After a brutal start to the season, captain Eric Staal has found his scoring touch. He had an assist versus the Predators to give him nine points (three goals, six assists) in his last five contests. Staal has struggled versus the Flyers, scoring once in his last 11 games. G Cam Ward has also had his difficulties versus Philadelphia, winning just twice in his last eight meetings. He boasts a 5-9-2 career mark against the Flyers.
OVERTIME:
1. Flyers G Ilya Bryzgalov's third-period collapse and his career struggles versus Carolina (2-4-1, 3.23 goals-against average) may open the door for countryman Sergei Bobrovsky to start on Tuesday. Bobrovsky improved to 3-1-0 in his career versus Carolina following a 5-3 win on Nov. 14.
2. Carolina's special teams have been downright brutal this season. The Hurricanes' power play is mired in the lower third of the NHL at 14.9 percent, while their penalty kill is ranked 27th at 76.4 percent.