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Flyers hope to find their offense against Devils

Dec 4, 2010 - 3:32 PM (Sports Network) - Offense has been hard to come by for the Philadelphia Flyers, who have matched their longest losing streak of the season. They get a chance to avoid a fourth straight setback this afternoon against a team that shut them down last weekend as they host the New Jersey Devils at the Wells Fargo Center.

The Flyers are among the league leaders in goals scored this season with 86, but have been held to just three tallies over a three-game slide (0-2-1). After consecutive shootout losses to Calgary and New Jersey last weekend, Philadelphia was shut out by Boston, 3-0, on Wednesday, in the first meeting between the teams since the Flyers rallied from a 3-0 series deficit to win last season's Eastern Conference semifinals.

It was the club's first regulation loss since Nov. 18 and the three-game slide matches the Flyers' longest skid of the season from Oct. 14-21. They had scored 21 goals over four games prior to this current losing streak, but are just 2-for-37 on the power play over their last eight games.

"It's not like we played really bad ... but I think we can be better. It's going to be a big weekend for us this weekend," said Flyers forward Claude Giroux, referring to today's game versus the Devils and tomorrow's clash at the Islanders.

Philadelphia, which has lost three of its last four at home, is now two points back of first-place Pittsburgh in the Atlantic Division, where New Jersey sits fourth with 18 points.

Flyers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky took home Rookie of the Month honors for November after going 7-1-2 with a 2.02 goals-against average. He allowed just two goals on 31 shots in Wednesday's loss and has yet to face the Devils this season.

Instead, it was Brian Boucher who started last Saturday's 2-1 shootout setback in New Jersey. Boucher made 24 saves, but allowed Travis Zajac's game-winner in the fourth round of the deciding frame.

With Martin Brodeur out with a a bruised elbow, Johan Hedberg got the start and made 40 saves as the Devils halted a three-game slide to the Flyers and beat the club for just the second time in the last eight regular-season meetings.

New Jersey has still lost four straight and six of its last seven in Philadelphia and those numbers include the Flyers' five-game series victory over the second-seeded Devils in last year's opening round of the postseason.

Hedberg was not as successful in net on Thursday, yielding two goals on the first three shots faced in a 5-1 setback to the Canadiens. Hedberg was pulled in favor of Mike McKenna less than two minutes into the game, with McKenna making 26 saves, including one on a penalty shot.

"[The Canadiens] moved the puck through the neutral zone really well, and for whatever reason we just had a tough time controlling them coming through there," McKenna said.

Jason Arnott scored the lone goal, his team-leading ninth, for the Devils, who had won three of four but suffered defeat for the seventh time in 11 games. They also had a four-game home winning streak end and begin a three-game road trip with this contest. New Jersey has dropped four in a row as the guest and hasn't won away from the Garden State since Nov. 3.

Captain Jamie Langenbrunner returned for the Devils after missing eight games with a neck injury, skating in just over 20 minutes of action.