There hasn’t been much to play for at this point of the season for the Flyers. It is almost an impossible mountain to climb as they are 22 points out of the last wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference. To make matters even worse, they’re 29 points out of playoff spot in their division.
But there’s still 31 games left to play so it’s all about playing consistent and staying as healthy as they can. The latter hasn’t been easy this season as most of the Flyers roster has missed some kind of time due to injury or even stints in COVID protocol. Two key pieces look to be making their return to the lineup this weekend, though.
Joel Farabee last played on January 20th against the Columbus Blue Jackets. He was later sidelined for the next month with a shoulder injury that he may have suffered the game before. Regardless, he was seen on the top line with Claude Giroux and Cam Atkinson during Thursday morning’s practice. He was also on the top power play unit as well.
"“I feel pretty much 100%. I think maybe the only thing will probably be just a little strength or maybe some timing things. But nothing in terms of feeling limited or holding back or anything.” Farabee said after practice. “I think the game will be a good test for me, but like I said, I feel really good with my rehab and everything like that. So I’m not worried about getting hit or anything like that. I think that’s the biggest thing, I’m not really thinking about it.”"
The Flyers don’t return to game action until Saturday against the Washington Capitals. But all signs point to getting their young star back. Before the injury, Farabee was on a solid pace to potentially break his career high of 20 goals from a season ago. He’s got 11 on the year, tied for third on the team. If he’s fully healthy and catches fire, he could still reach the 20-goal mark for the second time in his career.
Farabee would have to show a bit more consistency than he has throughout the year. He’s gone through four separate goalless droughts, the longest being eight games back in October and November. Most recently, he had three goals and seven points in his last 10 games.
On the goaltending side, Carter Hart has missed the last two games with an eye infection. Kirill Ustimenko, who has since been sent down, was up in his absence and backed up Martin Jones against Carolina and St. Louis.
Hart was seen back at practice on Thursday and should be able to return to the net on Saturday. He is coming off an overtime loss to the Penguins on February 15th. Like the team, his last win came on February 1st, right before the All-Star break.
"”Seeing the puck a lot better. Monday I couldn’t see very well out of it. Feels a lot better today. Just a sty, so it was just kind of one of those annoying things.”"
Derick Brassard practicing, Kevin Hayes could return next week for Flyers
Derick Brassard was also seen back at practice after recently suffering yet another re-injury after returning for one game on February 9th. Brassard has only played one game apiece during the last three months.
Brassard practiced in the middle of the third line with James van Riemsdyk and Gerry Mayhew on his wings. He was also a part of the Flyers’ second power play unit. So similar to Farabee, all signs point to a return this weekend. For Brassard especially, it will be about him being able to get through the next few days of practice and a game this weekend. He hasn’t played in consecutive games since the end of November.
"”Trying to get him full reps here to obviously test everything. Give him the opportunity to try and get feeling good about him game. But also give everything a real test. Obviously the goal is to get him back and keep him back here. So we’ll see. We’ll have another practice tomorrow and made a determination on that afterwards."
Yeo also mentioned that if Brassard does return, there hasn’t been a decision on if Morgan Frost will be the one to come out of the lineup. Frost did not rotate into any line combination throughout practice.