With the Flyers losing Rasmus Ristolainen and Cam York to injury, the team was forced to make an emergency call up on the backend. Egor Zamula joined the team and was in the lineup for the 4-0 shutout loss to the New York Rangers. Despite the loss, Zamula drew praise from his head coach.
And now he’ll get the opportunity of his lifetime when the Flyers take on the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday evening. Ristolainen and York will remain out of the lineup this weekend, allowing Mike Yeo to make some more changes to his defensive units. That included pairing Zamula with Ivan Provorov.
It’s something that Zamula has always dreamed of since he was signed by the Flyers.
"“When I signed contract here with Flyers, I tell him right away ‘it’s my dream to play with you one time, maybe two times, maybe every time’ but today, before practice…I see my name with Provy together and say dream come true.”"
On the ice together, the two spoke their native Russian, something that can help make things a bit easier. There are other times where that may not be as helpful, mostly when it comes to communicating with his other teammates. But Zamula’s goal is to continue to prove to the Flyers that he belongs up here.
Being able to do that with Provorov gives Zamula a chance to better his game with someone he views as one of the top Russian defensemen in the league. It allows him to learn from one of the best and hopefully one day be able to play on the same level as him.
While these last few games will be important for him, it’s the summer that will be the biggest part of Zamula’s training. Whether that be staying in North America or going back to Russia, the key will be working out of much as possible and finding ways to bulk up to be able to handle the sometimes brutal nature of the NHL. That’s something that the organization has looked at with Zamula and something they feel he needs in order to be able to handle a full season.
Flyers get one injured played back, still without five
The injury bug has hit the Flyers hard all season long, but it’s been especially hard to them the last few days. In the loss to the Rangers, Philadelphia was missing six of their regulars. They got good news in Nate Thompson as he returned to practice on Friday morning.
But they are still without five, though one of which was already ruled out for the rest of the season. Patrick Brown, who suffered an upper body injury, had already been ruled out. In regards to the other players that remain out, there is also a chance that Carter Hart will not return the rest of the way. But a decision hasn’t been made on that as of yet.
"”We haven’t ruled him out for the rest of the season, but I would say it’s pretty unlikely right now just in talking to him. But you never know.” Mike Yeo said after practice."
Felix Sandstrom, who was loaned back to the Phantoms, will start tonight against Bridgeport. He will then meet the team in Buffalo to back up and should get the start on Sunday in the rematch against the Sabres.
York, who suffered a lower body injury, remains day to day. Cam Atkinson, who briefly skated before practice, will not play on Saturday. He is questionable for Sunday’s game at the moment. Ristolainen is unavailable for both games this weekend and could be sidelined for a week. There could be a chance he returns before the season ends, but that hasn’t been determined yet.