The Philadelphia Flyers got some unfortunate and unexpected news on Saturday as it was announced that captain Claude Giroux would miss the team's game against the Toronto Maple Leafs with what has been deemed an "upper-body injury." Giroux took a big hit up high from Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban on Friday night, which you can see here.
Giroux seemed to embellish the immediate aftermath of the hit, but it's certainly possible that he suffered some kind of concussion or head injury that will now keep him off the ice as rookie defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere and the rest of the Flyers squad square off with the struggling Leafs with two sorely-needed points in the balance.
The Flyers remain on the outside looking in at the Eastern Conference playoff picture and have to start making up ground now if they want to have a chance of catching the Penguins or the Red Wings.
It will be Giroux's first missed game of the season. He currently leads the team in scoring with 49 points and is third in the league in both faceoffs taken and faceoffs won.
As the electrifying Gostisbehere noted, it's not going to be easy to make up for the loss of Giroux, but the rest of the Flyers team will have to try if they want to at least keep pace with the Eastern playoff field.