Flyers at Panthers preview

FLYERS (15-13-8) at PANTHERS (15-16-5)
7:30 p.m. ET; FS-F, NBCSP, NHL.TV

The Panthers and Flyers each will be playing their first game after the Christmas break.
Goalie James Reimer, who will make his 10th consecutive start, made 38 saves in a 1-0 victory against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.
The Flyers' last game was a 2-1 shootout loss against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday. They have lost back-to-back games and are 1-2-1 in their past four after losing 10 in a row (0-5-5) and then winning six straight. Goaltender Brian Elliott is expected to make his 12th consecutive start.

Players to watch

Flyers forward Claude Giroux has eight assists during a five-game point streak and 14 points (two goals, 12 assists) in his past nine games.
Panthers forward Jonathan Huberdeau has three goals in the past two games. He scored in the victory against the Senators.

They said it

"You don't have time to ease into it. You've got to have detail to your game and you've got to have readiness. That's just how it is." -- Flyers coach Dave Hakstol, on the first game after the Christmas break
"I want all those guys getting a little more selfish when they get in those scoring areas. [Aleksander Barkov] is guilty of passing too much. [Jonathan Huberdeau] is guilty of it. [Evgenii Dadonov] is guilty of it. So we're trying to make sure we get a little more of a shooting mentality out of all those guys." -- Panthers coach Bob Boughner

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Flyers projected lineup

Claude Giroux
--
Sean Couturier
--
Travis Konecny
Michael Raffl
--
Nolan Patrick
-- Jakub Voracek
Dale Weise -- Valtteri Filppula -- Wayne Simmonds
Taylor Leier -- Scott Laughton -- Jordan Weal
Ivan Provorov -- Shayne Gostisbehere
Robert Hagg -- Andrew MacDonald
Travis Sanheim -- Radko Gudas
Brian Elliott
Michal Neuvirth
Scratched:Mark Alt, Jori Lehtera
Injured:Brandon Manning (upper body)

Panthers projected lineup

Jonathan Huberdeau -- Aleksander Barkov -- Nick Bjugstad
Evgenii Dadonov -- Vincent Trocheck -- Denis Malgin
Jamie McGinn -- Jared McCann -- Connor Brickley
Micheal Haley -- Derek MacKenzie -- Colton Sceviour
Keith Yandle -- Aaron Ekblad
Mike Matheson -- Mark Pysyk
MacKenzie Weegar -- Alexander Petrovic
James Reimer
Harri Sateri
Scratched: None
Injured:Roberto Luongo (lower body), Ian McCoshen (upper body), Radim Vrbata (illness)

Status report

Neuvirth was activated from injured reserve Tuesday and goalie Alex Lyon was assigned to Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League. … Vrbata was told to stay home Thursday as he continues to battle the flu. Trocheck will play after leaving the Ottawa game in the third period after being hit in the ribs by a shot. McGinn is expected back after missing the past two games because of an upper-body injury.

Stat pack

The Flyers are 0-9-2 the past three seasons on road trips immediately following the Christmas break. … Reimer is one of five goalies to start seven games since Dec. 11, and his .946 save percentage in those games is the best among the group.