In the first game of a southern road swing, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (4-7-1) are in Raleigh to take on Rod Brind'Amour's Carolina Hurricanes (8-2-0). Game time at Lenovo Center is 7:00 p.m. EST.
The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast is on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
This is the first of three meetings this season between the two Metro Division teams, and the lone game in Raleigh. The Flyers and Hurricanes will square off at Wells Fargo Center on November 20 and March 5.
Here are five things to watch in Tuesday's game.
1. Big chance for Kolosov
With No. 1 goalie Samuel Ersson temporarily sidelined with a lower-body injury, 22-year-old Belarusian rookie Aleksei Kolosov is the projected starter for the flyers on Tuesday evening.
Kolosov had made one start (vs. Montreal) and one relief appearance (this past Saturday against Boston) so far for the Flyers. He has stopped 40 of 46 shots across his 109:35 in net so far.
The sample size is still far too small to judge Kolosov as a National Hockey League goaltender. What is fair to say is that he is a very athletic and mobile goaltender who has made a few acrobatic saves. He also battles for second or third saves in scrambles.
There was one goal in the Montreal game and two against Boston that Ersson would have liked to have back. In the Montreal game, Cole Caufield scored a short side power play goal that went off Kolosov's hip and into the net. Against Boston, Matthew Poitras banked a shot from below the goal line off Kolosov and over the goal line. Later, Justin Brazeau one-timed a shot from the top of the right circle that went under Kolosov's left arm and eluded his chest/rib padding.
To his credit, even after allowing goals that he potentially could have stopped, Kolosov bounced right back and did not let a miscue snowball. Thus, there is some mental toughness and competitive drive to his game.
"He has some personality to his game," Tortorella said. "Some fight. That's what I have liked so far."
2. The puck possession battle
One of the fastest skating teams across the entire NHL, the Hurricanes are also statistically the NHL's top puck possession team over the last several seasons. With the Flyers struggling to spend less time defending and more time attacking, holding their own in puck possession against Carolina is vital.
The Flyers have done a much improved job in their defensive zone structure over the past week: taking about the middle of the ice, preventing chances out of the corners and protecting the house. Failed clearing opportunities remain an issue and are a red flag in combating the Hurricanes.
Under Brind'Amour, Carolina is a new-school version (in fact, the most prominent practitioner) of chip-and-chase hockey. Rather than using brawn to recover pucks, the Hurricanes use their team speed to get their F1 (first forechecker) to beat defenders to the puck or at least immediately apply pressure. The second forechecker is there in a flash, too, to provide support.
3. Power play reset
The Flyers power play, especially the No. 1 unit, carried the bulk of the team's scoring output for the first eight games of the regular season. However, the team has gone 0-for-11 over the last four games.
Against St. Louis last Thursday, Tortorella was visibly displeased with the top unit's performance. In fact, at one juncture, he sent out the team's fourth line and two defensemen with 20 seconds remaining in a power play and an offensive zone faceoff pending.
After Monday's practice in Voorhees, Tortorella praised the work of the second unit -- recently consisting of Sean Couturier, Joel Farabee, Bobby Brink, Tyson Foerster and defenseman Emil Andrae -- in the Boston game despite not scoring. He said PP2 was better than PP1 in that match.
Over the first 12 games of the season, PP1 has consisted of Morgan Frost, Owen Tippett, Travis Konecny, Matvei Michkov and defenseman Jamie Drysdale. There have been some tactical tweaks but the personnel has been nearly constant.
4. Michkov making adjustments
The NHL's Rookie of the Month in October, 19-year-old Michkov has hit his first challenge in which opponents have started to adjust to him. Now, he must make some adjustments of his own. There is a forechecking support component and also an aspect in finding different seams.
Michkov has not recorded a point in the last four games. However, the rookie has posted nine points (4g, 5a) through his first dozen games in the National Hockey League. It's inevitable that he will start compiling points again -- he is too skilled, creative and hockey smart not to -- but there are some things to sort out. It's all part of the process for a young NHL player.
5. Behind Enemy Lines: Carolina Hurricanes
Carolina had a fair amount of roster turnover this summer, but their team identity is holding firm in the early going of the season. The team is in the groove right now, bringing a six-game winning streak into Tuesday's game.
On Halloween, the Hurricanes dealt a frightful 8-3 beating to the Bruins. On Sunday, the Canes down the Capitals, 4-2, to run the winning streak to six in a row.
Through 10 games, Martin Necas has dished out a dozen assists and a half-dozen goals to rack up 18 points. Andrei Svechnikov, the recipient of many of Necas' set ups, has five goals and 11 points.
Veteran offensive defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere has posted nine points to date (4g, 5a), while gifted forward Sebastian Aho also has nine points (3g, 6a). As Flyers fans know, "Ghost" has a howitzer of a shot and excels at jumping to the play offensively. He runs into trouble at times on the defensive side, especially down low in his own zone. With the Canes, however, Gostisbehere is with a club that has the puck far more often than it has to defend. This has played noticeably into the Florida native's strengths.
The Hurricanes have also shown depth. Eight different players have at least six points to date, and 10 have at least five.
Goaltending chores have been split between Pyotr Kochetkov (six starts, 5-1-0, 2.51 GAA, .893 save percentage) and veteran Frederik Andersen (four starts, 3-1-0, 1.48 GAA, .941 save percentage). Although the Hurricanes have yet to register a shutout this season, they've gotten the saves they've needed.
Note: Kochetkov posted a combined eight shutouts between the 2022-23 (four in 24 games) and 2023-24 (four in four games) campaigns. Andersen has a combined eight shutouts, too, over his three seasons with the Canes since coming over from the Maple Leafs.
