Hurricanes at Flyers preview

HURRICANES (35-24-5) at FLYERS (39-20-7)
7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NBCSP, NHL.TV

It would be the longest streak since winning eight straight from Jan. 14-Feb. 4, 2019 for the Flyers, who trail the Washington Capitals by one point for the Metropolitan lead. The Capitals play at the New York Rangers on Thursday.
Carter Hart is expected to start for the Flyers, 16-4-1 in their past 21 games. The goalie has won six straight home games and is 14-1-0 with a 1.66 goals-against average and .942 save percentage in his past 15 starts at Wells Fargo Center.
The Hurricanes, winless in three straight (0-2-1) and 3-4-2 in their past nine games, are three points behind the New York Islanders for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
Goalie Alex Nedeljkovic will start; he's 0-1-1 with an .857 save percentage in two games since being recalled from Charlotte of the American Hockey League on Feb. 23.

Players to watch

Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho has 21 points (12 goals, nine assists) in his past 15 games and 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) in 16 games against Philadelphia.
Flyers forward Travis Konecny has seven points (four goals, three assists) in a four-game point streak.

They said it

"It's time to see if we can find something new. Doesn't mean we won't go back to the things we had. It's kind of a starting point and see how the game goes." -- Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour on starting Thursday with four new forward lines
"We're playing some good hockey. Everyone's buying into the system and we're putting together good 60-minute efforts. Even when things aren't going our way, we stick together and our leadership leads the way." -- Flyers center Kevin Hayes

Hurricanes projected lineup

Nino Niederreiter -- Sebastian Aho -- Teuvo Teravainen
Ryan Dzingel -- Jordan Staal -- Justin Williams
Andrei Svechnikov -- Vincent Trocheck -- Martin Necas
Warren Foegele -- Jordan Martinook -- Brock McGinn
Joel Edmundson -- Jaccob Slavin
Haydn Fleury -- Brady Skjei
Jake Gardiner -- Trevor van Riemsdyk
Alex Nedeljkovic
Anton Forsberg
Scratched: None
Injured:Dougie Hamilton (broken fibula), Petr Mrazek (concussion), Brett Pesce (shoulder), James Reimer (lower body), Sami Vatanen (lower body)

Flyers projected lineup

Claude Giroux -- Sean Couturier -- Jakub Voracek
Joel Farabee -- Kevin Hayes -- Travis Konecny
Scott Laughton -- Derek Grant -- Tyler Pitlick
Michael Raffl -- Nate Thompson -- Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Ivan Provorov -- Matt Niskanen
Travis Sanheim -- Philippe Myers
Robert Hagg -- Justin Braun
Carter Hart
Brian Elliott
Scratched: Shayne Gostisbehere
Injured: Nolan Patrick (migraine disorder), James van Riemsdyk (finger)

Status report

Vatanen left the Hurricanes morning skate early, and Brind'Amour called it a setback in the defenseman's recovery. … Farabee was recalled from Lehigh Valley of the AHL on Thursday and will replace van Riemsdyk, a forward who was injured blocking a shot in a 5-2 win against the Capitals on Wednesday.

Stat pack

Teravainen has 18 points (six goals, 12 assists) in 18 games against the Flyers ... Giroux has 15 points (six goals, nine assists) in his past 12 games.