The Philadelphia Flyers have announced that forward, Zack MacEwen, has undergone successful surgery on his jaw and will be out for the next 5 weeks.
MacEwen was in the third of 3 fights within 15 seconds during their game on Thursday night against the Minnesota Wild. He dropped the gloves with Wild forward, Marcus Foligno, who landed the better shots between the 2. After the referees broke it up, MacEwen was seen stretching his jaw, wincing, and in some pain as he headed towards the penalty box. The Flyers finished the game with 10 forwards after both MacEwen and Wade Allison – who injured himself by blocking a shot in the same period – didn’t return for the third period.
As the Flyers head into the All-Star break plus their mandatory bye week with a final tilt against the Winnipeg Jets, they will be without both MacEwen and Allison, who is day-to-day for the time being.
Kieffer Bellows who has been up with the Flyers since early January will finally break into the lineup for MacEwen and John Tortorella will be going with 7 defensemen in replacement of Allison. MacEwen was enjoying a career season of sorts, with 4 goals and 9 points in 46 games, while averaging 12:19 TOI.
He figured into the Flyers’ top-6 for a few weeks before Tortorella reconfigured the lines. The Flyers have gone with an unchanged lineup for 18 consecutive games, going 9-8-1 in that span. MacEwen has been on the fourth line with Patrick Brown and Nicolas Deslauriers in that time and they’ve been used as the energy line whenever they need a big hit, a fight, or even a hard forechecking shift in the offensive zone. Points have been hard to come by when you consider the fact that he had 3 goals and 7 points in the first 16 games, while averaging close to 14 minutes a night (13:45). Nonetheless he’s been a very useful and energetic piece of the puzzle for Tortorella and he will be missed for the next 5 weeks.
Allison, on the other hand, was enjoying some offensive success before his untimely injury. His aggressive forechecking, board battles, and dump-and-chase but going hard to the net style was a strong component to the Flyers’ third line alongside Kevin Hayes and Scott Laughton. He’s dealt with his fair share of injuries over his career and even missed a month between November the 12th to the 20th of December with an oblique strain that landed him on IR. He has 7 goals and 11 points in 32 games this season with 4 goals and 7 points coming in his last 12 games.
For now, the Flyers will go with 7 defensemen, bringing Justin Braun back into the fold. The veteran defenseman has been out of the lineup since the 2nd of January when the Flyers played the Anaheim Ducks. Cam York’s recall and improved play alongside the steady third pair of Rasmus Ristolainen and Nick Seeler has kept Braun in the press box until tonight. The stay-at-home defenseman will be looking for his first point of the season tonight in his 34th game.
