Vigneault hoping to have Ellis back for Edmonton

The Flyers are hoping to welcome defenseman Ryan Ellis back on the ice Wednesday night, when they visit the Edmonton Oilers for the first of three Western Canada road challenges.

While Ellis, who missed Saturday’s home loss to the Florida Panthers, put in a solid practice Monday and is a hopeful go, the Flyers might need a lot more than him to pull off an upset.

The Oilers, led by allWorld Connor McDavid and a cast of other soaring stars, have won their first five games.

The Flyers will have to pivot from that Wednesday game to play in Vancouver the next night, then in Calgary on Saturday.

Carter Hart, who hails from just down the road apiece in Sherwood Park, Alberta, will get the start in Edmonton, while backup goalie Martin Jones will play at Vancuver, one of his old NHL haunts.

But it’s the prospect of a return by Ellis that has head coach Alain Vigneault eager to go. He needs all the weapons he can get to try to match an Edmonton power play that features the likes of McDavid (six goals, 13 points in five games), Leon Draisaitl (4-7-11) and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (seven assists).

And that’s just the centers.

“We’re playing against a team that hasn’t lost a game yet,” Vigneault said. “The Great One said the other day on TV said that he thinks their power play now is better than the one that they had when they won those Cups back then. That says a lot about their specialty teams and says a lot about their team.”

In case you missed him, “The Great One” is Edmonton’s and everyone’s favorite alum, Wayne Gretzky, who won four Cups with the Oil in five years during the 1980s, two of them coming against the Flyers.

Gretzky had recently been in an executive position with the Oilers but this year left to do television analysis on TNT in Canada.

During a Sportsnet broadcast of an Oilers game the other night, Gretzky said, “I mean this with a great deal of respect, (but) I don’t know if our power play even compares to how good their power play really is. I know we had a good power play, we had great players, Hall-ofFame guys … but when I see these guys get in that five-on-four situation, it’s almost unfair.”

The Flyers appreciate the sentiment.

“I’m really looking foward to this road trip,” Vigneault claimed. “A, because we’re going to be in hockey mode. (With) three games in four nights, it’s going to be our total focus, and it’s the quality of the teams we’re going to play against on the road with three games in four nights. It’s going to be a good measuring stick for where we are.”