Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Flyer flip: Gill out, Gustafsson to make series debut

ErikGustafsson

Hal Gill’s Game 5 cameo won’t extend to Game 6, as the Flyers have announced Erik Gustafsson will draw into the lineup tonight to take on the Rangers at Wells Fargo.

Gustafsson, who appeared in 31 regular season contests, hasn’t played at all this postseason (his last game was on Apr. 13), but is being called upon after Gill looked rusty in Sunday’s 4-2 loss. The 39-year-old was minus-2 in just over 12 minutes of ice time and looked a step slow, something Flyers head coach Craig Berube alluded to in explaining why Gustafsson was drawing in.

“I like his speed,” Berube said, per Philly.com. “He’s a quick player getting up ice. Just looking at that aspect of it.”

The Flyers have been forced to dig into their defensive depth with Nicklas Grossmann sidelined since Game 4 of the series. The hope is that Gustafsson can replicate the success he had during the 2012 playoffs, especially in an series-clinching win over Pittsburgh, when he scored a goal and finished plus-3 in over 22 minutes of ice time.