The rest of the Flyers' 2011-12 regular season took on a whole different complexion as a result of the club's loss to Tampa Bay on Monday and the news that Ilya Bryzgalov has a chip fracture in his right foot.
The fact that Bryzgalov was able to get through the game and the initial X-rays were negative (the injury was discovered in an MRI yesterday) suggest that his injury is of the most minor type. Although healing for a very small fracture (or "bone bruise") usually takes about a month to six weeks, the player could start to feel more comfortable with it in about 7 to 10 days per CSN Philly sports medicine correspondent Dr. Mark Schwartz. Every case is different, however.
The Flyers have suggested that Bryzgalov could conceivably practice and play by this weekend, which would be less than a week from sustaining the injury. That just seems overly optimistic. A more realistic goal would be to aim for Bryzgalov to return for the start of the playoffs if he feels enough comfort (usually after a pain-killing injection) to put on a skate and move around on the injury. The break is on a weight-bearing bone.
The Flyers need to exercise as much caution as possible here. Sports teams in general tend to rush players back too soon especially around time of the playoffs. The last thing the Flyers want or need is to bring Bryzgalov back by this weekend and risk another situation similar to that of
Dave Babych. While the Bryzgalov injury does not sound as serious as the other one, the day-to-day time table the Flyers suggested yesterday does not sound realistic. It's more like week-to-week given the typical absences of players with a minor bone bruise type of foot injury.
Whether or not Philly has Bryzgalov in net for the rest of the regular season, the club is probably going to be the fifth seed in the East. Catching the Rangers for first in the Eastern Conference is unlikely, and the Penguins hurt their own chances by losing to the Islanders last night.
At this point, the Flyers' main goal needs to be getting as healthy and complete of a lineup as possible out for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, most likely in Pittsburgh or possibly in Philadelphia against Pittsburgh.
The Flyers do seem to recognize this. Kimmo Timonen is resting his nagging lower back problem (although whatever he has is being called a upper-body injury now after his previous absence was designated as lower-body) at least for the next game. He'd probably have played through it if the Flyers had beaten Tampa to gain ground in the standings.
The club has recalled Marc-Andre Bourdon from Adirondack. The player, who had been suffering from concussion-like symptoms, was previously bypassed for callup in favor of Brandon Manning. But Bourdon is apparently feeling better now. The defenseman played strong hockey early in his first recall but struggled over the final couple weeks of his initial 39-game stay.
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I have authored a profile of Flyers' defenseman Nicklas Grossmann for the Flyers' official Web site. The article, which looks extensively at the player's career both in Dallas and Philadelphia is
now online.
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