Tony DeAngelo
The Flyers were blown out again, this time by a 6-3 margin against the Hurricanes on Friday afternoon at Wells Fargo Center, sending the Flyers to their fifth straight loss.
Following an off day on Thanksgiving, the Flyers return to the ice to face the top team in the NHL, the Carolina Hurricanes, in the annual Black Friday game. The Flyers used the hot goaltending method to earn a 2-1 win against Carolina on the road earlier this month and they may need another one to salvage a week that certainly hasn’t been good so far.
The Carolina Hurricanes have set the tone for the Metropolitan Division. While every team seems to be hovering around where the Flyers are with a 6-3-2 record and 14 points, the Hurricanes sit at the top of the division with a 10-1-0 record and 20 points. A challenging weekend back-to-back on the road begins for the Flyers in Raleigh.
Derek Grant got his first two points as a Flyer, assisting on a shorthanded goal and getting the eventual game-winning goal in the Flyers 5-3 win over the New York Rangers on Sunday afternoon.
The Flyers have the chance to extend their winning streak to six games on Sunday afternoon, as they once again face the Rangers, this time on the road.
A recent surge has the Rangers just two points out of a playoff spot, while the Flyers, on a four-game winning streak of their own, look to maintain their place in third in the Metro with their sights now firmly set on taking another step and trying to catch the teams at the top.
New Flyers bench boss Alain Vigneault faces his most recent former team for the first as the Flyers and Rangers face off in the final game before the holiday break.
Carter Hart finished with 31 saves in 65 minutes and Henrik Lundqvist had 32. In a shootout, Mika Zibanejad had the only goal to lift the Rangers to a 2-1 shootout win over the Flyers.