The Philadelphia Flyers Face the Florida Panthers
The Florida Panthers (7-7-0) will face the Philadelphia Flyers (10-4-2) tonight without right winger Steve Bernier, who suffered a fractured orbital bone in Friday’s Panther’s win over the Minnesota Wild.
Bernier was struck with a stick by The Wild’s Brent Burns at the end of the game. Burns, today, was given a two game suspension by the league for what the league described as “careless use of his stick.”
The Panthers are coming off back-to-back wins against the Wild and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Before that, they split a home and home series against the Carolina Hurricanes. It was those same Hurricanes the Flyers demolished on Thursday, which included 2 goals from Danny Briere and a hat trick from Jeff Carter.
It is expected that before the game starts, the Flyers will hold a press conference to announce the 11 year, $58 million dollar contract extension for the high-scoring Carter. Carter, in his 5th season with the Flyers, has scored 8 goals and has 6 assists.
Carter was drafted by the Flyers in 2003 and won the Calder Cup with the Flyer’s minor league team. He was second in league goal scoring in the 2008-2009 season with 46 goals. Though, last season was considered a disappointment as he battled through injury and a drop in scoring. He missed most of the play-off with foot injuries.
The Flyers hope to get back on track after having a 6 game winning streak snapped by the Washington Capitals. Rookie net-minder Sergei Bobrovsky was one win away from tying the Flyers’ all-time record for consecutive wins by a rookie goalie held by the late Pelle Lindbergh who had 7 in a row.
Philadelphia is currently 2nd overall in the Eastern Conference, 2 points behind the league leading Washington Capitals. In the Atlantic division, Philadelphia is 5 points ahead of the NY Rangers.
Florida is 11th in the Eastern Conference and is in last place in the Southeast Division.
The Panthers are 11-4-1 against Philadelphia since the beginning of the 2006-2007 season.
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