The Flyers have an extremely tough week coming up this week, beginning with a game in Detroit tonight. Afterwards, they’ll host Vancouver on Tuesday and the Penguins on Thursday. The opposite of easy.
They’ll be without Vincent Lecavalier and Scott Hartnell for those three games at least. Both went down with injuries in Friday night’s 2-1 loss to the Phoenix Coyotes — Hartnell a upper-body injury, Vinny a lower-body injury. Both will undergo MRIs on Saturday. Here’s Paul Holmgren talking about the injuries after the Phoenix game:
And now, this morning…
I’m told that McGinn and Raffl were called up after the injuries to Lecavalier and Hartnell.
— Diana C. Nearhos (@dianacnearhos) October 12, 2013
There’s no word on how the lineup will look Saturday against Detroit with the new call-ups, but it’s a good opportunity for both McGinn and Raffl to turn in a more-impressive performance than what the Flyers saw during training camp.
Both were in competition to make the Flyers roster during camp but failed to do so. With an impressive couple of games, either one or both of Raffl or McGinn could stick around … maybe wishful thinking here, but perhaps they could bump Jay Rosehill or Kris Newbury off the roster if they impress enough. More skill in the lineup is always a good thing, and both Raffl and McGinn have plenty of skill.
That’s a problem for another day, though. For now, the Flyers are without Hartnell and Lecavalier — the latter of whom has been their best forward all season so far — and the task ahead of them for the next week is a daunting one.
