Flyers Notebook: Amid challenges, James van Riemsdyk keeps grinding

Through it all — and there has been a little bit of everything for the Flyers — James van Riemsdyk has kept calm.

Whether it was a 10-game losing streak, a coaching change, the usual blast of injuries or the unusual challenges of failed virus tests, the 32-year-old forward has reported for every shift.

So, no, he was not about to worry Thursday when the Flyers entertained the rampaging Pittsburgh Penguins without Claude Giroux, Ivan Provorov, Travis Sanheim, Travis Konecny, Nick Seeler and Jackson Cates, all unavailable due to health protocols.

“Obviously, it is out of our control, to a degree,” van Riemsdyk said. “You just have to hope that the decisions on that stuff are relatively fair across the board. I won’t waste too much energy thinking about that stuff.”

Having played in all 34 games, including a 6-2 loss to the Penguins Thursday, van Riemsdyk has saved his energy for the ice. The Flyers’ situation has demanded nothing less.

“I the world we live in today, this is more common than not,” he said. “But it’s a good opportunity for guys to play expanded roles and show what they can do.”

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After scrambling back to relevance under Mike Yeo, the Flyers have lost their last four.

“We had nine or 10 guys out and six guys in protocol,” Scott Laughton said. “It’s a tough league to win that way.”

The Flyers were 0-for-3 on the power play and allowed a short-handed goal.

Cam Atkinson and Oskar Lindblom scored. Carter Hart stopped just 26 of 32 shots.

“In all honesty, we were missing some guys,” Yeo said. “How do you compensate for that? You up your compete level. You dig in harder to your team game. And obviously, you have to show more resilience, more heart, whatever you want to say.

“Whether we didn’t believe we could win or whatever the case was, we were not good enough.”

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Derick Brassard, who had played just once since Nov. 23 with a hip problem, came off the injured list and was ready to join van Riemsdyk on a line centered by Morgan Frost.

Originally, Yeo had indicated he wanted the 34-year-old to enjoy a full practice before returning, but the Flyers were too short-handed to wait.

“The good news is that he has been skating,” Yeo said. “In a perfect world, we would have have the opportunity to get him in there and compete and battle and get involved with the group. But No. 1, we don’t have the bodies, and, No. 2, we haven’t had the practices.”

The Flyers have had three full practices since Yeo replaced Alain Vigneault on Dec. 7.

“Good to see him out there, for sure,” remarked van Riemsdyk. “We have some good chemistry and he is an extremely smart and skilled player. So I am excited for that.”

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With so many veterans missing, Yeo was hoping for a lift from Kevin Hayes, who has played just 15 games since recovering from a complicated abdominal operation.

“I know that we will be leaning on him, to be sure,” the coach said

Yeo had Hayes center a line with Max Willman and Connor Bunnaman, who was activated Thursday from the taxi squad.

“We’ve surrounded him with a couple of guys who are going to work and are going to check,” Yeo said. “Hopefully, they are going to recover the puck. He has been battling with stuff, but he is a warrior and he is a competitor and he feels really good.”

Hayes entered with three goals and five assists in 15 games. He was a minus-two in 16:11 on ice and took a 10-minute misconduct after the Penguins scored twice in 91 seconds to make it 6-1 midway through the third period.

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Defenseman Egor Zamula, 21, who played in two games last season, was elevated from the taxi squad for first NHL action of the season. He was paired with Rasmus Ristolainen on what was nominally the top pairing.

“This is a great opportunity for some players,” Yeo said. “The bigger the challenge, the bigger the opportunity.”

Zamula blocked three shots in 19 minutes.

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NOTES >> Giroux, Provorov, Cates and Seeler were cleared to return from the West Coast road trip Thursday after being isolated under health protocols. According to Yeo, all were “symptom-free.” … Gerry Mayhew was scratched with an upper body injury and is day-to-day … The Flyers will host the San Jose Sharks Saturday night at 7 … The Penguins ran their winning streak to 10 games.