The Philadelphia Flyers celebrate a goal scored against the Buffalo Sabres in a 5-2 win last week at the Wells Fargo Center. Image c/o Amy Irvin of 38Photography.
The Philadelphia Flyers will close out the regular season today with a game against the Carolina Hurricanes at the Wells Fargo Center. It’s been quite a year for the Orange and Black who started out a miserable 0-3-0 and fell to 1-7-0 before really starting to turn things around. This season, Claude Giroux went from a guy scoring less than a half a point per game to over a point per game on the year as he will finish with at least 85 points in 82 games. Giroux had three points in yesterday’s win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. It was the Flyers’ 39th win in either regulation or overtime on the year, and with one final regular season game to play, Giroux is just two points back from being able to tie Anaheim Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf for second overall in scoring in the entire National Hockey League.
While Giroux’s season was one for the ages, it’s also important to note that his cohorts had good years as well once they got going of course. Sean Couturier (12 goals, 26 assists, 38 points), Brayden Schenn (20 goals, 21 assists, 41 points), Wayne Simmonds (27 goals, 31 assists, 58 Points), and Jakub Voracek (23 goals, 38 assists, 61 points) all will finish this year with career highs in points. The Flyers will also end the year with seven players in Giroux, Hartnell, Schenn, Simmonds, Voracek, Vinny Lecavalier, and Matt Read all reaching the 20-goal mark. 10 players, including all of the aforementioned players as well as Mark Streit (10 goals, 32 assists, 42 points), and Kimmo Timonen (five goals, 28 assists, 33 points) have at least 30 points. That’s quite a bit of depth throughout their lineup which, considering the team’s scoring woes through the first 15 games or so, is a big deal heading into the post-season. To make a deep run, all four lines and all three defense pairings need to be able to contribute, and those numbers bode well for the team.
Goaltending has also not been too much of an issue this year as Steve Mason and Ray Emery have posted good numbers and have not been prone to letting in too many backbreaking goals. Neither Mason nor Emery will get the call today as Cal Heeter is scheduled to make his NHL debut in his first career start. Mason will finish the season with a 33-18-7 record, a 2.50 goals against average, a .917 save percentage, and four shutouts. Emery will end up with a 9-12-2 record, a 2.96 goals against average, a .903 save percentage, and two shutouts. Despite Emery’s record and numbers in a backup role this year, he has played fairly well in some of his starts, even stealing a few games, and is capable of taking the starter role if needed.
As far as injuries go: Steve Mason left yesterday’s game with an upper-body injury, but coach Craig Berube said that Mason was only relieved of his duties for precautionary reasons, while Kimmo Timonen and Nicklas Grossmann were given a maintenance day. According to Berube, Mason should be ready to go when the Flyers square off at Madison Square Garden against their Metropolitan Division rivals, the New York Rangers. That series will kick off later this week, but let’s focus on the task at hand: the 82nd and final game of the 2013-2014 regular season for the Philadelphia Flyers as they host the Carolina Hurricanes. You can purchase tickets to all Philadelphia Flyers games through Tiqiq.com.
Carolina Hurricanes on 04.13.2014 at 3:00 PM in Philadelphia
The Carolina Hurricanes have been out of the playoff race for a couple of weeks now. They have 81 points and sit in seventh place in the Eastern Conference. They finish the year out with an 18-17-6 record at home, while their record on the road currently stands at 17-18-5. The ‘Canes won their last game as they defeated the playoff bound Detroit Red Wings by a score of 2-1. Carolina has a chance to sweep the season series today as they have won the previous three meetings between these clubs by scores of 2-1, 2-1 in overtime, and 3-2.
The Hurricanes are led by Eric Staal, their captain, with 59 points (19 goals, 40 assists). Jeff Skinner is second on the team with 52 points, but has the most goals for the ‘Canes with 31 (21 assists). Defenseman Andrej Sekera had a breakout year for Carolina as he has 44 points (11, goals, 33 assists). Alexander Semin has 42 points (22 goals, 20 assists), Jordan Staal has 40 points (15 goals, 25 assists), while Nathan Gerbe has 31 points (16 goals, 15 assists), and newly-re-signed defenseman Justin Faulk has 30 points (five goals, 25 assists).
Carolina’s goaltenders ran into some injury issues this year, both Cam Ward and Anton Khudobin missed large chunks of the season. Justin Peters did an admirable job in their absence, going 7-9-4, with a 2.50 goals against average, a .919 save percentage, and one shutout. Khudobin has an 18-14-1 record, with a 2.23 goals against average, a .927 save percentage, and a shutout as well. Ward has a 10-12-6 record, a 3.06 goals against average, and a.898 save percentage.
If the Flyers would like to get that 40th win in either regulation or overtime, they will need to find a way to score goals against Carolina, which they have had trouble with all season as they have been limited to one goal in two of the previous three meetings and scored just two in the other game. Since the matchups for the first round are set, this game effectively means nothing, but it would be nice for the Flyers to beat a lesser opponent if for no other reason than to build more confidence heading into the post-season.
