Tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET, the Florida Panthers (1-1-0) and Philadelphia Flyers (0-3-0) go head-to-head live from Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. The game can be live streamed here. Florida fans can hear all the hard-hitting action on 560 WQAM while fans of Philadelphia can do the same at 97.5 FM The Fanatic.
Philadelphia will have a new look behind the bench as head coach Peter Laviolette was fired on Monday and Greg Berube will make his coaching debut for the winless Flyers, meanwhile the Panthers look to bounce back from a 7-0 shelling at the hands of the St. Louis Blues on Saturday.
The Flyers have scored just three goals through the first three games this season, leading to the coaching change, and they have only lit the lamp once at even strength. Philadelphia's top line of Claude Giroux (13 goals, 35 assists 47 points last season), Scott Hartnell (8-4-12) and Jakub Voracek (22-24-46) have no goals through the first three games and a minus-2 rating.
During his press conference, Berube said he believes the team needs to improve on defense and the offense will eventually come and that the team needs to be better away from the puck.
"I believe that we need to play better without the puck," Berube told NHL.com. "When you play good hockey without the puck, the team comes together and you do the right things to get the puck back and you keep the puck out of your net."
Brayden Schenn, Luke Schenn and Vincent Lecavalier have provided for the only Philadelphia goals so far this season after the team has dropped its first three games to the Toronto Maple Leafs by a 3-1 score, The Montreal Canadiens 4-1 and the Carolina Hurricanes 2-1.
Florida, which defeated the Dallas Stars in its season opener before being embarrassed by St. Louis Saturday, will hope to take advantage of the Flyers recent struggles as a way for the team to bounce back.
"We all have to take ownership in this one," coach Kevin Dineen said of the loss to the Blues, according to NHL.com. "It was a butt kicking. We have to move on, get ready for the next one."
Forward Marcel Goc has paced the Panthers so far in the young season as he notched two goals in the teams opening victory over the Stars. Goc had nine goals and 10 assists for 19 points last year.
Newly acquired goalie Tim Thomas has appeared in two games for the Panthers, and has allowed seven goals while saving 48 of 55 shots. Meanwhile, Steve Mason and Ray Emery will split time in the crease for the Flyers this season. Mason has appeared in two of the three games, and has let in five goals while stopping 54 of 59 shots faced while Emery has played in one game and has allowed four of 34 shots to beat him.
The Flyers hope that a new coaching regime will bring the team back to its winning ways while the Panthers look to put an embarrassingly lopsided loss behind them when the puck drops in Philadelphia tonight.
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