Flyers defenseman Ryan Ellis injured again, now ‘week to week’

The Flyers eased Ryan Ellis back into the lineup by playing him for 18 minutes, 45 seconds against the Dallas Stars rather than the 24:15 he averaged in his first three games with the team. Two days later, Ellis was not at practice.

“Ryan reinjured himself during the game,” coach Alain Vigneault said after practice. “So we’re getting him reevaluated, and I would say at this time, timeline would be week to week.”

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Ellis had been described as “day to day” with a lower-body injury for nine games before he made his return against the Stars on Saturday. Rather than slot him in immediately on the top pair, where he started the season, Vigneault placed him on the third pair with Keith Yandle.

Ellis played the fourth-highest total of minutes on the defense, with both Yandle and Rasmus Ristolainen, from the second pair, finishing below him. Ellis also played on the second power-play unit, and he spent some time on the top pair with Ivan Provorov at the end of the game.

Ellis spoke to the media after the game and said “everything is fine, felt OK.”

Vigneault isn’t sure when Ellis spoke to the medical team, but the coach was made aware of the problem Sunday. He said they’ll continue to “investigate” because there are “definitely some issues there.”

Provorov said it’s a tough situation, with Ellis working so hard to get back only to immediately get hurt again. The team is eager to have him back, but it wants what is best for him.

“As a team, we’ll be able to adjust, and we’ll try to support him,” Provorov said. “And hopefully it’s not that long. But, I think this time, he should take all the time that he needs and come out when he’s ready.”

Vigneault said he has a lot of faith in Oskar Lindblom and has liked what he has seen from him. Even so, he won’t be in the lineup Tuesday against the Calgary Flames.

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“We’re gonna use [Tuesday] sort of as a reset and he won’t be playing, but I have, and I told him, again, I have a lot of faith that he’ll get back to where he was before,” Vigneault said.

Lindblom started the season on the third line with Scott Laughton and James van Riemsdyk. Together, they created numerous scoring chances, but struggled to turn them into goals. After 13 games and 19 shots, Lindblom is still searching for his first goal of the season.

Captain Claude Giroux said maybe a step back is what Lindblom needs. They all see how hard he’s working, but Giroux also said Lindblom tends to place more pressure on himself than he should.

Getting Lindblom to where he wants to be is going to take work, Vigneault said, but he’s confident he can get there.

“It’s gonna take time,” Vigneault said. “It’s gonna take patience and it’s gonna take a lot of hard work from him. But hard work, after what he’s been through, I’m sure that he’ll get it done.”

Zack MacEwen, who scored his first goal as a Flyer on Saturday, blocked a shot and spent the next few minutes trying to skate it off. He rejoined the drills at full strength. ... Carter Hart will start in goal against the Flames. The game starts at 7 p.m. at the Wells Fargo Center. ... The Flyers will induct Paul Holmgren and Rick Tocchet into their Hall of Fame before the game at 6:30 p.m.