In the meantime, the Flyers completed a bevy of roster moves that became necessary with defensemen Chris Pronger and Braydon Coburn unable to play against the Hurricanes.
According to general manager Paul Holmgren, Pronger came down with a virus and was kept away from his teammates, and Coburn missed the game with an upper-body injury. Both players are listed as day-to-day.
Coburn, however, did take part in the morning skate.
"He's allowed to skate," Holmgren said. "But right now, he's not allowed to have contact."
Holmgren said he did not know how Coburn sustained his injury but said it "probably" happened on Saturday in Winnipeg. Nonetheless, Coburn's "non-contact" status raised a few eyebrows. Few upper-body injuries, other than a shoulder, neck or head injury, would normally limit players from contact drills.
A detailed look at Coburn's shift chart on Saturday shows he was the recipient of two hits - one from Jason Jaffray in the second period and the other from Chris Thorburn at the start of the third - in addition to the two he delivered himself.
Coburn exited the ice just 6 seconds after Thorburn's hit on the first shift of the third period.
After that hit from Thorburn, Coburn sat a full 4 minutes and 28 seconds on the bench, his longest wait in between shifts during the entire game by nearly a full minute. Out of the 23 shifts he played, Coburn waited more than 3 minutes between shifts just three times. Some shifts saw him back on the ice less than 30 seconds after exiting.
Coburn's total ice time of 17:03 was his lowest of the season and nearly 4 minutes off his season average of 21:02. A video replay doesn't show anything out of the ordinary on the hit and Coburn remained upright throughout the shift.
Coburn was not made available for comment last night.
In a text message to the Daily News, Holmgren said Coburn's injury has "not a thing to do with his head."
Holmgren said the Flyers are hoping to have Coburn back in a "game or two." Also, Holmgren said the Flyers were still running tests on Pronger's illness, but "for now" were listing him as day-to-day.
To make room for Bourdon and Marshall, who both made their NHL debuts last night, the Flyers added fellow rookie Erik Gustafsson to the long-term injured reserve to receive relief from his $900,000 salary on the salary cap. Gustafsson had wrist surgery last Thursday and will be out 6 weeks.
They also loaned waiver-exempt rookie Harry Zolnierczyk to the ECHL Trenton Titans for the day - skipping a return to the AHL - to allow room on the 23-man roster. Zolnierczyk, who had played in seven straight games, can be recalled as soon as today.
"It's a pretty good feeling," said Marshall, who admitted he had trouble sleeping last night. "It's been a while that I've been in the organization but I'm still 22 years old. My type of game is being intense and strong defensively and taking care of my own end."
Bourdon, 22, was recalled by the Flyers two seasons ago but never played in a game. He was a third-round pick in 2008.
Read honored
Forward Matt Read was honored as the NHL's Third Star of the Week after tying for the league-lead in goals over the last 7 days. Read, who leads all rookies in goals this season, added to his tally last night with a top-shelf snapshot over Cam Ward in the second period.
"It's still surreal that I'm putting a Flyer jersey on," Read said. "Scoring goals, being out there on the ice, it's very surprising. I've enjoyed my time."
Jagr close
After undergoing an acupuncture treatment over the weekend for a groin injury, Jaromir Jagr appears to be close to returning to the lineup. He participated in yesterday's morning skate and is expected to practice today.
He has missed the Flyers' last two games, his first NHL games as a scratch since 2004, since he played all 82 games in each of his last three seasons with the Rangers.
