Playing the 20th game of their regular season schedule, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (8-9-2) are home on Wednesday night to take on Rod Brind'Amour's Carolina Hurricanes (13-4-0). Game time at Wells Fargo Center is 7:30 p.m. EST.
The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast is on 93.3 WMMR with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
This is the second of three meetings this season between the Metropolitan Division teams. The Flyers and Hurricanes will conclude the season series on March 15, 2025, at Wells Fargo Center.
On November 5 in Raleigh, the Flyers yielded the game-deciding goal in a 6-4 loss to the Hurricanes with 29 seconds remaining in regulation. Philly battled back in vain from deficits of 3-1 and 4-3 to reach the brink of earning at least one point from the tilt. Travis Konecny (two goals, two assists) had a hand in all four Flyers tallies.
Wednesday's game is the third in the Flyers' current five-game homestand. Here are five things to watch.
1. Puck possession game
The Nov. 5 game in Raleigh was a microcosm of the Flyers' overall play during the season's first 19 games. On the positive side, the Flyers' resilience was on display in how the Flyers stood up to in-game adversity. Philly did so yet again in Monday's home game against Colorado. Trailing 3-0 in the third period, the Flyers earned the next two goals to cut the gap to a single goal.
Unfortunately, just as with the first game against the Hurricanes, the Flyers ended up with a regulation loss to show for their toil. Chasing the game is rarely a successful pursuit against upper-echelon opposition.
To a lesser extent, the first 50 minutes of the Flyers recent 5-4 overtime win against the Ottawa Senators and the first 40 minutes of Monday's game against Colorado also reflected a glaring issue that was most evident in the Nov. 5 game against the Hurricanes:the Flyers too often find themselves hemmed in their defensive zone.
The first game this season against Carolina took the puck possession disparity to the extreme. Carolina finished with a staggering 87 shot attempts. By comparison, the Flyers attempted 36 shots. Shots on goal were 35-16 in Carolina's favor.
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.
No matter how strong a team's defensive structure is in their own zone, opponents will eventually break through if a team spends repeated protracted shifts in the defensive zone and/or yields too many short-ice transitional rushes off turnovers.
2. Shot suppression
On a positive note, the Flyers' previous game against the Canes reflected one of the strengths of Tortorella's team: to a man, the players are willing to pay the price to block as many opposing shot attempts as possible. In the Nov. 5 game, the Flyers blocked 20 shot attempts by Carolina.
Games with 20 or more blocked shots by the Flyers are a regular occurance. The Flyers lead the NHL with an average 18.64 blocks per game, and are tied for the most total blocked shots (362).
In addition to Flyers players laying their bodies on the line to prevent opposing attackers from getting shots through to the net, Philly players get their sticks in the lanes to take away space. Another indicator of active sticks apart from blocked shots: takeaways.
The Flyers lead the NHL in picking opponents' pockets and seizing away puck possession: 128 credited takeaways overall (ranked 1st) and an average 6.59 credited takeaways per game (also ranked 1st overall).
High-ranked shot-blocking and takeaway totals are a double-edged sword. These team stats reflect grit and tenacity. However, they also reflect playing far too frequently without the puck.
3. Scoring from Flyers' centers
Among the 19 games the Flyers have played so far this season, there have only been three in which one of Philadelphia's centers has contributed a goal. That ranks last in the NHL.
In a 6-4 loss in Seattle on October 17, Scott Laughton potted two goals and added an assist for a three-point performance. For the season as a whole, Laughton has two goals and five assists in 19 games.
Sean Couturier exploded for a hat trick and two assists in the Flyers' 7-5 home win over Minnesota. The captain's stellar afternoon, which saw him reach the 500-point milestone for his NHL career, snapped a personal 32-game goal drought that extended back to last season (Feb. 10, 2024 against Seattle). For the season, the one game against Minnesota represents all three of his goals and five of his nine points.
Morgan Frost, who has been scratched in three of the last four games, scored a fluky goal in the previous game against Carolina (he whiffed on a shot attempt but the puck hit his shin pad and trickled over the goal line). It's his lone goal of the 2024-25 season. He racked up four power play assists over the season's first eight games but has just two points -- one even-strength assist and and the aforementioned goal -- in the eight games he's played since that time.
Ryan Poehling has six assists so far this season in 16 games played. That is a respectable total for someone who is primarily relied upon for checking duties (whereas Frost is relied on as a playmaker first and foremost and for secondary goal-scoring). However, Poehling is still looking for his first goal of the 2024-25 season. He's being counted on to at least be around 10 goals for the season by the end of the campaign.
Likewise, center/winger Noah Cates is looked first and foremost for his checking abilities; in his case, both as a forechecker up ice and as a defender. He's recently been involved in a decent number of scoring chances but has just two points (no goals, two assists) in 15 games.
All totalled, the Flyers have a combined six goals from their corps of centers, and all six have come in just three of the season's 19 games. Side note: Couturier, Laughton, Frost and Poehling (by Montreal) are all former first-round picks from their respective Draft classes.
4. Special teams
The Flyers' power play started out the regular season in strong fashion. Through eight games, Philly clicked at a robust 25.8 percent success (8-for-31). Since that time, however, the power play has been a major struggle (3-for-31, 9.7 percent).
Overall, the Flyers enter this game ranked 19th in the NHL on the power play (17.7 percent).
On the penalty kill, the Flyers have yielded four opposing power play goals over the last three games after killing off 20 penalties in a row. There will always be some fluctuations over the course of the season and, lately, a couple of puck bounces have gone against the Flyers' in PK situations.
In the bigger picture, the penalty kill remains a key area of strength for the Flyers. They will enter Wednesday's game ranked fourth in the NHL at 86.4 percent success on the PK (opposing power plays are 9-for-66).
A concern: lack of discipline. Taking careless stick penalties or needless restraining infractions has been a season-long problem for the Flyers. On a leaguewide basis, only the Boston Bruins (78), San Jose Sharks (70) and Toronto Maple Leafs (68) have taken more penalties that have left them playing shorthanded than the Flyers.
With justification, Tortorella called out his team for continued careless penalties following Monday's 3-2 loss against Colorado. One resulted in a Cale Makar power play goal that deflected off Nick Seeler into the net. Another negated a Flyers power play and, during 4-on-4 play, ended up as Colorado's third goal of the game.
Coming into Wednesday's game, Carolina's power play ranks tied for eighth in the NHL (23.7 percent) with the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers. The Canes' PK ranks fifth (one spot behind the Flyers) at 85.0 percent success to date.
5. Behind enemy lines: Carolina Hurricanes
The Hurricanes have won their last two games and eight of their last 10. Thus far, Carolina has a 6-3-0 road record.
The subject of numerous trade rumors entering this past summer, Martin Necas has been nothing short of outstanding for the Canes so far this season. He's coming off a four-point effort in a 4-1 win over St. Louis on Sunday and has compiled 30 points (11 goals, 19 assists) in 17 games played.
Necas is followed on the scoring leaderboard by Andrei Svechnikov (6g, 10a, 16 points), Sebastian Aho (4g, 11a, 15 points), offensive defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere (4g, 9a), and wingers Eric Robinson (5g, 7a, 12 points) and Justin Martinook (6g, 5a 11 points).
Centers Jesperi Kotkaniemi (2g, 9a) and Seth Jarvis (4g, 7a) also have 11 points apiece. In total, nine players including center Jack Roslovic (1g, 9a) have posted 10 or more points through the first 17 games of the schedule.
The Hurricanes have been dealing for much of the season with the injury-related absence of veteran starting goalie Frederik Andersen. In his place, Pyotr Kochetkov (11 stats, 9-2-0 record, 2.42 goals against average, .904 save percentage) has handled most of the goaltending duties as the Canes have continued to rack up the wins.
