Report: Two big line up changes for the Flyers on Sunday.

The Philadelphia Flyers have a very tough match up ahead of them on Sunday, the travel to Winnipeg to take on a strong Winnipeg Jets team, and they are making significant line up changes in preparation for that game. 

Ahead of their 3 pm match up against the Jets the Flyers have officially announced that it will be goaltender Michael Neuvirth who will step in today, replacing goaltender Alex Lyon. Now to be fair to Lyon here this move is likely entirely motivated by the fact that the Flyers are playing on a back to back after defeating the Buffalo Sabres last night. Lyon was particular strong against the Sabres' potent offense stopping 28 of the 30 shots he faced for a save percentage of .933 so this is clearly not a performance based decision.

The Flyers are also bringing in a veteran player for the very first time with the announcement that 28 year old center Philip Varone will make his Flyers debut on Sunday. Varone had spent all of the previous season and this season playing for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms after previously playing for both the Ottawa Senators and the Buffalo Sabres at the National Hockey League level. In 22 games this season in the American Hockey League Varone has 11 goals and 17 assists for a very impressive 28 points and boasts a plus minus rating of +5. In 50 NHL games he has just 5 goals and 5 assists for a total of 10 points so the Flyers will be hoping that he can translate some of that offensive flare to the NHL level.

The other interesting aspect of bringing in Varone is the fact that the Flyers will be sitting 26 year old forward Jordan Weal who up until this point was seeing regular use in the Flyers line up. There does not appear to be any injury to Weal, although perhaps the team feels he needs the extra rest rather than playing in a back to back, and this may be a sign that head coach Dave Hakstol has lost faith in the young forward. Weal has appeared in 21 games for the Flyers this year and has 3 goals and 4 assists for a total of 7 points and boasts a plus minus rating of 0.

[pub]