It appears the Flyers dodged a bullet late in their 4-2 win over the Phoenix Coyotes on Saturday night. In the final 20 seconds of play, Phoenix's Raffi Torres put a crushing hit on defenseman Andrej Meszaros in the corner.

Meszaros was in a lot of pain, and headed directly to the locker room. It looked like he'd gotten his right shoulder wrenched on the play. As a player with a past history of shoulder problems (albeit on the other side), it was concerning to see him get hit like that.

Immediately after the game, Paul Holmgren declared to the beat writers that the injury was no big deal and that he shouldn't miss any time but that Meszaros would be checked the next day as a precaution. The Flyers (and most NHL teams) tend to immediately downplay all but the most gruesome injuries, so the pronouncement had to be taken with a grain of salt.

Yesterday, the word was still that Meszaros was OK and he will be in the lineup on Wednesday when the Flyers take on the Buffalo Sabres. I would not say the Flyers are out of the woods here until Meszaros participates in a practice, but it sounds like all that came of Torres' hit was a "stinger" and the big Slovak defenseman suffered no long-lasting effects.

The absolute last thing the Flyers can afford right now is for any more of their veteran defensemen to get injured. The thought of Matt Walker, Marc-Andre Bourdon and Kevin Marshall in the starting lineup simultaneously would be a nightmarish scenario.

It has been heartening to see how much Meszaros has elevated his game in the last two contests. Although most of the attention (understandably) went to Kimmo Timonen for his four assists in the two games, Meszaros played equally as well. The Flyers will need Meszaros to perform at a similar level in the weeks to come, and hopefully he picks right up in Buffalo where he left off in Phoenix.

As for Torres, the hit on the play was not "dirty" in and of itself. If it were a one-goal game or happened earlier in the game, it would have been a good, hard-nosed hockey play. But it was totally unnecessary under the circumstances. His team was trailing by multiple goals and the season series between the two teams was about to be finished. Torres' hit was a reckless play, not a strategic one.

This is the closest analogy from another sport that comes to mind: In baseball, it would be a bit like a baserunner making an extremely heavy takeout slide at second base on a slow grounder in the hole with his team trailing by four runs and one out in the bottom of ninth. The chances of a game-ending double play were slim even without taking out the shortstop at the bag. The runner would simply be showing a lack of respect, even if what he did was not against the rules.

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The play of Marc-Andre Bourdon thus far has been a pleasant surprise. The rookie has kept his game simple and generally avoided potentially costly mistakes. He's doing a nice job so far with the Flyers.

A word of caution, however: Bourdon's minutes have been limited thus far and Peter Laviolette has tried to shield him from potentially unfavorable matchups. In the situation where Bourdon and Marshall were out on the ice together for an Anaheim goal, it was the Ducks' fourth line that was out for the shift.

The real test of whether Bourdon belongs in the NHL will come when his minutes get extended a bit and he starts getting put into some challenging situations.

How will be react the first time an unforced turnover leads to an opposition goal? How will he handle NHL forwards gaining the blueline with speed and crossing over on him on a line rush? As a player who was once a good junior hockey offensive D -- but has yet to assert himself offensively as a pro -- can Bourdon make intelligent pinches and get his heavy shot on net? In the AHL and junior hockey, he was also known for mixing it up physically and dropping the gloves as needed -- can he do the same effectively in the NHL?

The answers to all of these questions remain largely unknown.

Very often, what happens with minor league callup defensemen is that they look just fine in their first few games. Then they start to feel more comfortable, and stop playing things so conservatively. They promptly get exposed as other teams start to get a "book" on playing against them. The ones who stick around with the big club fight through the adversity. The ones who don't start to press and their struggles snowball.

It is unrealistic NOT to expect a degree of regression from Bourdon at some point relatively soon. All rookie defensemen go through it. Hopefully, whenever the adversity hits, he'll be able to handle it and emerge on the other side as a better player.

As for Marshall, things have not gone quite as smoothly so far. Although he was originally a more highly-touted defenseman in his draft year than Bourdon, he looks less like an NHL-worthy defenseman than his counterpart at this point in their respective careers.

By the way, I'm still not exactly sure why the Flyers risked re-entry waivers on Walker if they had no intention on playing him instead of Marshall in both games on the trip. I understand the need for an extra defenseman being available on a western road trip but there are non-waiver players on the Phantoms (such as Blake Kessel and Oliver Lauridsen) who could have been the seventh defenseman on the trip.

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I am extremely excited about the Alumni game at the Winter Classic. While the game itself matters little, the introductions of the Flyers participants should be incredible.

It will be cathartic to see Eric Lindros don a Flyers sweater once again, and standing out on the same ice with Bob Clarke. I am also very much looking forward to seeing Mark Howe and Dave Poulin in Flyers uniforms again, and can't wait to see John LeClair skate with Lindros.

My only regret about the roster (apart from the fact that Mikael Renberg cannot make it due to his World Junior Championship broadcasting obligations for SVT) is the omission of several notable ex-Flyers who still live in the greater Philadelphia area.

Specifically, I don't know why Tim Kerr, Jimmy Watson and Rick MacLeish are not involved in any capacity. If they physically cannot play (as is the case with Keith Primeau, Gary Dornhoefer, Bernie Parent and Ron Hextall), it would have been nice to either have seen them named as assistant coaches or with the honorary "off-ice ambassador" title.

I am trying to confirm whether the aforementioned three Flyers greats were invited but unavailable to attend or were simply overlooked (which I truly doubt would be the case).

The inclusion of soon-to-be 77-year-old Mike Nykoluk as an assistant coach on the Flyers Alumni Game is a nice little touch than few have mentioned. Fred Shero is no longer alive to coach the Flyers team, but Nykoluk -- the NHL's first assistant coach -- was Shero's right hand man during the heyday of the Broad Street Bullies.

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Speaking of former Flyers assistant coaches, congratulations go out to Andy Murray for his induction (in the builder category) to the IIHF's International Hockey Hall of Fame class of 2012. He will accept his induction in Switzerland next May.

The other inductees are Pavel "Russian Rocket" Bure, American defenseman Phil Housley, Raimo Helminen (who played more games for Team Finland than any other player) and communist era Czech great Milan Novy.

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