Flyers' Pronger to miss Saturday's game

PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia Flyers will be without All-Star defenseman Chris Pronger for a second straight game on Saturday against the Atlanta Thrashers due to an upper-body injury.
 
Multiple media outlets are reporting the injury is to Pronger's right wrist, an injury that goes back to Feb. 24 against the New York Islanders, when Pronger was hit in the hand by a puck. He missed the next game and then played four straight, but the injury flared up again Tuesday against Edmonton, and he sat out Thursday's game in Toronto.
 
The 36-year-old defender has 25 points in 50 games and leads the Flyers with an average of 22:29 of ice time per game, but Saturday's game will be the 18th he's missed due to injury. The club lists him as day to day.
 
"We miss him in the lineup," said Flyers coach Peter Laviolette. "The fact that he's not in there, everybody gets concerned about that. He plays 25 minutes, 22 minutes because we're not pressing him that much. He's a guy that does a lot of things for us and plays in a lot of situations. Certainly you'd like to have him in the lineup, but he's not available tonight."
 
Nick Boynton will take Pronger's place for the second straight game. Against the Maple Leafs on Thursday -- his first game since Feb. 7 -- he had one hit and two penalty minutes in 11:24 of ice time, all at even strength, and all paired with Matt Carle, Pronger's usual partner.
 
"I thought he did a good job," Laviolette said of Boynton. "Toronto is a young, hungry, fast team. He came in and after not playing for a while that's difficult. … I thought Nick looked good out there. He's a veteran players, brings some experience."
 
"I thought Boynton came in last game and played really well," added Carle. "He's a veteran guy in this League. It was nothing new for him … he played really well filling those shoes."
 
Contact Adam Kimelman at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @NHLAdamK

Back to top