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Flyers’ goaltending situation is looking extra bleak

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In the first game of a Wednesday Night Hockey double header, Sidney Crosby and the Penguins travel to Washington to face Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals. Tune in to NBCSN on Wednesday at 7:30 PM ET.

There are a few certainties you can always count on in any given NHL season.

The Philadelphia Flyers having a disastrous goalie situation is always going to be at the top of the list, and the 2018-19 season is, of course, no exception.

Somehow, things seem to be getting worse for them.

Already plagued with one of the worst team save percentages in the league through their first 14 games, the Flyers find themselves entering Monday night’s game in Arizona with a possible goaltender duo of Calvin Pickard and Alex Lyon.

The team announced on Monday that Lyon has been recalled from Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League, and that Michal Neuvirth, who has played in just one game this season, has been placed on injured reserve.

Lyon will be available for Monday’s game, and will probably have to backup Pickard.

Why could he be backing up Pickard and not regular starter Brian Elliott? Well, that would be because Elliott was injured in practice on Sunday when he was involved in a collision with forward Travis Konecny. He is currently listed as being day-to-day and his status for Monday night’s game is currently doubtful.

This is obviously not ideal if you are the Flyers, a team that, again, already has a less than ideal goalie situation.

In his four appearances so far this season Pickard has already given up 15 goals on just 101 shots (that is an .851 save percentage), while the 25-year-old Lyon appeared in just 11 NHL games a season and recorded a .905 save percentage.

Even when Elliott has been healthy this season he has struggled mightily with a sub-.900 save percentage.

The fact the Flyers are in this situation should not be much of a surprise. Injuries have plagued Neuvirth’s entire time in Philadelphia, while Elliott has always been alarmingly inconsistent and the team was perfectly willing to enter another season with them manning the position. Add in a sprinkle of bad luck (Elliott’s injury on Sunday) and you have the perfect storm of Flyers goaltending.

It is truly remarkable how this team always finds itself with this exact same hole. In the end, all of these guys are simply placeholders until prized prospect Carter Hart is ready for NHL action. But if the Flyers’ history at the position over the past 30 years is any indication of what is to come, Hart should maybe hope for a trade to a team that isn’t perpetually cursed at the position.

MORE: Your 2018-19 NHL on NBC TV schedule

Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.