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Flyers face lowly Hurricanes; Lecavalier has minor injury

With lowly Carolina visiting the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday afternoon, the Flyers have a juicy opportunity to increase their points streak to five games and pick up ground in the Metropolitan Division.

No NHL team has fewer points than the Hurricanes (19), who have lost four straight and slipped to 8-17-3.

The Flyers (10-13-5) are coming off one of the better all-around performances of the season, a 4-1 win over New Jersey Thursday that started a four-game homestand. They have crept to within six points of a playoff spot.

In Thursday's methodical win, the Flyers outshot the Devils, 36-18.

Sean Couturier, who had a shorthanded goal and an assist Thursday, said the homestand is "huge, especially if we want to stay in the playoff race."

It was the Flyers' first game since returning from a 1-2-2 road trip.

"We can take all the confidence we can get right now," said backup goalie Ray Emery, who improved his record to 5-4-1 on Thursday. "At the end of the road trip, I thought we were playing better. We got some points, but more importantly, we started playing the right way. In spurts."

After facing Carolina, the schedule gets tougher as Tampa Bay and Florida visit the Wells Fargo Center. High-scoring winger Jake Voracek said the Flyers need at least six of a possible eight points to consider the homestand a success.

Breakaways. Vinny Lecavalier, a "healthy" scratch the last five games, missed practice Friday because of what GM Ron Hextall called a "tweaked" lower-body injury……Kimmo Timonen  was named the Good Guy winner and will be among the honorees at the Philadelphia Sports Writers' 111th annual banquet Jan. 16 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Cherry Hill. For tickets, go to pswadinner.com.

Follow Sam Carchidi on Twitter @BroadStBull.