Stunner: Flyers' Carter sidelined 3-4 weeks
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Flyers Report: Broad Street Bull
Stunner: Flyers' Carter sidelined 3-4 weeks
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
The Flyers’ playoff charge may have been derailed by the stunning news Monday that Jeff Carter, their leading scorer, will miss the next three to four weeks with a broken bone in his left foot.
Carter was injured blocking a shot taken by Atlanta’s Clarke MacArthur in the first period of Sunday’s 3-1 loss to the Thrashers. Carter played the rest of the game, but an MRI on Monday revealed the fracture.
Carter, who has played in 286 straight games _ the third-longest streak in franchise history _ leads the Flyers with 33 goals and 60 points.
“Obviously, he’s a big part of our team; he’s a big-time goal scorer that we rely on,” defenseman Chris Pronger said. “It’s going to take a group effort to kind of fill in from the offensive production standpoint, but he does a lot more things for our team than that. That’s where he’s going to be missed as well.”
With a little less than three weeks left in the regular season, Carter wouldn’t return until the first-round of the playoffs _ if the Flyers get there.
They entered Monday's action tied for fifth in the East, but are just four points ahead of ninth-place Atlanta. The Flyers have lost four of their last five games.
"This year has been full of opportunities for others to step up.....Guys now have an opportunity to play a role and more minutes," said coach Peter Laviolette, whose team plays a key game in Ottawa Tuesday.
Carter's injury figures to give Claude Giroux more ice time. Giroux has been mired in a deep slump _ two goals in his last 18 games _ and needs to produce if the Flyers are going to reach the post-season.
Laviolette won't decide until Tuesday how his lines will look. He may move Giroux to Carter's center spot, between wingers Danny Briere and Scott Hartnell. There is also the chance he will shift Briere to center and put Ville Leino at wing on that line.
With Carter sidelined, Leino figures to be added to the lineup.
"There won't be any excuses," Laviolette. "We've got a good hockey team in here. Yes, we wish we had a healthy team, but it's a rare thing to have a team that is completely healthy. It's a physical sport, a demanding sport, and injuires happen. Life goes on and no one one feels sorry for us, and we can't feel sorry for ourselves."
The Flyers, of course, have already lost goalies Ray Emery and Michael Leighton to injuries.
bye bye playoffs— DrM- Let's go Phillies.... I can't watch the Flyers anymore.— karenm152
- Not good. Hopefully the rest of the team rallies and takes up the slack, but you hoped that would of happen when Leighton went down, and it didn't. Not holding my breathe. Happily opening day is only two weeks away! Praying for a miracle, and Lets Go Phils!— psumet51
- WTF the one guy who could actually put the biscuit in the basket. I guess Giroux will be moving up.— Crosbysucks
- They were gonna get killed in the 1st round ANYWAY. Now, they have an excuse. Fire Holmgren and Snider.— Nezhy
Just think...we've got the "saviors" of this franchise - Richards, Pronger, Briere - locked up for seasons to come, and we're certainly not getting our moneys worth out of Timmonen and Hartnell. Because of their cap impact, the only parade we'll see is that of the goons and muckers coming in to fill in the rest of the spots. Smart, REAL smart guys.— Atomic Fury
Sure miss Martin Biron... man... maybe Boosh will get 5 shutouts in a row again? Feck.- Ferrell, I went to a meet the team event with my three kids and Carter stopped and talked to them on his way out. Perfectly friendly to me. Maybe it's you.— phantomphan
- Championships usually happen when people least expect it... no way the Flyers don't make the playoffs. Carter will be back for Round 1, and you never know. They have the talent but have underachieved so far. Then Pens finished the season in the #5 spot last year...— JesseH
- too many role players on one team.. noone wants to step up and take over the game. Look at Simone, Danny, Hartnell etc.. none of these guys can consistently score goals. Even Carter should be scoring more with as many shots as he takes. The league is just too good now for our current squad to take the cup.. unfortunately.— wormwood
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i'm with inchon, no comment!!
Love how everyone thinks this hurts their chances in the playoffs. No need for worry - this team won't even make the playoffs w/o Leighton and Carter. The three teams nipping at their heels, Montreal, Boston and Atlanta, will likely pass them in the next two weeks, pushing them to 9th in the conference.— jpk- The Flyers just aren't fun anymore.— bobbyd24
- I hope that the Flyers make the playoffs because this franchise doesn't need more excuses to fire a coach; they have made firing coaches an art form. It is too early to blame Holmgren, unless he buys into the Snider/Clarke philosophy of building exclusively with forwards, with defense an afterthought.— 76erfn
