Flyers at Panthers preview
Hart looking for first road win since November for Philadelphia; Panthers 2-4-1 in past seven games
by Alain Poupart / NHL.com Independent Correspondent
FLYERS (31-19-7) at PANTHERS (30-20-6)
7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN360, SNE, SNP, NBCSP, NHL.TV
The Game
Goalie Carter Hart will look for his first road victory in more than three months when the Philadelphia Flyers play the Florida Panthers at BB&T Center on Thursday.
Hart has lost his past seven road starts since a 3-2 shootout victory against the Boston Bruins on Nov. 10. He allowed four goals on 18 shots in a 5-2 loss at BB&T Center on Nov. 19.
Hart made 30 saves in the Flyers' 4-1 win against the Panthers at Wells Fargo Center on Monday.
The Flyers, who are 8-3-1 in their past 12 games, are two points ahead of the Carolina Hurricanes and three points ahead of the Panthers for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
Florida, which is 2-4-1 in its past seven games, is two points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs for third place in the Atlantic Division.
Players to watch
Flyers forward Claude Giroux has six points (two goals, four assists) during a three-game point streak.
Panthers forward Mike Hoffman has 19 points (eight goals, 11 assists) in the past 17 games.
They said it
"It's going to be another hard game. This is a team that's got great speed and skill, top-end forwards that create things out of nothing. We're going to have to be at our best." -- Flyers coach Alain Vigneault
"We owe it to ourselves. They got the best of us in their building. It's our time and our job to do it in our building." -- Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad
Flyers projected lineup
Claude Giroux -- Sean Couturier -- Jakub Voracek
Joel Farabee -- Kevin Hayes -- Travis Konecny
James van Riemsdyk -- Scott Laughton -- Tyler Pitlick
Michael Raffl -- Connor Bunnaman -- Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Ivan Provorov -- Matt Niskanen
Travis Sanheim -- Philippe Myers
Robert Hagg -- Justin Braun
Carter Hart
Brian Elliott
Scratched: Morgan Frost
Injured: Nolan Patrick (migraine disorder), Shayne Gostisbehere (knee)
Panthers projected lineup
Jonathan Huberdeau -- Aleksander Barkov -- Evgenii Dadonov
Mike Hoffman -- Vincent Trocheck -- Brett Connolly
Frank Vatrano -- Dominic Toninato -- Colton Sceviour
Mike Matheson -- Noel Acciari -- Mark Pysyk
MacKenzie Weegar -- Aaron Ekblad
Riley Stillman -- Anton Stralman
Keith Yandle -- Josh Brown
Sergei Bobrovsky
Sam Montembeault
Scratched: Denis Malgin, Jayce Hawryluk
Injured: Brian Boyle (upper body), Chris Driedger (lower body)
Status report
Gostisbehere took part in the morning skate but the defenseman will miss a fourth consecutive game. … Matheson and Pysyk will play forward instead of their normal roles as defensemen for a second consecutive game. … Boyle will miss a fifth consecutive game and Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said the center would be out for "a while." … Driedger skated on his own Thursday and Quenneville said the goalie was ahead of schedule in his recovery from a lower-body injury he sustained against the Los Angeles Kings on Jan. 16.
Stat pack
Six of Sanheim's 17 goals the past two seasons have come against Bobrovsky, including one in each of the two games this season. … Florida is 0-for-10 on the power play in its past three games. … Dadonov has gone seven games without a goal after scoring in four consecutive games.