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Flyers hope to rebound on road trip against 'Canes

Jan 2, 2015 - 3:56 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Philadelphia Flyers hope to get back on the right track when they make the seventh stop on an eight-game road trip Friday against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Philadelphia had a promising start to its longest trip of the season, posting three straight victories to begin the swing. However, the Flyers have lost the last three tests, including an overtime setback to Colorado on New Year's Eve.

The Flyers trailed the Avalanche 2-1 after 40 minutes, but went ahead after third-period goals from Vincent Lecavalier and Claude Giroux. However, just 2 minutes, 48 seconds after Giroux put his team ahead with a power-play goal, the Avs answered with PPG of their own.

Jarome Iginla tied it with 7:12 left in the third and Ryan O'Reilly won it for Colorado with just 19.9 seconds left in the extra session.

"Any time you lose in overtime, you're obviously disappointed," said Giroux. "It was a weird game and we just tried to be patient. But when you go into overtime, you should be getting these points."

Jakub Voracek, who leads the NHL with 47 points, scored the other goal for the Flyers, while Steve Mason allowed four goals on 33 shots.

Philadelphia, which will complete its swing tomorrow in New Jersey, is 6-11-4 as the road club this season.

It's uncertain if Mason or backup Ray Emery will get the start tonight, but both netminders have excellent career numbers against the Hurricanes. Mason is 6-2-1 with a 1.89 goals against average in this matchup, while Emery boasts a 5-0 mark, .74 GAA and a .977 save percentage against Carolina. Two of Emery's 16 career shutouts also have come against the 'Canes.

Carolina enters tonight on a three-game slide and has scored just one goal in each of those three regulation setbacks. The Hurricanes, however, have had success against the Flyers in recent years, winning four straight in the series before Philly posted a 5-1 home win on Dec. 13.

The 'Canes, who are 6-8-2 at home this season, have beaten the Flyers in the past two meetings in Raleigh.

Carolina played a solid road game Wednesday in Pittsburgh, but left without a point as former Hurricane forward Brandon Sutter scored the winning goal late in the third period to lift the Penguins to a 2-1 win.

Eric Staal scored the only goal of the game for Carolina, while Cam Ward allowed both goals on 39 shots in the loss.

"You've got to get more than one goal if you want to win," said Carolina head coach Bill Peters. "We had our chances, just didn't put it away."

The Hurricanes posted a 3-10-1 record in December and was held to one goal or less in 10 of those games.

Jordan Staal missed Wednesday's game due to a lower-body injury. Staal made his season debut Monday against Montreal after missing the first few months of 2014-15 with a broken leg. Staal is questionable for tonight.