Winning the final game of a playoff series is always the most difficult. For the Philadelphia Flyers, leading New Jersey 3-1 in their first round series, getting the clincher just became an even greater challenge. The Flyers will be without vital forwards Jeff Carter and Simon Gagne for Game 5 on Thursday, and quite possibly beyond (UPDATE: Carter is out for the season and Gagne will miss three weeks after surgery on their feet to repair fractures).Philadelphia general manager Paul Holmgren kept his statement simple. "Jeff Carter and Simon Gagne suffered injuries to their right foot in Tuesday night's game. Neither will be available to play Thursday, and both are listed as day-to-day."
Carter, the team's leading goal scorer in the regular season, may have been injured when teammate Chris Pronger's goal to make it 4-1 deflected off the lower part of his leg. Carter, who had two goals and an assist on Tuesday, missed eight games at the end of the regular season with a broken bone in his left foot.
Gagne is believed to have a broken toe on his right foot. Ville Leino, acquired from Detroit at the trade deadline, is a leading candidate to be one of the replacements at forward.
After the Flyers' victory on Tuesday, Daniel Briere said his team's must-win homestretch of the regular season prepared them for this series.
Now that a pair of key players have been injured in the battle, we'll really see what the Flyers are made of.
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