Ryan Ellis to IR; the Flyers look to show the last game against the Flames ‘wasn’t us’
Nick Seeler has been recalled to replace Ellis, who has missed nine of the last 10 games.
The Flyers don’t feel like the Calgary Flames shut them out on Oct. 30 so much as they let the Flames shut them out.
“We didn’t play our game,” Ivan Provorov said. “I mean, just, we had four shots on net, 35 minutes into the game. I don’t think that’s us and hopefully we can limit the amount of those games to the minimum. We’re gonna come out way better [Tuesday] and prove that it wasn’t us last time.”
The 4-0 loss came at the end of a three-game road trip to western Canada. The Flames play a disciplined and simple game, forward Nate Thompson said, and that’s how you have to play to compete with them. The weary Flyers didn’t respond well, and as a result, they didn’t have the puck long enough to get anything going.
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The team remembers the game well, but even if it didn’t, coach Alain Vigneault reminded them with a talk Tuesday morning. He spoke to them about how tight the Flames play and how they have to be ready to have no room.
“You got to be able to make plays in small areas,” Vigneault said. “You need to have that willingness to beat someone one-on-one, to win a battle in front of the other team’s net to get a scoring opportunity or to win a battle in front of your net not to give the other team that opportunity.”
With the Flames (8-3-4) the visitors this time around, the Flyers have extra motivation to win and prove that game was a fluke. Luckily, they’ve performed pretty well after losses like the one they’re coming off of against the Dallas Stars, Thompson said. Rebounding against the Flames, who dominated them last meeting, would be big.
“I think tonight we have a great opportunity to respond,” Thompson said. “I think so far this season after a loss, we’ve responded pretty well, so I’m hoping we can do that tonight.”
Ryan Ellis to IR
The Flyers announced Tuesday that defenseman Ryan Ellis has been placed on Injured Reserve with an undisclosed injury. The offseason acquisition has missed nine of the last 10 games and was reinjured Saturday against Dallas in his return to the lineup.
Ellis was not at morning skate and Vigneault said he’s consulted one doctor and is waiting to get another’s opinion. On Monday, Vigneault declared that Ellis is “week-to-week” with his latest ailment.
Nick Seeler, who has played in 11 of the Flyers’ 13 games, was recalled from the AHL Phantoms to take Ellis’ place.
Giving the lines a chance
Despite the 5-2 loss to a Dallas team with a losing record, Vigneault plans to keep the lines pretty much the same.
Ahead of the game against the Stars, Vigneault had completely reworked the lines to accommodate Kevin Hayes’ return. He felt like they did well despite the score.
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“I thought our guys, considering our back-to-back game, the travel we had to do, we came to play,” Vigneault said.
“We were right there. We were skating. We were getting our opportunities. They had great goaltending, and we had some real good goaltending, we just couldn’t score.”
The result wasn’t enough to merit another revamp of the lines, Vigneault said. The biggest difference will be that Oskar Lindblom is a healthy scratch, and Patrick Brown will play on the fourth line in his place. Brown played on the fourth line with Thompson and Zack MacEwen prior to Hayes’s return and was a healthy scratch against the Stars.
Breakaways
The Flyers play the Flames at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Wells Fargo Center. ... Lindblom will be a healthy scratch, but he was at the optional morning skate. ... The club will induct Rick Tocchet and Paul Holmgren into the Flyers Hall of Fame prior to puck drop. The ceremony will begin at 6:30.