After a hard-fought win over the Islanders at home yesterday afternoon, the Flyers are right back at it again this afternoon up in Ottawa for their final matchup against the Senators. The team has certainly been rolling nicely of late — with wins in their last two games and in four of their last five — but it appears that they’ll have some further reinforcements added to their mix for this one.
At least, in a way. That is, the Flyers have recalled Nikita Grebenkin from the Phantoms on an emergency basis. Grebenkin, who did not play for the Phantoms last night — albeit among a host of lineup regulars resting after the team clinched their playoff spot — has been brought up “in case the Flyers need him,” per NBCSP’s Jordan Hall. Now, given the nature of the emergency recall designation, one would assume that there’s a fair degree of certainty that they will in fact need him, but it’s not yet been confirmed who he could be coming into the lineup for. But time will tell.
And for Grebenkin, this recall is certainly well deserved. Things have been a bit up and down for the Phantoms over this span, but he’s been showing up really nicely for them since he joined the team, with three goals (two on the power play) and five points in his nine games played for them to date. It’s not a long runway that he’s looking at here, but it’s a meaningful look with the big squad all the same. Grebenkin will all but surely be in the mix for an NHL roster spot come training camp in the fall, and even this brief late-season audition can set him up well with some momentum to build on after the offseason. He’s certainly been highly touted by the organization, and this afternoon we’ll get a bit of an early preview of his prospective fit with his new team.
Updated 1:05 PM
At least, that’s how we thought this would or could all play out. As it turned out, the Flyers have a couple of guys who are a little banged up, and who they weren’t sure if they would be able to go today, thus necessitating the emergency recall. But everyone is actually healthy enough to play today, so Grebenkin wasn’t needed after all, and he’s been sent back down to the Phantoms. His Flyers debut will have to wait.
