Flyers try to regroup in Carolina
The Flyers, trying to rebound from a disastrous finish in Ottawa, will reach the halfway mark Tuesday when they play their 41st game of the season in Carolina.
The Flyers coughed up a 4-2 third-period lead and lost in Ottawa on Sunday, 6-4.
Tuesday will be their third game in four nights.
So who does coach Peter Laviolette start? Ilya Bryzgalov, who has a 3.07 GAA and .891 save percentage? Or Sergei Bobrovsky, who allowed a bad goal in the Winter Classic but has been more consistent this season than Bryzgalov?
Bobrovsky has a 2.56 GAA and .914 save percentage.
The lowly Hurricanes, who are without standout sophomore forward Jeff Skinner (concussion), have points in six of their last seven home games (5-1-1) but are just 10-10-3 at the RBC Center this season. Carolina, 14th in the 15-team East, has scored 24 goals in its last six home games.
The Flyers, fourth in the East and tied with the New York Rangers for the league's best road record (14-6-2), are 2-1 against Carolina this season, scoring 5-1 and 5-3 wins, and dropping a 4-2 decision at the Wells Fargo Center.
Breakaways. The Flyers, who did not practice Monday, are 16-9-2 without Chris Pronger this season and 8-3-2 with him…..Heading into Monday's action, the Flyers were eighth in the 30-team league on the power play, clicking at 19.3 percent; they were tied for 15th on the penalty kill (82.5 percent)…..Matt Read entered Monday tied for the NHL lead among rookies with 13 goals……Sean Couturier's goal in Sunday's loss in Ottawa was his first in 22 games…Claude Giroux, who entered Monday tied for second in the NHL with 48 points, is pointless in the last two games; he has not gone three straight games without a point this season….Carolina's Brian Boucher (lower-body injury) and Joni Pitkanen (concussion), a pair of ex-Flyers, have missed 15 and 14 games, respectively.
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A fan who threw a banana at the Flyers' Wayne Simmonds during an NHL exhibition game has been fined $200, according to the Associated Press.
Christopher Moorhouse lobbed a banana at Simmonds, the Flyers' only black player, as he was approaching Detroit goalie Jordan Pearce during a shootout in the Sept. 22 game in London, Ontario.
The 26-year-old Moorhouse pleaded guilty Monday but did not appear in court. Moorhouse was charged charged with a provincial trespassing and given 90 days to pay the fine. Police said there wasn't enough evidence to charge Moorhouse with a hate crime.
Moorhouse's lawyer, Faisal Joseph, has said his client didn't know hurling bananas at black athletes could be seen as hateful, AP reported.
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Follow Sam Carchidi on Twitter @BroadStBull.