The Philadelphia Flyers defeated the previously unbeaten Washington Capitals, 2-1, Wednesday night at the Wachovia Center. But the Bullies didn’t skate away unscathed.
In the second period, forward Steve Downie got into a tussle with Washington’s Jay Beagle after the whistle. Both players wrestled until Beagle got the slip on Downie and both players slipped to the ground. During the fight, Downie’s plant knee was twisted, forcing him to be helped off the ice. Early reports say Downie has a knee sprain and will get an MRI tomorrow. The injury should put Downie out at least 3 weeks.
“Initially, I thought it was his head,” Flyers’ coach John Stevens said. “He just strained his knee a little bit. The first prognosis is that it’s not serious. If you look at the fight, he kinda got slew-footed as they got wrapped up there.”
Downie has had an excellent training camp, and has made a serious case to become fourth-line center.
But missing time, the door re-opens for another fourth-line center to make an impression. Not likely skilled player Claude Giroux, someone like Jim Dowd, Darroll Powe or Jared Ross stands a chance to make some noise.
Joffrey Lupul and Glen Metropolit each scored for the Flyers and former Caps defenseman, Steve Eminger was named the third star of the game against his former team.
Phila.Bright 