Panthers at Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers are trying to overcome a dismal start for the second straight season and go for their fourth consecutive home victory when they face the Florida Panthers on Thursday night. The Flyers will be out to avenge a 2-1 loss at Florida on Saturday night but will have to do so without forward Michael Raffl, who is expected to be sidelined for six weeks after suffering a lower-body injury in Tuesday's 4-1 win over Edmonton. Raffl is tied with Wayne Simmonds with a team-high six goals.
Despite their inability to score, as evidenced by four consecutive 2-1 decisions, the Panthers have not lost in regulation in their past seven games (4-0-3). Florida has managed just 15 goals in 10 contests - only Buffalo has scored fewer - but has a chance to extend its point streak to eight thanks to a defense that has permitted an NHL-low 19 tallies, including four regulation goals in the past four games. The Panthers and the Pittsburgh Penguins are the only teams that have yet to lose in regulation on the road.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN Florida, CSN Philadelphia
ABOUT THE PANTHERS (4-2-4): Forward Jussi Jokinen reached a milestone in Tuesday's 2-1 overtime loss at Boston, scoring his 150th career goal while extending his point streak to five games. It marked the first tally of the season for Jokinen, who was held off the scoresheet for the first five contests with Florida after coming off a 21-goal campaign with Pittsburgh in 2013-14. "We've played real well the past few weeks in collecting some points," Jokinen said. "We know the games are going to be low scoring, we're not getting five or six goals."
ABOUT THE FLYERS (5-5-2): Raffl was injured blocking a shot - the fifth Philadelphia player to get hurt in that manner - but general manager Ron Hextall will not promote top prospect Scott Laughton from the minors, instead elevating Chris VandeVelde to the No. 1 line alongside Jakub Voracek and captain Claude Giroux. "We needed a big body who goes to the net, goes into the corners and is physical," coach Craig Berube said in explaining VandeVelde's promotion. "Vandy has been physical this year." Voracek continued his sizzling start to the season by scoring a pair of goals Tuesday to run his point streak to six games.
OVERTIME
1. Voracek is second in the league with 18 points, marking the best start by a Philadelphia player through 12 games since 2005-06.
2. Panthers C Aleksander Barkov, the No. 2 overall pick in last year's draft, practiced for a second straight day and appears set to return to the lineup.
3. Flyers F Vincent Lecavalier scored in Florida on Saturday to give him 72 points in 82 games against the Panthers.