Flyers get a boost with Jamie Drysdale’s return: ‘It’s a pretty big weight lifted off your shoulder’

The Flyers are facing all kinds of pressure these days.

For the longest time, they were situated in third place in the Metropolitan Division, but after a “good old-fashioned drubbing” by the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night, as coach John Tortorella referred to it, the Flyers entered Monday in the second wild-card spot.

Now they face a New York Islanders squad that will go to extremes to snag the Flyers’ playoff spot. New York is just five points back with two games in hand on the Flyers. But keep the faith, Flyers fans, because after weeks of speaking about a banged-up back end — and two days after blueliner Nick Seeler returned — Jamie Drysdale is back, too.

“Yeah, very frustrating,” Drysdale said about being out. “I mean, you never want to miss hockey — and it’s no secret I’ve missed a lot. So, yeah, it’s just nice that the day is kind of here and it’s a pretty big weight lifted off your shoulder, especially when you’re seeing the team be in this position and grinding day in and day out. You want to get back as fast as possible.”

Drysdale was injured Feb. 25 against the Pittsburgh Penguins and initially worried that he had suffered a torn labrum in his left shoulder again.

“The main thing that was going through my head was just, like, [expletive] not again,” he said.

It wasn’t. This time, instead of a four-to-six-month recovery, it was about a month.

The defenseman, who turns 22 in one week, walked into the Flyers locker room in Voorhees on Monday and saw his name on the board. “I definitely plan on being up the ice a lot tonight,” Drysdale said.

It certainly helps that the smooth-skating defenseman will be paired with Seeler, who’s more known as a stay-at-home blueliner.

“He’s a heck of a player. I’ve never seen somebody block so many shots in my life,” Drysdale said. “I love the way he plays the game. I’m excited to play with him and be paired. He and I talked when he was out with his foot and whatnot. Yeah, we talked, so we were laughing, we were, like, what if we played together? Because we haven’t really played together. So, it was pretty funny, seeing that on board and excited to play with him.”

Drysdale also will get back some of his power-play time against the Islanders. Two of his four points in 17 games with the Flyers, since being acquired for Cutter Gauthier in early January, came on the power play. Known for his creativity and ability to move the puck around, he’ll take Cam York’s spot on the first unit to help cut down on the minutes York has been playing lately.

“His skating ability, he can break the puck out himself,” York said about Drysdale’s overall game. “Offensively, he has really good instincts and has a high hockey IQ. He brings multiple elements to the game that will help us and something that we’ve probably been missing the past little chunk here.”

» READ MORE: Four questions for the struggling Flyers with seven games left as they try to clinch a playoff spot

Getting Seeler and Drysdale back should help bolster the Flyers as a storm front approaches. Between March 5, the day after Seeler got hurt, and Friday, the Flyers’ goals against per game jumped to 4.00; it was 3.13 between Jan. 10, Drysdale’s first game, and March 4. And, yes, the shift also was compounded by Sean Walker getting traded to the Colorado Avalanche.

But with the Flyers needing a boost, just the way Drysdale plays the game can help.

“He’s a little different than the other young guys we’ve had,” said captain Sean Couturier. “He’s a smaller guy, but he can skate. He can go up and down the ice, is a puck-moving defenseman, jumps in the play offensively, and likes to create offense. So he definitely brings another element to our back end.”

Sam Ersson will get the start in net. ... In morning skate line rushes, Joel Farabee was on a line with Nicolas Deslauriers and Scott Laughton. Couturier was boosted up to the top line with Tyson Foerster and Travis Konecny. Cam Atkinson appears set to return to the lineup and will skate with Owen Tippett and Morgan Frost. Noah Cates was back with Ryan Poehling and Garnet Hathaway.