Vanek was recently demoted to the third line, but will be moved up to the top line with Mikael Granlund and Jason Pominville now that Parise is out. Vanek has one goal and seven assists in 11 games and his lack of scoring can be attributed to his lack of shots. He has just 17 shots so far this season— that is 1.55 S/PG, he averaged 3.56 last season.
Raffl suffered the injury blocking a shot on Tuesday night. He will miss a month and a half, which is a big blow for the Flyers because he was off to a hot start on their top line. With Raffl out, Chris VandeVelde will get the first crack at replacing him on that first line.
With Michael Raffl unavailable this morning because of an lower-body injury, VandeVelde filled-in on the Flyers first line with Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek. VandeVelde made the jump from the AHL to the first line in two weeks, pretty impressive.
McIlrath played 8:02 and record nine penalty minutes, two hits and three blocked shots in his season debut on Monday. With Kevin Klein ready to return to the lineup tonight, McIlrath had to go back to Hartford.
Connolly has started doing some light skating on his own and will likely try and ramp things up and return to practice in the next week or so. If that happens it would put him on track to be back in the middle of November.
Killorn has missed practice for the last two days after suffering an upper-body injury on Saturday. The Lightning recalled Cedric Paquette yesterday, so look for him to play tomorrow because Killorn looks very doubtful.
Schneider stopped 22 of 23 shots in the Devils’ 1-0 loss to the Blues on Tuesday. He has played well lately, winning two of his last three while posting a 1.31 GAA and .951 SV%. Tonight he will get another shot at St. Louis, but this time it will be on the road.
The Flyers are in action on Thursday so monitor Couturier’s status during tomorrow’s morning skate. If he takes part, he should play, if not his status will be in doubt.
Quincey will miss his miss his third straight game with an ankle injury that he suffered last Friday vs. the Kings. He was on the ice with his teammates on Tuesday, so he is not expected to miss an extended period of time, but won’t play tonight. Look to Friday or Sunday as a potential return date.
Merrill was held out of last night’s game with an arm injury. He had X-rays done and the results came back negative, but it will still keep him out of the next two games at least.
Tootoo has missed the last six games with a foot injury but has been skating recently and could return on either Thursday or Friday.
Cammalleri has missed the last four games and it looks like he will miss at least the next two as well. He was on the ice this morning skating by himself, but he is not ready to return to practice just yet.
A three-game road trip starts tomorrow in Ottawa and it will start without Parise. He suffered an upper-body injury last night vs. the Penguins and it sounds like he will miss at least the next three games. He could always join the team on the trip but for now he is day-to-day. With Parise out, Thomas Vanek skated on the top-line.
Tokarski stopped 16 of 18 shots in a loss to the Oilers in his last start (Oct. 27th). Tonight he gets back between the pipes having posted a 2.50 GAA and .909 SV% in his first three outings. He is a great spot-start option against the Sabres.
Manning appeared in two games during his recall, he had one assists and averaged 11:45 TOI. He heads back to Lehigh Valley where he had a goal and four assists in six games prior to being called-up.
Raffl has been off to a great start to the year playing on the Flyers top line. He has potted six goals and added one assists in 12 games. With Raffl’s status uncertain for Thursday, Chris VandeVelde skated in his spot on the top line this morning.
Lazar played in his ninth game last night vs. the Red Wings. If he plays anymore it will burn the first year of his entry level deal, but the Senators have been impressed with his play, so he will stick with the team and play in number-10 tomorrow vs. the Wild. He has three assists and is averaging 13:03 TOI so far this year.
Krejci missed his second game in a row last night and his absence this morning makes him doubtful for a return on Thursday vs. Edmonton. While he remains out, Chris Kelly will continue to centre Milan Lucic and Seth Griffin.
Huberdeau missed his second game in a row on Tuesday and looks to be in danger of missing three in a row on Thursday. Monitor his availability for tomorrow’s morning skate.
Barkov, who has missed the last two games, is on the ice this morning skating on his regular line with Brad Boyes and Jussu Jokinen. Barkov has gotten off to a slow start this season, but should start finding the twine soon. Expect him to be in the lineup tomorrow in Philadelphia.
