Flyers begin four game road trip with a showdown in Ottawa

The Philadelphia Flyers (29-27-14) open a four game road trip tonight as they take on the Ottawa Senators (32-24-11) at the Canadian Tire Centre. This is the second of three meetings between the clubs and the lone game in Canada. Opening faceoff is at 7:00.

The Flyers defeated the Senators 2-1 in a shootout back on January 6th at the Wells Fargo Center. Wayne Simmonds scored the Flyers lone goal in regulation and the winner in the fifth round of the shootout. Steve Mason made 41 saves in the win.

Philadelphia is coming off one of their best games of the season yesterday. The offense exploded for seven goals as they defeated the Detroit Red Wings 7-2 at home.

Six different players scored led by Brayden Schenn, two goals and one assist. Nicklas Grossmann, Matt Read, Zac Rinaldo, Pierre Edouard Bellemare and Simmonds also tallied. Mason made 31 saves for the win.

Mason has started the last eight games and has appeared in the last nine since coming off knee surgery. He figures to get the day off today as Ray Emery is expected to get the nod tonight.

Ottawa comes into tonight as one of the hottest teams in the league over the last few weeks. The Senators are 8-1-1 in their last ten games and have pulled to within seven points of both Boston and Washington for the final playoff spot.

Erik Karlsson, 18 goals and 36 assists, leads the team in scoring with 54 points. Bobby Ryan, 17 goals and 32 assists, is second with 49 points. Mike Hoffman paces the team with 24 goals.

For much of the season, Craig Anderson and Robin Lehner have almost split the starts in net. That has changed of late as rookie Andrew Hammond has given the team a spark . The young goalie is 9-0-1 in his first ten starts with a .954 save percentage, a 1.44 goals against average with 2 shutouts.

Game Notes

• Power Play: Flyers (3rd), Senators (23rd) 
  
• Penalty Kill: Flyers (29th), Senators (10th) 
• Wayne Simmonds needs one more goal for 100 as a Flyer

Flyers scratches: R.J Umberger, Brandon Manning, Radko Gudas, Michael Del Zotto, Nick Cousins

Flyers Projected Lineup

Line 1:  Brayden Schenn-Claude Giroux-Wayne Simmonds
Line 2: Matt Read-Sean Couturier-Wayne Simmonds
Line 3: Ryan White-Michael Raffl-Zac Rinaldo
Line 4:Chris VandeVelde-Pierre-Edouard Bellemare-Vincent Lecavalier

D-Pair 1: Nick Schultz-Mark Streit
D-Pair 2: Carlo Colaiacovo-Luke Schenn
D-Pair 3:Nicklas Grossmann-Andrew MacDonald

Goalie: Ray Emery

Where to Watch
TV: CSN Philly
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic 

Bill Minchin is a contributing writer for Flyerdelphia. Follow Bill on Twitter @wtfd103074