Flyers’ Rasmus Ristolainen leaves game with undisclosed injury
A bad start to the Philadelphia Flyers‘ season might have gotten even worse.
As they dropped their third-straight game to start the season with a 3-2 overtime loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, the Flyers also lost a key part of their lineup, as defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen left the game with an undisclosed injury.
As per the Flyers’ official report on the injury, Ristolainen will be re-evaluated on Sunday before determining his status for the team’s upcoming three-game road trip. The evaluation will likely also be when we get more information on what type of injury he sustained, and how serious it is.
Ristolainen’s injury is likely one to his left hand, as he took a puck off of that part of his body while blocking a shot in the second period. He went down the tunnel shortly after, and while he returned for the third period, it was short-lived, as he skated a 37-second shift to start the frame before leaving the game for good.
Ristolainen finished the game with two blocked shots and a hit in 14:26 of ice time before departing from the game.
Ristolainen has had a solid start to the season, scoring in the team’s second game of the season as his only goal and point through three games. It’s one of four goals scored by the team overall, as they currently find themselves 0-1-2 through the first three games of the season.
With Ristolainen out of the lineup, the Flyers mostly looked to Nick Seeler to replace him on the top pair alongside Travis Sanheim. The duo were on the ice for no goals either way and had a 19.47% 5v5 score-adjusted expected goal share in 4:31 of ice time together in the loss.
Should Ristolainen miss any more time, the Flyers will likely insert Simon Benoit, their lone healthy scratch on the blueline, back into the lineup in the Turku, Finland product’s place. Benoit has gone pointless through two games this season.
The Flyers will look to end their slow start to the season when they kick off a three game road trip against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday at 7 p.m. EST.
