Author: Jackie Spiegel

Let’s get weird. Like in playoff hockey, the Flyers will get another crack at home to beat the streaking Tampa Bay Lightning.

On Saturday, the Flyers helped the Bolts extend their winning streak to nine games in a 7-2 loss. Some of it was because of the talent the Lightning have and some of it was self-inflicted by the Flyers with careless turnovers and miscues.

Blueliner Rasmus Ristolainen was asked Sunday after practice what the Flyers can do better. “Obviously, the defensive part of the game,” he said. “We let their good players have too much space, and it was too much fun for them.”

The Flyers would much rather be the ones having fun. But who joins Monday’s party is still to be determined. There will be a few game-time decisions for the Flyers.

Carl Grundström missed practice Sunday due to illness, and Travis Konecny, who was returning from an upper-body injury, got nailed with a shot on the knee, causing “like a dead leg kind of thing,” according to coach Rick Tocchet. Both participated in the optional morning skate along with Bobby Brink, who will not play against the Lightning because of an upper-body injury.

The Flyers will have Dan Vladař in net. The goalie did not play in the team’s previous two matchups against the Lightning, including a 3-0 loss in Tampa Bay on Nov. 24, but has earned at least a point in four straight starts (3-0-1). And the Flyers have a pretty good record on their side: 9-1-2 in games following a regulation loss.

Here are three keys for the Flyers on Monday:

1) Minimize mistakes.

Several of the Lightning goals came off turnovers, including one each by Matvei Michkov, Denver Barkey, and Trevor Zegras around Tampa Bay’s blue line. As defenseman Nick Seeler said, “It’s those soft areas, those little plays where we need to get it deep instead of trying to make a play and stay patient, and offense will come.”

Barkey struggled all night, but he learned a valuable lesson in his 10th NHL game.

“I think the biggest thing is you’ve got to minimize your mistakes, make sure you’re ready from the drop of the puck until the buzzer goes,” Barkey said Monday. “I think that was the biggest thing I learned. They’re good players, and you’ve really got to be sure of the plays that you make, because they will make you pay.”

2) Know where Nikita Kucherov is at all times, but remember he’s not the only focus.

On Saturday, the Russian winger padded his stats with two goals and two assists, and now has 41 points in 30 career games against the Flyers. His linemates, Gage Goncalves and Brayden Point, had two goals and three assists, respectively.

“Kucherov is a focus. He’s your pregame strategy. First goal, where is he? We should have been aware of that,” said Tocchet, referencing Kucherov being left all alone in front of the goal for his first snipe on Saturday. “If he’s on the ice, I’m not sure you want to make a high-risk, east-west play. … But saying that, we have the puck, we’ve got to make plays when Kucherov’s on the ice. We’ve got to make him play defense. We can’t just slap pucks around.”

But he cannot be the only focus for the Flyers. Once he gets off the ice — he played only 14 minutes, 24 seconds on Saturday — there are guys like Anthony Cirelli and Jake Guentzel, who will play for Canada and the U.S. at the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics, respectively. Eleven members of the Lightning got at least a point Saturday, so the Flyers cannot take their foot off the pedal.

3) Control the neutral zone.

As Seeler said, the “neutral zone is going to be really important for this upcoming game here.” The Lightning had no trouble sending a stretch pass up the ice or skating through with ease.

Because of this, it put the Flyers back on their heels as the Lightning forced the defense to back up in the Flyers’ end. It led to several goals, like Kucherov’s second and Goncalves’ first.

“They get time and space, they’ll kill you,” Tocchet said about Kucherov and Point.

That goes for the whole team coached by Jon Cooper. But for most of the season, the Flyers have been strong in the neutral zone, whether using it to regroup, steal the puck, or attack the rushing opposition to slow them down. They know this is a key for them on Monday.

“Just little details with set up forechecks, being above angles, to limit their time, space, speed, their ability to go east-west to make those lateral plays or late plays,” Noah Cates said on Sunday.

“They’re a dangerous team, obviously, off the rush and just like the little things up the ice that you can do that slow them down, make it harder for them.”

Sam Ersson has not had the best start to the season.

In 16 games, he is 6-6-4 with a 3.33 goals-against average and an .858 save percentage. They are the highest and the lowest numbers, respectively, in an NHL career that spans 126 games across four seasons.

Everything came to a head on Saturday in a 7-2 Flyers loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning at Xfinity Mobile Arena, matching his career high in goals allowed for the third time. He faced 23 shots.

“Yeah, obviously, it’s been tough for me, personally,” he told The Inquirer Sunday about his season as a whole. “It’s weird. I would say, like the team is doing well, we’re winning, it’s a lot of fun in that sense, but at the same time, you want more out of yourself, and I’m disappointed in how I perform.

“I think there’s been stretches of where it’s been good and got some big wins. And then there’s been stretches where, especially now, lately, I feel like it’s been lacking.

“Obviously, especially last night, it’s very tough, embarrassing to let in seven goals on your home ice. You feel like you kind of let down the team and the fans. Obviously, that’s not acceptable. Just got to be better.”

Ersson has one win in his last seven starts, a 3-1 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks before the NHL’s holiday break. He started nine of the first 26 games, going 5-2-2 with a 2.97 GAA and an .869 save percentage. Since Dec. 4, he has started seven of the Flyers’ last 17 games, going 1-4-2 in that stretch with a 3.80 GAA and an .844 save percentage.

The 26-year-old goaltender is not one to make excuses. And he has the chance to do just that with a new coaching staff, new systems in front of him, and fewer starts for a goalie who played in 47 games last year and 51 the year before.

“I’m not blaming anything like that,” he said. “It comes down to me, how I perform, how I approach things, and I know if I do that in the correct way, my game, I will have success no matter what.”

According to Money Puck, among goalies who have played at least 10 games, he is ranked fifth-worst in goals saved above average (-9.5), sixth in percentage of expected goals (-21.01), and tied for last in save percentage (.858). And he doesn’t have nearly as many minutes as the guys below him, like Jordan Binnington and fellow Swedes Jacob Markström and Linus Ullmark.

Goals saved above average is a comparison tool to show how a goalie did compared to an average goalie seeing the same shots. Among goalies with at least 700 minutes played, Ersson ranks dead last at five-on-five in goals saved above average, too (-16.02). His high-danger goals saved above average is the 10th highest (-4.28), but he has also faced the fewest high-danger shots (70).

It’s a bit surprising because, before the team made mistakes — not every goal on Saturday can be blamed on the goalie — and the Flyers allowed a touchdown and the extra point, they were ranked ninth in the NHL in goals allowed (2.79). It’s a wild drop from last season, when they finished at 3.45.

“I think it’s better,” Ersson said when asked about structural changes in the defensive zone by Rick Tocchet and his staff. “I think we’re doing a really good job defensively with how we’re playing.

“So, for me, it all comes down to kind of how I play and how I perform. And I know if I play to the level I can and want to be, I will have success. So, just got to find a way to flush these last few games and get back to where I want to be.”

The Flyers play the Lightning again on Monday (7 p.m., NBCSP), and the expectation is that Dan Vladař will get the start. But there’s a good chance Ersson will get an opportunity to right the ship with the Flyers having a back-to-back in two of the next three weeks.

“Just got to roll up the sleeves and grind away,” Tocchet said. And Ersson, who was the first one on the ice Sunday at practice, is up for the task.

“It’s a combination of a lot of things,” the goalie said about what comes next. “I would say usually, like when you’re in a tough stretch, less is more. You’re obviously working, but if you start to try to change everything, then you’re just tearing down the foundation that you’ve built up for years, right? So it’s the combination of trusting your game, but just like pushing everything a little bit and getting back to where it needs to be.”

Konecny’s brief practice

Travis Konecny’s return practice Sunday lasted only a few minutes. During the first drill, he took a shot off his knee.

“Kind of a nerve,” Tocchet said. “So hopefully it wakes up a little bit. So it just was like a dead leg kind of thing, so we’ll see about tomorrow.”

The Flyers forward, who was injured during Thursday’s game and did not play the third period, also missed Saturday’s loss to Tampa Bay with an upper-body injury. After watching the game from the press box, he was a participant in a regular jersey in Voorhees.

It became evident quickly that Konecny was in a lot of pain on the bench. He tried to walk it off under the watchful eye of assistant athletic trainers Alex Ambrose and Joe Mele, and even tested it on the ice, but did not return to practice.

“It seems like injuries, even with other teams, they come in bunches, they don’t come every once in a while,” Tocchet said. “You get one, two, three, four in a row, so maybe it’s our turn now, we’re starting to get it. So, yeah, you’ve just got to push through that stuff.”

At the start of last season, defenseman Nick Seeler missed the Flyers’ first five games after suffering a nerve injury to his leg in a preseason game, hitting an area without padding.

“The numbness was the whole outside of my right leg and into my foot,” he said at the time, pointing toward the back of his leg, where it caused everything to “shut off for a while.”

The Flyers hope to have Konecny, the team’s second-leading scorer, back in the lineup Monday against the Lightning. It starts a stretch of 11 games in the last 20 days of January, and they do not have two days between games until the start of February.

Breakaways

Forward Bobby Brink should be good to go on Monday. Brink has missed the last two games after being injured on a blindside hit during Tuesday’s win against the Anaheim Ducks. He participated in Saturday’s morning skate in a noncontact jersey but was in a regular black jersey on Sunday. … Defenseman Jamie Drysdale was still in a noncontact jersey. … Forward Carl Grundström missed practice due to illness. His status for Monday’s game is to be determined.

The Flyers were facing an uphill battle Saturday night.

Against a Tampa Bay Lightning team riding an eight-game winning streak, the Flyers were without three key players in forwards Travis Konecny and Bobby Brink and defenseman Jamie Drysdale.

The result was a 7-2 loss, ending the team’s three-game point streak. It is only the second time the Flyers have lost in regulation following a loss this season; Philly was handed a 2-1 overtime defeat by the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday.

Sam Ersson received several Bronx cheers for his saves throughout the game, notably his first save after allowing two goals on the first three shots he saw and in the third period after the game was well out of reach. He allowed seven goals on 23 shots, including four on eight shots in the third period.

Nikita Kucherov gave Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead just 109 seconds into the game.

Lightning defenseman Darren Raddysh sent a stretch pass up the ice from his own goal line. Kucherov wasn’t able to control it as it bounced into the Flyers’ end, and Travis Sanheim tapped it away from him as he was surrounded by four Flyers defenders.

Owen Tippett corralled the puck and, under pressure, sent it over to Denver Barkey as he curled up the boards — all while Kucherov hung out by the Flyers’ net all alone. Brayden Point stole the puck from Barkey, and as four Flyers focused on him, he sent the puck to Kucherov all alone at the right post. The Russian winger shot it off the pass and by Ersson, who was making his first start since New Year’s Eve.

Kucherov, who entered the game with 37 points in 29 games against the Flyers, would get a second. He got the puck in the neutral zone from Point and carried it down into the left circle — causing the Flyers to back up — before shooting against the grain while in stride past the glove of Ersson.

In between Kucherov’s goals, Garnet Hathaway finally got on the board.

“Yeah, I can’t go back and change the first half,” Hathaway said after Thursday’s game, acknowledging that he didn’t have a point in his first 36 games and was a healthy scratch for six games beginning on Dec. 20. “I wish I could, but I can’t. I’m trying to go day by day. … And I think the last few games I’ve played to my identity more than I have before that and that’s what I need to rely on.”

Hathaway and Rodrigo Ābols put in the work along the end boards to take the puck away from Erik Cernak before Hathaway skated toward the slot. Noah Juulsen got the puck at the point and put a slap shot on goal that Hathaway deflected in.

In the second period, Nick Paul gave the Lightning a 3-1 lead when the puck bounced away from Barkey at the Bolts’ blue line.

Tampa Bay went the other way but also couldn’t control the puck, and it went to Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen, who tried to put it up the boards in the Flyers’ end. It was blocked by Anthony Cirelli, and he got the puck back for a shot attempt that was blocked by Nick Seeler.

Lightning defenseman Charles-Edouard D’Astous then corralled it and put a high shot on Ersson that was stopped, but Paul skated through the Flyers’ defense relatively untouched and knocked in the rebound.

In the third period, the wheels fell off.

The Lightning padded the lead to 5-1 with goals by Gage Goncalves and Brandon Hagel just 94 seconds apart. Goncalves’ goal came off a rush that initially started with a turnover by Matvei Michkov at the offensive blue line. Hagel scored as he blew past Barkey during a two-on-two.

Tippett did get on the board with a power-play goal off a faceoff win by Christian Dvorak. The Flyers forward didn’t get good wood — or whatever sticks are made out of now — on it, and it seemed to fool Andrei Vasilevskiy.

The goal was Tippett’s 14th of the season and fifth in his past 10 games. He is on pace for 27 goals, which is one shy of his career high, set two seasons ago.

Yanni Gourde scored on a breakaway after Zegras lost the puck inside the Lightning blue line, and Goncalves scored two minutes later.

Breakaways

Konecny and Brink are day-to-day with upper-body injuries and watched the game from the press box with Drysdale, who is on injured reserve with an upper-body injury. Joining them in the press box was Tyson Foerster.

Up next

In an interesting twist, the Flyers host the Lightning again on Monday at Xfinity Mobile Arena (7 p.m., NBCSP).

Still not the worst, but pretty darn close.

The Flyers’ power play has slipped to 31st in the NHL, with a paltry 15% success rate.

(You may want to look away at this moment.)

It ties last year’s percentage through 82 games, but is worse than 2022-23, the first year former coach John Tortorella and Rocky Thompson were in charge. On the plus side, it is better than the 2023-24 season (12.2%).

While some of the puck movement has looked good, the man advantage is having trouble converting — and it’s costing the Flyers games. They couldn’t score when they faced the league’s worst penalty kill, the Seattle Kraken, in a losing effort despite three-man advantages right after the holiday break.

And on Thursday, the Flyers lost 2-1 in overtime to the Toronto Maple Leafs despite having more than three minutes of power-play time in the third period. They were up 1-0 in the third period when Toronto’s Matthew Knies was called for slashing Denver Barkey, and 68 seconds later, Troy Stecher tripped Owen Tippett.

Two minutes of the man advantage were a five-on-three, and they even had a six-on-three when Dan Vladař went to the bench during the delayed call on the second penalty. But they still couldn’t score — kinda.

“I mean, on the other hand, against Anaheim … we had quite a few looks, quite a few shots,” said Travis Sanheim about Tuesday’s game, when the Flyers went 1-for-8. “Just got to keep working away at it, and keep trying to get better each day, and hope that we can start putting some in. Obviously, it’s a big part of good teams, and something that we obviously got to be better at.”

With Knies in the box, out came Trevor Zegras, Cam York, Christian Dvorak, Matvei Michkov, and Tippett. Zegras and York have finally been united, and Dvorak has one objective: to stand in front of the goalie. Usually, Travis Konecny is with this unit, but he did not return for the third period due to an upper-body injury.

The opening faceoff saw Dvorak lose to none other than former Flyer Scott Laughton, who was a top penalty killer during his days in Philly. The Flyers were able to regroup quickly in the neutral zone and reenter with 1:53 left in the power play.

They were able to set up, and Michkov, now on the left side with Konecny out and Zegras a threat in the right circle — the normal spot for the Russian winger on the other unit — got the puck down low to Tippett. One of the best Flyers on the night, and the past few weeks, spun and got a shot on goal from atop the crease.

With 1:39 left on the penalty to Knies, that unit stayed on the ice and again Laughton beat Dvorak in the faceoff circle — Laughton was 19-for-20 on the night. The puck was sent down the ice, and the Flyers started their breakout.

York scooped up the puck and dropped it back to Tippett, who sent it over to Zegras. Tippett got it back as he skated through the neutral zone and took off. Using his greatest asset, his speed, he flew past Maple Leafs defenseman Troy Stecher, and his wraparound hit the post.

Dvorak got a great rebound attempt, and Zegras thought he then jammed the puck in — and maybe it was with Hildeby’s arm half into the goal and half out, and the goalie deftly moving to hide where the puck was — but it was reviewed and ruled the puck did not cross the line.

With 1:14 left, the unit stayed out, and Laughton won another faceoff, but this time, Tippett hustled to get to the puck first along the end boards and was pulled down by Stecher. Vladař went right to the bench for an extra attacker, and Sean Couturier came on and went right to the net. York sent a shot on goal that was deflected wide, and the Leafs touched up.

It gave the Flyers a 52-second two-man advantage. The only change was Rasmus Ristolainen swapping with York. Laughton once again beat Dvorak in the circle, and the Flyers had to regroup, knocking off 11 seconds before they got back in the offensive zone.

Herein lies the problem. They started moving the puck around the perimeter — on a five-on-three — and eventually Zegras got a one-timer deflected out by Toronto defenseman Simon Benoit.

The Flyers have been controlling the puck better and sustaining pressure, and NHL Edge has them up to 59.4% of offensive-zone time with the man advantage; they have risen from 24th on Nov. 15 to 17th in the NHL in offensive-zone time on the power play.

But they still need to get to the net. According to Natural Stat Trick, they are tied for the sixth-fewest high-danger chances on the power play (82).

With 25 seconds left on the two-man advantage, Laughton won another draw, and they didn’t get back in until 10 seconds were left. Benoit lost his stick with six seconds left, leaving him vulnerable. Ristolainen put a shot on goal from that side of the ice, but it hit a teammate in front, and with 64 seconds left in power-play time, Cowan got back into the play from the penalty box.

But then Michkov scooped up the puck and made a really nice move when he was able to bounce Laughton off him as he cut through the slot. He avoided the rest of the Leafs and got a shot on goal after his first shot was blocked by Benoit — who still didn’t have a stick — as he drove to the net.

Flyers coach Rick Tocchet expressed frustration after the game about the power play, noting his team is missing reads.

“They had two guys on one side, and if we made one pass, somebody would have been wide-open. But we’re looking for plays instead of organically playing,” he said of the five-on-three.

“Yeah, you want to roll [around the zone] and all that stuff, but sometimes a team will just be all in. They had a guy with no stick, and we had the puck on the other side. That’s a hard one for me to swallow, because you want the puck on the side of the guy with no stick, right? You want to pick on him, but we have the puck on the other side.”

“I don’t know if it’s the pressure with the power play; sometimes I think guys are squeezing it so much,” he added. “But we need some guys to kind of understand the pressure and convert.”

After a shift that lasted 2:08, the next unit came out with Couturier, Sanheim, York, Denver Barkey, and Noah Cates. Couturier didn’t have to face Laughton and won the draw against Nicolas Roy, allowing the Flyers to set up.

It was now a five-on-four, and after some perimeter work, York put a shot on goal that Couturier — who went to the net right after the faceoff and never left — tipped in front. Hildeby was able to pounce on the puck. Couturier got tossed, and Cates took the faceoff, lost it, but the Flyers recovered it in the offensive zone.

Couturier, who was, like Tippett, heavily engaged on the power play, got the puck on the half-wall and put another good shot on goal with Cates screening. The Leafs were able to clear, and with time ticking down, after getting back into the zone, Sanheim sent a shot wide that led to Laughton’s short-handed goal to tie the game.

“Sanny can’t miss the net on that one,” Tocchet said. “You have to hit the net, or at least take it a little bit off. We had people going to the net, and they score that goal. … I still think the guys played hard. I mean, that’s a hard game to play, second [game] coming off the road, emotional [against Anaheim] and stuff, so I give them a lot of credit, yeah. The special [teams] stuff, yeah. Do you wish some guys converted? Yeah.”

The injury bug has officially bitten the Flyers.

On Friday, defenseman Jamie Drysdale was placed on injured reserve with an upper-body injury retroactive to Jan. 6, and announced forwards Bobby Brink and Travis Konecny are day-to-day with upper-body injuries. In a corresponding move, defenseman Adam Ginning has been recalled from Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League.

Drysdale was injured in Tuesday’s win against his former team, the Anaheim Ducks, by a hit well away from the puck by forward Ross Johnston in the second period. There was no supplemental discipline or fine handed out by the NHL’s department of player safety.

Brink also suffered his injury in the game on a blindsided hit in the first period by forward Jansen Harkins. He did not play on Thursday.

“Still getting evaluated, type of thing,” coach Rick Tocchet said on Wednesday, adding he didn’t have an update after the team’s morning skate on Thursday. “I don’t want to say it’s a day-to-day. I don’t know yet. So it’s kind of one of those things. … I really don’t know. I talked to them today; they’re in a half-decent mood. Still being evaluated, so we’ll see.”

Drysdale was curling in the offensive zone and did not see Johnston, who was skating into the zone, as the puck was deep in the Ducks’ end. They collided, and Johnston appeared to claim to officials that it was incidental contact or just a collision between two players who didn’t see one another.

However, the video indicates that Johnston not only had enough time to avoid Drysdale but also stuck out an arm and threw it into the defenseless blueliner. Drysdale lay on the ice and did not move for a considerable amount of time before doctors and a stretcher arrived on the ice. He eventually sat up and skated off with help.

Johnston was given a five-minute major for interference and a game misconduct.

“Yeah, it’s tough. Anytime you see the stretcher come out, for either team, it’s not a good situation,” defenseman Cam York, who is a good friend of Drysdale’s, told The Inquirer on Thursday. “So it’s obviously not an ideal situation, but he’s OK now. So obviously that’s really good. I talked to him after that second intermission.”

Konecny was injured on Thursday in the Flyers’ 2-1 overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. He scored the team’s lone goal in the second period but did not return for the third period. Konecny was interviewed during the second intermission by NBCSP, but appeared to be uncomfortable and winced as he walked off.

Tocchet said after the game he did not have an update, but that “something was bugging him, I guess, early on. I think he fell or something. I don’t know [all of] the whole details.”

The Flyers have a tough stretch ahead, and without Drysdale, and if Brink and Konecny, who is second on the team in points, cannot play, it will make it a tall task. Philly is home for games Saturday (7 p.m., NBCSP) and Monday, both against a Tampa Bay Lightning team that has won eight straight while outscoring opponents 38-22. The Flyers travel to play the Buffalo Sabres, winners of 12 of their last 13, Wednesday, and the Pittsburgh Penguins, who have won six straight Thursday.

Ginning made the Flyers out of training camp and played in five games in October. Before being assigned to the Phantoms on Dec. 1, after clearing waivers, he was loaned to the Phantoms on a conditioning stint Nov. 18. In 17 games with Lehigh Valley, the defensive defenseman has one goal and three points.

Veteran blueliner Noah Juulsen played with Emil Andare on Thursday. According to Natural Stat Trick, when they were on the ice together at five-on-five, the Flyers had 64.29% of the shot attempts and four scoring chances to one for the Maple Leafs.

The loss of Drysdale, however, is huge as he was having a breakout year. Known for his offensive abilities with questionable acumen on the defensive side of the puck, the 23-year-old has built his game from the ground up to become a blueliner who can play a complete 200-foot game.

This season, he had 18 points (three goals, 15 assists) in 41 games, and before the Anaheim game, he was averaging 21 minutes, 35 seconds, tying his career high and ranking third on the Flyers. He also had a plus-minus of plus-1, the highest of his career.

“One hundred percent,” he told The Inquirer on Monday when asked if he has pride in how his defensive game has grown. “I mean, at the same time, it [stinks] to kind of have the results on the other end from the last few years. Definitely take pride in it.

“And I think that it’s also just coming to me more naturally now; I would say that’s kind of one way to put it. So that feels good. And I think it’s just building my game, and just taking it to another level. I think it can get there, so just going to keep working at it.”

After being acquired in the deal for Cutter Gauthier in January 2024, he played just 24 games for Philly, missing time with a shoulder injury sustained against the Penguins at the end of February. In April 2024, he underwent surgery to repair a core injury he suffered while playing for the Ducks. And he missed time last season with an upper-body injury.

Entering 2024-25, he had played in just 147 games across four NHL seasons, missing significant time with shoulder injuries, including a torn labrum that required an operation in 2022. Since playing 81 games in his first full NHL season in 2021-22, he has never played more than the 70 he skated in last year.

The Flyers’ defense will be missing a key piece on Thursday.

Jamie Drysdale left in the second period on Tuesday after a cheap hit well away from the puck by Anaheim Ducks forward Ross Johnston. He did not practice on Wednesday or participate in Thursday’s morning skate.

“You hate to see a teammate go down like that. And even when the stretcher comes out,” said Emil Andrae, Drysdale’s defensive partner. Drysdale was able to skate off with help and ultimately did not need the stretcher.

“Usually what happens, I think it pumps up the team a little bit, because you get mad when a guy does that to you, and all you want to do is — hopefully Jamie is fine — but you want to win that game.”

The Flyers did, beating the Ducks and former prospect Cutter Gauthier, whom Drysdale was acquired for. They carry a two-game winning streak and a five-game home point streak into Thursday’s matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs (7 p.m., NBCSP).

Drysdale has been a key piece to the defense, building up his defensive chops after being heralded for his offensive game in his draft year and early NHL days. Andrae will now partner with Noah Juulsen, who has played in 28 of the Flyers’ 41 games but only once since Rasmus Ristolainen returned.

“Obviously, I’m here for a reason,” said Juulsen, who is seventh on the depth chart and plays a steady defensive-defenseman style. “The coaches know what I bring. The team knows what I bring. So I think that’s the biggest thing. You don’t have to do anything special. Just go out there and play my game.”

Andrae and Juulsen played 99 minutes, 29 seconds together this season, before the former was paired up with Drysdale. Juulsen sees more confidence in the Swede as he grows in NHL experience.

“I want to join the rush,” said Andrae, who is a puck-moving buleliner like Drysdale. “But in this pairing, I can probably do it more, so hopefully I can start doing that a little bit more, since I know his strength is in the defensive zone.

“My strength is the offensive zone, maybe we can balance together there, but I think just read off each other and just play the way we played before.”

Laughton returns

Scott Laughton was back in Philly with the Maple Leafs in November. At the time, he was inching his way closer to a return from a lower-body injury and watched the game, a 5-2 loss for the Flyers, from the press box.

Now he’ll get a true return as he suits up on Thursday for his first game back in Philly, a place he says “feels like a second home” after being traded alongside two middle-round picks last March for Nikita Grebenkin and a future first-rounder. A 2012 first-round pick by the Flyers, Laughton had 106 goals and 159 assists in 661 regular-season games with another 10 points in 24 playoff games across his tenure.

“You never want to be hurt and anything like that. We had a couple of days here [in November], so it was nice to catch up with some people and kind of see all the people away from the game,” he said in the visitors’ locker room at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

“So yeah, it just gave me a little bit of, I guess, closure, if that’s the word for it, here. It’ll be nice. Try to get in a nap here and go from there. But, yeah, this one was circled on the calendar after I was hurt in the other one, and it’s a special place, and it means a lot to me. So it’ll mean a lot going out there and trying to beat them.”

Laughton will try not to blow at high dough or get too excited for his return. But it won’t be easy. Heavily active in the community when he was here in Philly, there will be several familiar faces in the crowd.

And there will be several across the ice for the guy sporting No. 24, like Nick Seeler, who was one of the reasons he picked that number — and a guy he said he may try to avoid during the game— and his buddy Travis Konecny.

“He’s a rat. He’s a big-time rat,” Laughton said of Konecny. “So I’m sure he’ll be chirping, but he can back it up for sure. He’s a good player and a really good friend. We grew very close with my time here, and he’s a great human being. So he’s about as big of a rat as they come.”

Breakaways

Matvei Michkov will return to the lineup after missing one game with a lower-body injury. He will be reunited with Noah Cates and will have Carl Grundström in place of Bobby Brink on the wing. Brink remains out. Tocchet said he will be fluid with Grundström and Grebenkin on that wing. … Dan Vladař (16-6-3, .910 save percentage) gets the start in net.