VOORHEES, N.J. — The Flyers could breathe a sigh of a relief Tuesday when Egor Zamula took the ice for practice.
The 24-year-old defenseman left the team's 3-2 loss Monday night to the Avalanche in the third period with an upper-body issue. His last shift came in the first four-plus minutes of the final stanza. After briefly returning to the bench, Zamula had to go back up the tunnel and did not return.
"Feeling better today in the morning," Zamula said after practice. "I did treatment and I'm ready to go tomorrow."
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The Flyers continue their five-game homestand Wednesday when they welcome the Hurricanes (7:30 p.m. ET/NBCSP). They've gone 1-1-0 so far. The loss to Colorado snapped their five-game point streak and three-game win streak.
But not losing another defenseman felt like a victory for the Flyers. They're already missing Cam York (upper body), Jamie Drysdale (upper body) and Emil Andrae (mid body). And Zamula has played well of late with four points (one goal, three assists), six blocked shots and a plus-5 rating in the last four games.
"I think I played my best game last night and I enjoyed how I was playing, but s--t happened in the third," Zamula said. "We did a lot of major things on my upper body. I felt very good in the practice, so it's good news."
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York, who has been practicing and skating in full, has missed the last 12 games. Drysdale has been practicing in non-contact fashion and has missed the last four games.
Andrae did not practice Tuesday after suffering his injury three days ago and missing Monday night's game.
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Tortorella was aggravated with the Flyers' self-inflicted wounds against a high-powered team like the Avalanche. His club will face another bona-fide contender in the Hurricanes. The Flyers know they'll have to be connected and limit mistakes.
"Carolina tomorrow, if we let them play at 130, 140 feet, it just makes for a tougher game for us, especially how banged up we are on the blue line," Tortorella said. "I think we've got to be dead-on in managing pucks because I don't think we're as skilled as other teams, we're a pretty young team.
"We have some holes, but you can brush over those holes and cover it up if you play as a team. That's the most important thing we have to do."
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