BROSSARD, Que. -- Both the Flyers and the Canadiens will be missing their captains when the teams meet tonight at the Bell Centre (7:30 p.m. ET, NHLN-US).
The Flyers have been without
Chris Pronger for nearly a month due to concussion-type symptoms, as well as knee surgery that would have sidelined him anyway until the end of the month, at the earliest.
Philadelphia also will play its second game without
Claude Giroux, the League's leading scorer.
The Flyers are also missing rookie center
Brayden Schenn due to a concussion, though he skated with the team Wednesday, the first time since he was injured Dec. 3 against Phoenix. Also working his way back is defenseman
Andreas Lilja, out with a high ankle sprain suffered Nov. 25. Neither will play tonight.
Canadiens captain
Brian Gionta will miss his third straight game with a lower-body injury. He'll be joined as a spectator tonight by forward
Travis Moen, who left Tuesday's 5-3 win against the Islanders with a lower-body injury. Also, defenseman
Raphael Diaz is out with an illness.
They'll be replaced by AHL call-up
Michael Blunden and
Alexei Emelin, the hard-hitting rookie who was a healthy scratch Tuesday.
Those injuries are added to the long-term absences of defenseman
Andrei Markov and centers
Scott Gomez and
Ryan White.
Here's which healthy players will be dressing for the teams tonight, and how the forward lines and defense pairings could look.