Flyers-Canucks 5 Things: A Game That Needs to Be Won

Flyers (21-16-6) vs. Canucks (20-19-4)
7 p.m. on CSN, CSNPhilly.com and the NBC Sports App; Pregame Live at 6:30

The Flyers have lost nine of their last 11 games but have a quality opportunity to get back in the win column when they host the Vancouver Canucks at the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday night.

Here are five things you need to know:

1. Take care of business
The spiraling Flyers need this one.

They have three games before their NHL mandated bye week - which Ron Hextall is not a fan of, by the way - and the final two matchups are no cupcakes: at Boston and at Washington.

The Canucks come to town as one of the league's worst road clubs at 5-13-2 away from home, where they score 2.15 goals per game compared to 3.10 goals against.

Overall, Vancouver ranks in the bottom 19 of the NHL in goals per game (2.37 - 25th), goals against per game (2.84 - 19th), power-play percentage (13.7 - 27th) and penalty-kill percentage (80.7 - 20th).

The Flyers are 2-6-3 over their previous 11 contests. If they lose to the Canucks before heading to Boston and Washington, they could be in an ugly state entering the five-day break.

2. Hakstol's carousel
The changes keep on coming.

Head coach Dave Hakstol has consistently experimented with his lineup and benched players throughout the team's 43 games.

It will continue Thursday.

Radko Gudas - not Andrew MacDonald - will be a healthy scratch, signaling Nick Schultz's entering the defensive pairs.

Meanwhile, the forward combinations will see some tinkering, too.

"We're not going to start mixing and matching all over the place," Hakstol said Wednesday after practice, "but at the same time, we haven't had a whole lot of success over the last 10 games. We'll do things with reason and with purpose, and if we feel a change is necessary and makes sense, we're going to make it."

3. Time for a trade?
No, says general manager Ron Hextall - and justifiably so.

A losing stretch will not alter Hextall's course of action.

"I'm not going to make a trade to send a message," he said Wednesday. "I'm [only] going to make a trade to make us better."

Decisions will be coming, though, with Mark Streit's impeding return.

4. Keep an eye on ...
Flyers: Brayden Schenn's play is not drawing much praise because of the team's struggles, but the forward is doing his job. Schenn has nine goals in the last 14 games and overall has nine power-play markers, tied for most in the NHL with Cam Atkinson and Sidney Crosby.

Canucks: Bo Horvat is a nice, young player for Vancouver. The 21-year-old center leads the Canucks in goals (13) and points (29), and just had a seven-game point streak snapped.

5. This and that
• Steve Mason is 0-5-2 in his past seven games with a 3.52 goals-against average and .864 save percentage.

• In 33 career games against the Flyers, Canucks goalie Ryan Miller is 16-13-2 with a 2.82 goals-against average and .908 save percentage.

• Shayne Gostisbehere has gone 20 straight games without a goal.

• The Flyers are two points ahead of the Panthers for the Eastern Conference's second wild-card spot.