Oh, the drama on ice continues! Philadelphia Flyers’ very own Owen Tippett is taking a little involuntary break thanks to a pesky lower-body hiccup. The Flyers’ Twitter account decided to share the news with the world — because why not give the fans a mini heart attack? Kevin Kurz of The Athletic was quick to ease our minds a bit, though, noting that Tippett was cruising around just fine post-game and might only be nursing a minor ankle sprain. True, he’s been slapped with a day-to-day label, but let’s not write an obituary for his season just yet, folks.
By the way, Tippett, who’s about to hit the quarter-century mark in age next February, is finally showing us what he’s made of in his sophomore year with the Flyers. Slow start? Sure. But the guy who was snatched up as the tenth overall pick back in 2017 is now sitting pretty with eighteen goals and thirty points in forty-six games. That’s right; after a personal best of twenty-seven goals last season, he’s on a solid trek to thump in thirty-two this time. No Tippett? No problem — the Flyers have other goal-binging darlings like Travis Konecny, Joel Farabee, and Cam Atkinson ready to pick up the slack.
Now let’s slide over to some other NHL whispers and shouts:
Down in Calgary, they’re playing musical goalies, sending Dustin Wolf back to their farm team, the Calgary Wranglers. It looks like Jacob Markström has gotten over his bout of sniffles (or whatever it was) after a whole week-plus of absence, so Wolf can go stop some pucks in the AHL instead of gathering dust on the Flames’ bench.
Meanwhile, in sunny Florida, Panthers’ captain Aleksander Barkov is playing it coy, skipping the trip to Nashville. Why? Because his lower body isn’t feeling up to par. Their coach, Paul Maurice, is crossing his fingers and painting his hope on the wall that Barkov will be fit to face off with the Arizona Coyotes come Wednesday. To state the glaringly obvious: The Panthers are a force with their captain on deck. Barkov isn’t just some run-of-the-mill player — he’s a two-time trophy winner with forty-six points in forty games, dazzling us with his two-way tango on the ice.
And that’s the tea, my friends — spilt and served with a side of frozen rubber pucks. Keep your eyes peeled, your sticks on the ice, and your tweets dramatic; the NHL never sleeps.