Time: Thursday, Dec 10, 2009 at 7:00 PM ET
League: NHL – United States of America

Last 10 matches: Ottawa 4-5-1; Philadelphia 2-8-0
Alex Kovalev has three points in his last four games. Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson have two points in their last two games. Philadelphia’s Scott Hartnell has three points in his last three games. Richards, Carter and Giroux are all coming off two-goal performances.The Flyers rank third in the NHL with 32.2 shots per game while the Senators are 15th with 29.9 shots. The Flyers are seventh in allowing only 28 shots while the Senators are ninth with 28.7. The Flyers are fourth on the power, scoring 23.4 percent of the time, while the Senators are 23rd with a 17.5 success rate. The Senators are 13th in penalty-killing at 81.2 percent while the Flyers are 25th at 77.8 percent. The Flyers get 1.11 goals to every goal their opponents get in 5-on-5 play while the Senators have a 0.93-to-1 ratio.
This is the second meeting of these teams this year. The Flyers won, 5-1, at the WachoviaCenter on Nov. 12 when Danny Briere returned from an injury and scored twice and Ray Emery made 22 saves to defeat the team he took to the 2007 Stanley Cup Final. The Flyers visit Ottawa on Jan. 3, their first game after the Winter Classic, and again on March 23. Ottawa won three of four games last season, including a shootout victory at Philadelphia in their last meeting, April 4. The Senators rank seventh in the Eastern Conference and the Flyers are 10th. The Flyers are 31-22-8-3 in 64 meetings with the Senators.
The Flyers are 1-2-0 in three games since replacing head John Stevens on Dec. 4. After losing to Washington and Montreal, they beat the New York Islanders 6-2 on Tuesday to end a five-game losing streak. They scored more goals in that game than in the previous five games combined.
New coach Peter Laviolette was glad to get the win but he wasn’t pleased with their nine penalties, an average night for the club that leads the NHL with 18.2 penalty minutes per game. Laviolette put the Flyers through a grueling skate Wednesday morning.
With Emery out for six weeks due to abdominal surgery, Brian Boucher is once again the Flyers’ starting goalie. He had a tremendous rookie season here in 1999-00 when he went 20-10-3 and led the NHL with a 1.91 goals-against average. He struggled the next season and was traded away the year after that. Boucher set the NHL record with five consecutive shutouts in 2003-04, totaling 332:01 without allowing a goal. Goal’s highlights, results and more will be on site, as soon as posible.. don’t miss it.