Flyers’ Injuries: No Updates, But It Doesn’t Look Good; Hayes at New Position

Based on the morning skate, Travis Konecny and Scott Laughton will not play Monday night against visiting Calgary.

Both Philadelphia Flyers forwards were injured on the recent road trip.

The Flyers had a morning skate Monday in Voorhees, and Konecny was at least able to skate with rehabbing players Cam Atkinson and James van Riemsdyk.

Laughton, who appeared to suffer a head injury in Saturday’s 5-4 overtime loss in Montreal, was not on the ice.

It is believed Konecny injured his right hand in the previous game, a 4-1 defeat in Boston.

Waiting on general manager Chuck Fletcher for injury updates. The fact he hasn’t yet given an update on Konecny and Laughton is ominous.

6 forwards injured

The Flyers are without six injured forwards: Konecny, Laughton, Atkinson, Sean Couturier, van Riemsdyk, and Wade Allison.

In other news, the Flyers sent defenseman Egor Zamula to the Phantoms and recalled forward Tanner Laczynski from Lehigh Valley.

Laczynski said he received “more puck touches” in his two games with the Phantoms and it helped his confidence. “I was able to play some big-time minutes and kind of get my feet under me,” Laczynski said.

The Flyers (7-7-4) will be trying to snap a six-game losing streak Monday against Calgary (8-7-2). The game will be shown on NBC Sports Philadelphia.

Forward lines

Here were the Flyers’ lines at Monday’s morning skate:

Line 1: Morgan Frost centering Joel Farabee and Owen Tippett.

Comment: Frost has not scored a goal since the opener, but he has played much better lately and has been elevated to the top line.

Line 2: Noah Cates centering Kevin Hayes and Zack MacEwen.

Comment: Hayes, a natural center who has a five-game point streak, said this is the first time he has played wing as a Flyer. “It’s a little different, but it’s still hockey, and I’ve been in the league long enough to know how to play a certain position,” he said.

“It shouldn’t be too bad,” he kidded, “but maybe if I have a bad game we’ll blame it on that.”

Coach John Tortorella said Hayes, an excellent playmaker, needs to work on his game away from the puck. Tortorella said he wants to continue developing Cates as a center, “and I think Catesy is more responsible (than Hayes) down low, defensively. I’m certainly not trying to turn Kevin into as checker, but I’m going to try to take a little pressure off of him in that part.”

Line 3: Patrick Brown centering Max Willman and Laczynski.

Comment: All three forwards are hard-working players, but this is a typical fourth line that has been moved up because of injuries.

Line 4: Lukas Sedlak centering Nick Deslauriers and Kieffer Bellows.

Comment: Bellows has played six games with the Philadelphia Flyers since being plucked off waivers; he is looking for his first point with his new team.

Prediction

Calgary 4, Flyers 3 in OT. The Flyers and Flames have gone to overtime or a shootout in five of their last eight meetings.

Game notes

Some notes on Monday’s matchup:

• It is Hockey Fights Cancer Night. During warmups, the Flyers will wear their lavender-accented Hockey Fights Cancer jerseys and will use sticks wrapped in lavender tape.
• Carter Hart will start for the Flyers. In four career games against the Flames, he is 1-1-2 with a 2.19 GAA and .930 save percentage.
• Hayes has five goals and nine points in 12 career games vs. Calgary.
• Nazem Kadri has eight goals and 23 points in 26 career games against the Flyers, and Jonathan Huberdeau has 21 points (11-10) in 23 games against Philly.
• Calgary is 4-0-1 in its last five meetings with Philly. All-time, the Flyers have a 61-44-20 advantage.
• From Nov. 8 through Dec. 17, the Flyers will play 21 games in 40 days. They will play at least every other day during that span.
• Kadri leads the Flames with eight goals in 17 games this season.
• Konecny tops the Flyers with seven goals, while the sizzling Tippett is second with six.