Flyers at Hurricanes preview

FLYERS (15-17-5) at HURRICANES (15-17-5)
6 p.m. ET; FS-CR, NBCSP, NHL.TV

The Flyers have lost back-to-back games (0-1-1) and are 1-2-1 in their past four. Rookie goalie Carter Hart will start for the fifth time in seven games since being recalled from Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League on Dec. 17.
Carolina is 0-2-0 in its past two games and 1-4-0 in its past five.

Players to watch

Flyers forward Claude Giroux has 16 points (five goals, 11 assists) in his past 14 games.
Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho has five points (three goals, two assists) in his past three games and 13 points (eight goals, five assists) in his past 10.

They said it

"[Hart] played well, and is just trying to build on what he's been doing. It wasn't a hard decision and that's nothing against [Michal Neuvirth]. We have back-to-back games here and we'll see how tonight's goes and make a decision on tomorrow's game (against the Nashville Predators) tomorrow." -- Flyers coach Scott Gordon
"I think confidence in general for hockey players, for athletes, is huge. When they're feeling good they don't worry about the mistakes. Right now, guys are a little tentative. Can't play that way. Got to keep sticking your nose to the grindstone and keep doing it right." -- Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour

Flyers projected lineup

James van Riemsdyk -- Claude Giroux -- Travis Konecny
Wayne Simmonds -- Sean Couturier -- Jakub Voracek
Scott Laughton -- Jordan Weal -- Michael Raffl
Oskar Lindblom --
Phil Varone
-- Dale Weise
Ivan Provorov -- Travis Sanheim
Robert Hagg -- Shayne Gostisbehere
Andrew MacDonald -- Radko Gudas
Carter Hart
Michal Neuvirth
Scratched:Christian Folin, Jori Lehtera
Injured:Corban Knight (collarbone), Brian Elliott (lower body), Anthony Stolarz (lower body), Nolan Patrick (upper body)

Hurricanes projected lineup

Brock McGinn -- Sebastian Aho -- Teuvo Teravainen
Janne Kuokkanen -- Clark Bishop -- Justin Williams
Andrei Svechnikov -- Victor Rask -- Micheal Ferland
Warren Foegele -- Lucas Wallmark -- Jordan Martinook
Jaccob Slavin -- Brett Pesce
Calvin de Haan -- Justin Faulk
Trevor van Riemsdyk -- Dougie Hamilton
Curtis McElhinney
Petr Mrazek
Scratched:Phillip Di Giuseppe
Injured:Haydn Fleury (concussion), Jordan Staal (upper body)

Status report

Elliott could return to the Flyers in three weeks, general manager Chuck Fletcher told the Philadelphia Inquirer. He is making progress and will not need surgery. ... Martinook had a maintenance day Sunday but will play.

Stat pack

Couturier has 10 points (four goals, six assists) in his past 11 games. ... Williams will play his 1,200th NHL game. He'll be the fifth active NHL player with that many after Toronto Maple Leafs forward Patrick Marleau (1,614), San Jose Sharks forward Joe Thornton (1,524), Pittsburgh Penguins forward Matt Cullen (1,472) and Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara (1,443).