Back spasms sideline Flyers' Lecavalier vs. Wild

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Philadelphia Flyers will be without leading goal-scorer Vincent Lecavalier on Monday against the Minnesota Wild. The veteran has back spasms which began during the third period of the Flyers' 3-2 shootout win Saturday at the Nashville Predators.

Lecavalier, who leads the Flyers with nine goals, finished the game Saturday and scored the deciding goal in the shootout. But with four games left on their road trip, the team thought it best to give Lecavalier the night off. Brayden Schenn is expected to take over Lecavalier's second-line center spot.

"We're losing a very good centerman," Flyers coach Craig Berube said. "Brayden Schenn has played a lot of center and it's a good opportunity for him to slide in there. He's played center pretty well his whole life."

Berube did say there could be some difficulty replacing Lecavalier with the man-advantage, where he leads the team with five power-play goals.

"There is some dynamics that could change there," Berube said.

The Wild are getting a center back. Zenon Konopka, hit in the eye by a puck Friday against the Colorado Avalanche, missed the rematch Saturday in Denver but will return to his normal fourth-line role.

Konopka, sporting a black eye and stitches on his eyelid, is under doctor's orders to wear a shield on his helmet for the first time in his NHL career, something he said is temporary.

Hit in the eye during the first period, Konopka left the ice and went to the locker room before returning momentarily. Konopka said he couldn't focus and immediately grew concerned.

"I couldn't see, but after a while I thought I was OK and tried to go back on the ice," Konopka said. "There's a lot of things we take for granted, eyesight is one of them. Definitely counting my lucky stars."

Here is how the lineups could look for the Flyers and Wild:

FLYERS

Scott Hartnell - Claude Giroux - Jakub Voracek

Michael Raffl - Brayden Schenn - Wayne Simmonds

Steve Downie - Sean Couturier - Matt Read

Jay Rosehill - Adam Hall - Zac Rinaldo

Braydon Coburn - Kimmo Timonen

Nicklas Grossman - Mark Streit

Luke Schenn - Andrej Meszaros

Ray Emery

Steve Mason

Scratched: Erik Gustafsson, Hal Gill, Tye McGinn

Injured: Vincent Lecavalier (back)

WILD

Zach Parise - Mikko Koivu - Jason Pominville

Nino Niederreiter - Charlie Coyle - Dany Heatley

Matt Cooke - Kyle Brodziak - Torrey Mitchell

Erik Haula - Zenon Konopka - Justin Fontaine

Ryan Suter - Jonas Brodin

Marco Scandella - Jared Spurgeon

Clayton Stoner - Keith Ballard

Josh Harding

Niklas Backstrom

Scratched: Matt Dumba, Nate Prosser, Mike Rupp

Injured: Mikael Granlund (concussion)