The Philadelphia Flyers announced this evening that they recalled goaltender Alex Lyon. Brian Elliott has gone down with a lower-body injury, and Lyon has been called up to serve as Michael Neuvirth’s back-up tonight against Tampa Bay. It doesn’t seem like it will be long-term for Elliott as Ron Hextall announced that it’s a day-to-day injury.
This won’t affect Dave Hakstol’s plan for tonight’s game, as Neuvirth was the planned starter anyway. The Flyers don’t play again until next Wednesday, so Elliott will have time to recover through the All-Star break. He and Neuvirth have been splitting the last few games evenly, with Elliott starting the last two and Neuvirth starting the two prior.
This will be Alex Lyon’s second call-up to Philadelphia this season. His first stint, which was between December 6 and 27 while Neuvirth was injured, did not feature him in any games for the Flyers. He served as Elliott’s back-up in a very successful stretch for the the team and now he’ll serve as Neuvirth’s back-up, at least for tonight.
This season Lyon has recorded 12 wins and a .906 save percentage in 23 games with the Phantoms. He has split goaltending duties for the Phantoms alongside Dustin Tokarski, who has played 21 games with very similar statistics to Lyon.
Lyon has won in his last three starts for the Phantoms, including a 41-save effort against Hershey in the AHL Outdoor Classic on Saturday. He has been sharp lately, and could be a fall-back option for tonight if Neuvirth goes down or has a bad start. Lyon made 30 saves on 32 shots last night for the Phantoms in a 3-2 win.
Originally published on SonsOfPenn.com