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Flyers eye first victory of season in clash with Hurricanes

Oct 6, 2013 - 1:55 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - Still looking for their first even-strength goal this season, the Philadelphia Flyers try to avoid their second straight 0-3 start as they visit the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday evening.

The Flyers have been outscored 7-2 in dropping their first two contests, with both goals coming on the power play. Newcomer Vincent Lecavalier assisted on Brayden Schenn's power-play tally in Wednesday's loss to Toronto, then scored on the man advantage himself in last night's 4-1 setback in Montreal.

Ray Emery made his season debut with Philadelphia and posted 30 saves to keep his club in the game despite the Flyers being shorthanded nine times. Montreal scored a pair of power-play goals, both in the third period.

"The first two periods, we got going during 5-on-5 but it only lasted two and three minutes, and then the penalty killers were back on the ice," said Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette. "We lost our composure during the last part of the game and it unraveled from there."

The Flyers had no problems scoring goals against the Hurricanes last season, outscoring them 14-9 in taking all three meetings.

Philadelphia has won four straight and 15 of its last 17 versus the Hurricanes, taking three straight and 10 of the previous 11 in Carolina.

Sunday marks the first time the clubs are meeting as rivals in the newly- formed Metropolitan Division.

The 'Canes opened their season on Friday with a 3-2 overtime setback at home to Detroit. Carolina led 2-1 late, but the Red Wings' Henrik Zetterberg notched the game-tying goal with 17 seconds to go in regulation and Stephen Weiss won it for Detroit at the 3:13 mark of overtime.

His rebound shot got past Carolina's Cam Ward, who made 35 saves on 38 shots faced.

"When you're going to play good teams like this, those last five minutes, you're going to have to get the job done. We didn't get the job done, and you lose a point," said Hurricanes head coach Kirk Muller.

Radek Dvorak, signed to a contract two days prior to the game, and Nathan Gerbe scored for the Hurricanes, while Justin Faulk assisted on both tallies. Gerbe was also making his regular-season debut with Carolina.

Ward is 5-10-3 with a 3.16 goals against average in 19 career appearances versus the Flyers, while both Emery and Steve Mason have never lost to the Hurricanes.

Emery is 5-0-0 with a 0.73 GAA and two shutouts, while Mason is 5-0-0 with a 1.80 GAA. It is unknown which goaltender will start today.