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Flyers host Blue Jackets in south Philly

Nov 5, 2011 - 3:10 PM (Sports Network) - Tonight was supposed to mark Jeff Carter's first game back in Philadelphia, but instead the winger will miss a ninth straight tilt as his Columbus Blue Jackets visit the Flyers at Wells Fargo Center.

The former Flyer will be in Philadelphia tonight, but he hasn't skated since suffering a hairline fracture in his right foot on Oct. 15 against Dallas. He had three assists in five games before the injury.

Carter was a first-round pick (11th overall) by Philadelphia in the 2003 draft and he notched 181 goals and 343 points in 461 games with the Flyers. The 26- year-old had signed an 11-year, $58 million deal with the Flyers in Nov. 2010, but was traded to the Blue Jackets this past offseason.

The Flyers received winger Jakub Voracek in return for Carter and also picked up a first and third round pick in the 2011 draft in the deal. Voracek, who was selected seventh overall by Columbus in the 2007 draft, has two goals and four assists in 13 games for the Flyers this year.

Philadelphia also used the first-round pick it received for Carter to select Sean Couturier, who has been impressive this year as an 18-year-old rookie. Couturier has three goals, three assists and a plus-seven rating in 13 games for the Flyers.

Both the Blue Jackets and Flyers are coming off losses on Thursday. For Columbus, a 4-1 setback against visiting Toronto dropped the club to 2-10-1 on the season, while Philly's home shootout loss against New Jersey ended a two- game winning streak. The Flyers have a 7-4-2 record in 2011-12 and are just 3-3-2 on home ice.

Columbus was dealt a 4-1 setback by the Maple Leafs on Thursday, as Clarke MacArthur scored a pair of goals for the visitors. With just five points on the year, the Blue Jackets are off to the worst start through 13 games in club history.

Ryan Johansen netted the only goal for the Jackets, losers of three of their last four games. Steve Mason made seven saves on 11 shots and Allen York stopped all seven shots he faced in relief in a losing effort.

"Their goaltender was better than our goaltender, plain and simple," Blue Jackets head coach Scott Arniel said. "Their guy made a lot of big saves, just one end was good and one end wasn't."

It's unclear if Arniel will give Mason the night off on Saturday or if the 23- year-old will get a chance to redeem himself. Mason is 2-9-1 with a lofty 3.36 goals-against average in 12 games this season.

Columbus has still yet to post a road win this season, going 0-6-0 as the visiting club so far. The Blue Jackets have been outscored by a 26-13 margin on the road this year.

The Flyers were dealt a 4-3 loss by the Devils on Thursday, as Patrik Elias scored in the final round of the shootout to lift New Jersey to victory in the Atlantic Division battle.

With the final attempt of the shootout, Elias skated in on net and deked to the backhand before slipping it under the outstretched left pad of Sergei Bobrovsky for the win.

Zac Rinaldo tallied his first NHL goal while Claude Giroux and Maxime Talbot also scored for the Flyers, who were trying to win three straight games for the first time since the first three tests of the season. Bobrovsky made 36 saves, but stopped just one of three shootout chances.

"Well it's unfortunate because we fell that we should have won that game," said Talbot. "Twice in this game we had the lead and we lost it. Especially in the second period we were kind of sloppy. We will just have to look at tapes and pay attention to detail more and come back on Saturday."

The Flyers had Danny Briere back Thursday after a two-game absence, but fellow forwards James van Riemsdyk and Matt Read missed the game. Read, who has three goals and four assists as a rookie this year, has sat out the last two games with an upper body injury and is day-to-day.

Van Riemsdyk was a late scratch Thursday with a lower-body injury, although a recent report in the Philadelphia Daily News suggested that JVR could have played, but head coach Peter Laviolette scratched him because he was unhappy with the 22-year-old's play in Wednesday's win over Buffalo.

Van Riemsdyk, who the team has deemed day-to-day, notched his fifth goal of the season in the victory over the Sabres.

Defenseman Chris Pronger (eye) and Brayden Schenn (broken left foot) are still out for the Flyers.

The Flyers are 5-2-0 with three ties all-time against the Blue Jackets, but Columbus has won two of the last three encounters. Philadelphia has three wins and a tie in its four home meetings versus Columbus.