Noah Juulsen is the next man up for the banged-up Flyers; Scott Laughton returns ‘home’ to Philly

The Flyers’ defense will be missing a key piece on Thursday.

Jamie Drysdale left in the second period on Tuesday after a cheap hit well away from the puck by Anaheim Ducks forward Ross Johnston. He did not practice on Wednesday or participate in Thursday’s morning skate.

“You hate to see a teammate go down like that. And even when the stretcher comes out,” said Emil Andrae, Drysdale’s defensive partner. Drysdale was able to skate off with help and ultimately did not need the stretcher.

“Usually what happens, I think it pumps up the team a little bit, because you get mad when a guy does that to you, and all you want to do is — hopefully Jamie is fine — but you want to win that game.”

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The Flyers did, beating the Ducks and former prospect Cutter Gauthier, whom Drysdale was acquired for. They carry a two-game winning streak and a five-game home point streak into Thursday’s matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs (7 p.m., NBCSP).

Drysdale has been a key piece to the defense, building up his defensive chops after being heralded for his offensive game in his draft year and early NHL days. Andrae will now partner with Noah Juulsen, who has played in 28 of the Flyers’ 41 games but only once since Rasmus Ristolainen returned.

“Obviously, I’m here for a reason,” said Juulsen, who is seventh on the depth chart and plays a steady defensive-defenseman style. “The coaches know what I bring. The team knows what I bring. So I think that’s the biggest thing. You don’t have to do anything special. Just go out there and play my game.”

Andrae and Juulsen played 99 minutes, 29 seconds together this season, before the former was paired up with Drysdale. Juulsen sees more confidence in the Swede as he grows in NHL experience.

“I want to join the rush,” said Andrae, who is a puck-moving buleliner like Drysdale. “But in this pairing, I can probably do it more, so hopefully I can start doing that a little bit more, since I know his strength is in the defensive zone.

“My strength is the offensive zone, maybe we can balance together there, but I think just read off each other and just play the way we played before.”

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Scott Laughton was back in Philly with the Maple Leafs in November. At the time, he was inching his way closer to a return from a lower-body injury and watched the game, a 5-2 loss for the Flyers, from the press box.

Now he’ll get a true return as he suits up on Thursday for his first game back in Philly, a place he says “feels like a second home” after being traded alongside two middle-round picks last March for Nikita Grebenkin and a future first-rounder. A 2012 first-round pick by the Flyers, Laughton had 106 goals and 159 assists in 661 regular-season games with another 10 points in 24 playoff games across his tenure.

“You never want to be hurt and anything like that. We had a couple of days here [in November], so it was nice to catch up with some people and kind of see all the people away from the game,” he said in the visitors’ locker room at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

“So yeah, it just gave me a little bit of, I guess, closure, if that’s the word for it, here. It’ll be nice. Try to get in a nap here and go from there. But, yeah, this one was circled on the calendar after I was hurt in the other one, and it’s a special place, and it means a lot to me. So it’ll mean a lot going out there and trying to beat them.”

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Laughton will try not to blow at high dough or get too excited for his return. But it won’t be easy. Heavily active in the community when he was here in Philly, there will be several familiar faces in the crowd.

And there will be several across the ice for the guy sporting No. 24, like Nick Seeler, who was one of the reasons he picked that number — and a guy he said he may try to avoid during the game— and his buddy Travis Konecny.

“He’s a rat. He’s a big-time rat,” Laughton said of Konecny. “So I’m sure he’ll be chirping, but he can back it up for sure. He’s a good player and a really good friend. We grew very close with my time here, and he’s a great human being. So he’s about as big of a rat as they come.”

Matvei Michkov will return to the lineup after missing one game with a lower-body injury. He will be reunited with Noah Cates and will have Carl Grundström in place of Bobby Brink on the wing. Brink remains out. Tocchet said he will be fluid with Grundström and Grebenkin on that wing. ... Dan Vladař (16-6-3, .910 save percentage) gets the start in net.