PHILADELPHIA \u2014 Maybe if the Flyers were out of playoff contention, Tyson Foerster might have waited a little longer.<\/p>\n
But with the team squarely in the hunt entering the last two weeks of the season, both the player and team wanted to see him back in action.<\/p>\n
Thursday night vs. Detroit, Foerster was scheduled to return for the first time since Dec. 1. He\u2019s been sidelined for 49 games due to arm surgery.<\/p>\n
At the morning skate, coach Rick Tocchet said he planned to keep an eye on Foerster\u2019s ice time. But he should return to the team\u2019s top power-play unit and play on the top line with Trevor Zegras and Travis Konecny.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis hockey IQ is outstanding,\u201d Tocchet said about Foerster. \u201cHis shot ability, he plays in all situations. He gets it done. We\u2019re excited for him. He worked hard. Four months, a lot of lonely nights at the rink by himself. So I give him a lot of credit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foerster, 24, led the Flyers in goals with 10 at the time of his injury. The Allison, Ontario, native was also among the team leaders in plus\/minus at plus-7.<\/p>\n
Tocchet watched Foerster\u2019s recent workouts to monitor his recovery.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll flying colors,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cThat\u2019s why the doctors (signed off). We wanted to make sure his numbers were strong. He\u2019s ready to go. I relied on him a lot (at the start of the year). But I also have to be careful too.\u201d<\/p>\n
The coach said the rest of the players on the ice were \u201cbuzzing\u201d at morning skate. First they got powerhouse Porter Martone right out of Michigan State to debut Tuesday night. Now they get one of their more accomplished scorers in Foerster.<\/p>\n
Mindful of scratches, including Garnet Hathaway and Alex Bump, the coach said it\u2019s all about putting the best possible team on the ice for these meaningful games.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s good and bad for them but it breeds competition,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cPut puzzles together. And who can complement whoever. Those are tough decisions but they\u2019re decisions that you have to make. But I love the competition. It makes people play with more urgency.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the Flyers playing eight games in 13 days, depth is nedded.<\/p>\n
\u201cA guy like Bump, he\u2019s not coming out because he\u2019s playing bad,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a numbers game. Lehigh is fighting for a playoff spot, too. So it\u2019s kind of great for the organization, where we have this depth and where we\u2019re using them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n
Martone made his debut on Tuesday night in Washington. Tocchet sounded satisfied with his effort.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the game went on he felt comfortable,\u201d the coach said. \u201cHe really had three or four chances in front of the net. He\u2019s like Tyson, they know how to get position to get the shot off. They\u2019re greasy but they can also make skilled plays. For him, all I want him to do is relax.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n
Tocchet decided to go back to goaltender Sam Ersson against the Red Wings. Ersson entered with a 5-0-0 mark since Jan. 29.<\/p>\n
Dan Vladar allowed five goals in the Capitals game.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe (Vladar) has been a rock for us,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cEach guy\u2019s got to play, each game is equally important.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Flyers get right back into action Friday night at the Islanders. It\u2019s a safe bet Vladar will get that start. Starting Ersson vs. Detroit gives Vladar an extra day of rest.<\/p>\n
\u201cErs has been running hot,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cI mean it\u2019s really an easy decision for me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA \u2014 Maybe if the Flyers were out of playoff contention, Tyson Foerster might have waited a little…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":537388,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5112],"tags":[1468,5,4,1467,56,5205,43,5095],"class_list":{"0":"post-537387","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-flyers","8":"tag-flyers","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-philadelphia","12":"tag-philadelphia-flyers","13":"tag-philadelphiaflyers","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-top-stories-tmc"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/537388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}