PHILADELPHIA — Just when it seemed like the hockey gods couldn’t make things worse for the Flyers, somehow they found a way.
Down by three goals to the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday through two periods, interim coach Mike Yeo and the Flyers learned that winger Wade Allison — who was making his season debut after rehabbing ankle and elbow injuries over the past four months — wouldn’t return to the game with a lower-body injury. Late in the third period, winger Zack MacEwen hobbled off the ice and down the tunnel after a collision with defenseman Rasmus Dahlin.
While the extent of Allison’s and MacEwen’s ailments are unknown, their early exits marked two more “not again” moments for the already shorthanded Flyers. Injuries have eaten away at the roster all season. Counting those two, the Flyers would have nine players out due to injury, the others being defenseman Ryan Ellis (lower body), center Sean Couturier (upper body), center Kevin Hayes (adductor), winger Joel Farabee (upper body), forward Derick Brassard (hip), forward Patrick Brown (MCL), and forward Nate Thompson (shoulder) at the halfway point of the 82-game slate.
