Flyers' Emery gets first start; Raffl on top line vs. Canadiens

Backup goalie Ray Emery will make his first start of the season Saturday night, facing the Montreal Canadiens at the Wells Fargo Center.

Montreal, which will start Carey Price, is 2-0 after road wins in Toronto and Washington. The Flyers are 0-2 and are trying to avoid their third straight 0-3 start.

Goalie Steve Mason played the Flyers' first two games, a 2-1 loss in Boston, and a 6-4 defeat against the New Jersey Devils, who iced the win with an empty-net goal.

In the loss to the Devils Thursday, coach Craig Berube altered three of his four lines after the Flyers fell into a 3-0 hole. The Flyers rallied and tied the score at 3-3 _ and later at 4-4 _ before Mason allowed his weakest goal of the night, allowing the Devils to take the lead for good.

Berube will apparently go with those revamped lines on Saturday:

** Claude Giroux centering Michael Raffl and Jake Voracek.

** Vinny Lecavalier centering Brayden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds.

** Sean Couturier centering Matt Read and R.J. Uberger.

The fourth line remains the same as it has looked in the first two games: Pierre-Edouard Belemare centering Zac Rinaldo and Jason Akeson. Bellemare, 29, who grew up in Paris, hit iron with a first-period shot Thursday, coming within inches of his first NHL goal.

The D pairings Saturday: Andrew MacDonald and Nick Schultz; Mark Streit and Nick Grossmann; and Luke Schenn and Michael Del Zotto. The latter duo was a combined minus-9 in the loss to the Devils.

Braydon Coburn (lower-body injury) will be examined by a specialist Monday, and there is a chance he returns to the lineup next Saturday in Dallas.

Top-line center Tomas Plekanec already has three goals for Montreal, and he will probably be flanked by wingers Alex Galchenyuk (two assists) and rookie Jiri Sekac.

Montreal hasn't started 3-0 since 2005.

Follow Sam Carchidi on Twitter @BroadStBull.