5 THINGS: Flyers @ Hurricanes

Playing their final game before the NHL's leaguewide holiday break, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (11-16-7) are in Raleigh on Friday evening to take on Rod Brind'Amour's Carolina Hurricanes (20-6-6). Game time at the PNC Center is 7:00 p.m. ET.

The game will be televised on NBCSP+. The radio broadcast is on 93.3 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
This is the second of four meetings between the teams this season, and the first of two in Raleigh. The teams will rematch at the PNC Center on March 9 and the Wells Fargo Center on March 18. On Oct. 29 in Philadelphia, the Flyers lost a seesaw game in overtime by a 4-3 score.
The Flyers enter this game coming off a 4-3 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday afternoon. The Flyers led, 1-0, until late in the second period, gave up the next four goals and then staged a comeback bid that fell one goal short.
Tony DeAngelo (PPG, 5th goal of the season), Morgan Frost (7th) and Joel Farabee (6th) scored in a losing cause. Carter Hart stopped 30 of 34 shots, while the Flyers mustered only 19 shots on goal.
Both the Flyers and Hurricanes are playing for the third time in four nights and second game of a back-to-back set. The Hurricanes, who have won seven straight games and have rattled off a 9-0-1 record across the last 10 games, need a win or regulation tie against the Flyers to set a new franchise record with points in 14 straight games. Carolina is 11-0-2 in its last 13 games played.
The Hurricanes enter this game coming off a 4-3 road overtime win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday. Jaccob Slavin (2nd goal of the season) ended the game at the 23-second mark of overtime. Martin Necas (14th), Jalen Chatfield (1st) and Jordan Staal (10th, 15:34 of the third period) scored in regulation. Antti Raanta made 24 saves on 27 shots.
Here are five things to watch in this game:
1. Hart or Ersson?
Carter Hart has started 11 of the Flyers' last 12 games. With Friday's game being the third game of a three-in-four gauntlet, Hart may be given the night off in Raleigh. For the season, he is 10-10-6 with a 2.87 goals against average and .911 save percentage. Thursday's game in November was an afternoon tilt, so it's possible that Hart could also get the final start before the holiday break.
If Hart is rested on Friday, 23-year-old goalie Samuel Ersson could make his NHL debut. Ersson had an outstanding training camp and (due to an injury to Felix Sandstrom during camp) opened the season on the NHL roster. He subsequently had another brief NHL recall but did not see game action. For the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms this season, Ersson has posted a 9-8-1 record, 2.72 GAA and .910 save percentage.
Sandström did not travel with the Flyers to Toronto due to illness. He was unavailable to practice with the team on Tuesday, prior to the team leaving for the road trip.
For Carolina, Pyotr Kochetkov has been outstanding in his 15 games to date (10-1-4, 1.94 GAA. .928 SV%, three shutouts). Raanta has made 11 starts (6-2-2, 2.77 GAA, .891 save percentage). Frederick Andersen (5-3-0, 2.72 GAA, .891 SV%) has been on Injured Reserve with a lower-body injury since mid-November.
2. Can Frost continue his hot streak?
Morgan Frost has scored a goal in three straight games heading into Friday's game in Raleigh. Over his last nine games, Frost has posted eight points (4g, 4a). Of the eight points, seven have come in the last six games.
Frost's usual linemates at 5-on-5 have been hot of late, too. James van Riemsdyk comes in with a three-game point streak and has tallied three goals and five assists in his last six games. Owen Tippett has posted three goals and five points in his last six games,
Frost spent a portion of the third period on Thursday on a line with Travis Konecny and Joel Farabee. Tortorella said that it wasn't a matter of Frost earning the chance to play with Konecny but, rather, the coach was just trying to find a combination that might generate some offense on a day where the team struggled to create chances for most of the game.
"I thought he was brutal for most of the game," Tortorella said afterwards. "I don't think his game was anywhere near where it should be for most of the game but, towards the end, he starts to get involved in a couple of scoring chances and we have a chance to win. Or at least to tie."
A least by the numbers, apart from three giveaways, Frost was one of the Flyers' more effective forwards against Toronto despite being in very challenging matchups; Frost played considerable time against John Tavares Marner and Mitchell Marner and also played a couple of shifts against Auston Matthews.
Nonetheless, Frost was one of only two Flyers forwards above 50 percent in Corsi for the game and was even in on-ice scoring chances for/against. In the third period, Frost scored a goal and made a play (initially given an assist and then taken away) to help on Farabee's goal. Frost, who was third among all Flyers forwards in ice time, also broke even on faceoffs (10-for-20). He was credited with one takeaway, one hit and six shot attempts (three on net). Considering how infrequently the Flyers had the puck for two-and-a-half periods, the player's individual body of work for the day was one of the better ones on the team.
3. Situational play
As a team, the Hurricanes are plus-16 at 5-on-5, with 63 goals scored and 47 yielded. The Flyers are minus-11, scoring 56 and yielding 67. The Carolina power play is ranked 27th and 17.6 percent with two shorthanded goals allowed. The Flyers are ranked 30th at 15.5 percent with three shorthanded goals allowed. On the penalty kill, the Hurricanes rank 14th at 80.2 percent with two shorthanded goals scored. The Flyers' PK ranks 24th at 75.5 percent with four shorthanded goals scored including two by Scott Laughton.

Both Konecny (14 goals and 16 assists in 28 games played) and Kevin Hayes (nine goals and 21 assists in 33 games) have produced 30 points this season. Farabee is third on the Flyers with 17 points (6g, 11a). DeAngelo (29 GP, 5g, 11a, 16 points, minus-15) leads the defense in scoring but Sanheim (3g, 10a) has been closing in over recent weeks. Laughton (six goals, seven assists) has three points in his last four games including shorthanded and power play goals.
Tortorella has tremendous faith in Noah Cates as a two-way forward. Cates, who has primarily played center this season rather than left wing, has spent a lot of time recently on the top line. He is often assigned the toughest matchups (including the bulk of the work against the Auston Matthews line in Toronto on Thursday). Cates has also seen considerable PP1 unit duty in addition to penalty killing responsibilities. Cates, who has three goals and 11 points while dressing in all 34 games the Flyers have played this season, has scuffled offensively of late.
In his last 16 games, Cates has chipped in four points (0g, 2a including a two-assist game against the Devils on Dec. 15). He last scored a goal 18 games ago, amid a two-point game (1g, 1a) against Columbus. However, while the points have been hard to come by for Cates, head coach Tortorella is pleased with the young forward's overall play throughout most of the season to date.
4. Flyers line play
The Flyers will not hold a morning skate in Raleigh on Friday. Based on Thursday's starting line combinations in Toronto -- and subject to change -- this could be the Flyers' lineup in Raleigh:
86 Joel Farabee - 49 Noah Cates - 11 Travis Konecny
25 James van Riemsdyk - 48 Morgan Frost - 74 Owen Tippett
13 Kevin Hayes - 21 Scott Laughton - 57 Wade Allison
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 38 Patrick Brown - 17 Zack MacEwen
9 Ivan Provorov - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
6 Travis Sanheim - 77 Tony DeAngelo
45 Cam York - 61 Justin Braun
79 Carter Hart
33 Samuel Ersson
Available to play: 24 Nick Seeler
5. Behind enemy lines: Carolina Hurricanes
The Hurricanes do not have any players who are challenging for the Art Ross Trophy thus far, but they have a lot of depth throughout the lineup and good balance both up front and on the blueline. Four players have posted 20-plus points and nine separate players have produced 14 or more points.
Necas leads the Hurricanes with 31 points (14g, 17a) in 33 games played. He's followed by Andrei Svechnikov (17g, 12a, 29 points), Sebastian Aho (11g, 16a, 27 points), veteran offensive defenseman Brent Burns (4g, 19a, 23 points), Seth Jarvis (6g, 11a, 17 points), Stefan Noesen (6g, 10a), Jordan Martinook (7g, 8a), veteran two-way center Jordan Staal (10g, 4a) and defenseman Brady Skej (6g, 8a).
One of the NHL's elite shutdown defensemen, Slavin has logged an average 22:54 of ice time per game this season. He's blocked 54 shots and, offensively, has chipped in 10 points (2g, 8a).
There will not be a morning skate for the Hurricanes on Friday. Based on the lineup in Pittsburgh on Thursday, the starting lineup against the Flyers could look like this:
37 Andrei Svechnikov - 26 Paul Stastny - 88 Martin Necas
86 Teuvo Teräväinen - 82 Jesperi Kotkaniemi - 24 Seth Jarvis
48 Jordan Martinook - 11 Jordan Staal - 71 Jesper Fast
23 Stefan Noesen - 18 Jack Drury - 21 Derek Stepan
74 Jaccob Slavin - 8 Brent Burns
5 Jalen Chatfield - 22 Brett Pesce
44 Calvin de Haan - 15 Dylan Coghlin
52 Pyotr Kochetkov
32 Antti Raanta