Help is on the way for Flyers as Rasmus Ristolainen and Marc Staal return to practice

The Flyers returned to the East Coast, and with that came the return of a couple of guys. Sporting yellow noncontact jerseys, defensemen Marc Staal and Rasmus Ristolainen were back on the ice for practice in Voorhees on Tuesday.

Full participants, Staal and Ristolainen said they were feeling good after going down with injuries and expect to return to the lineup sooner rather than later. Ristolainen has been out with an undisclosed lower-body injury since the preseason. He had a setback around the end of October and was placed on long-term injured reserve on Nov. 3.

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“Yeah, I tried to come back earlier, and it went back [to] the way it was, so, yeah, that’s frustrating,” Ristolainen said. “But you can’t really do anything about it and just keep working.”

Staal revealed that during the awkward collision with Warren Foegele on Oct. 19, the Edmonton Oilers forward’s knee went into his ribs, and it was “pretty painful.”

“I was just starting to get my feet wet there a little bit. It always takes time with a new team, new systems, and being old,” the 36-year-old Staal said with a smile and chuckle. “When I get back in, I’m just going to try and play a little catch-up again and try to get into the flow of the season and getting back into it. I kind of put the work in this week and get myself best prepared and kind of build off where I left off.”

The pair stayed on for some extra work after practice and have each been back skating for about a week. When they return is still to be determined, although Staal did say he’ll take it day-by-day by the weekend, when the Flyers play a Saturday matinee against the Vegas Golden Knights and then play again Sunday against the Columbus Blue Jackets. But first, the Flyers hit the road on Tuesday to officially close out the road trip on Wednesday night in Carolina.

When they are ready to return, who comes out will be a tough decision for coach John Tortorella as the Flyers have been primarily rolling with the same defense since the pair went down.

“When there are decisions to be made, you know you’re getting deeper in your lineup,” Tortorella said. “I’m not going to lose sight of the kids. So we’ll see where it all goes.”

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Carter Hart is feeling a lot better after he had food poisoning in California. The Flyers’ No. 1 goalie said he had some bad fish on the trip.

Hart was expected to start in Anaheim but was ruled out because of illness on the day of the game. He then was announced as the starter against the Los Angeles Kings but was a late scratch again. Hart missed the three previous games after suffering a back injury against the Buffalo Sabres on Nov. 1.

Tortorella would not reveal his starting goalie against the Hurricanes, but considering that Hart’s back and stomach are better, it wouldn’t be a shock if he returns between the pipes.

Felix Sandström also returned to practice. The goalie was recalled from his AHL conditioning stint with Lehigh Valley and placed on injured reserve with an upper-body injury Nov. 4. ... Defenseman Victor Mete and goalie Cal Petersen were sent down to Lehigh Valley on Tuesday. ... Prospect Denver Barkey was named the OHL player of the week after notching seven points (two goals, five assists) in three games for the London Knights.