Impressive so far, now lets see if the Flyers can handle a little adversity.
After consulting a foot specialist, the Flyers officially announced on Friday that defenseman Chris Pronger has a broken first metatarsal in his right foot and will require surgery. The veteran and keystone of Philadelphia’s blue line will miss 4-6 weeks, or as Sam Carchidi of the Inquirer added up, 11-17 games. Pronger, who has four goals and 11 assists in 31 games, should be available to return by Feb. 1.
Pronger, 36, injured his foot in Philadelphia’s 5-3 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday.
Without Pronger, the weight of the defense will fall on the shoulders of 25-year-old Andrej Meszaros, who is expected to pair with Pronger’s partner, Matt Carle. Kimmo Timonen will remain with Braydon Coburn and Sean O’Donnell will match up with Oskars Bartulis.
Sans Pronger, the Flyers will be tested, starting with the New York Rangers on Saturday. The team will ring in the New Year on the West Coast, where they will face Los Angeles Kings, Vancouver Canucks and Pronger’s former team, the Anaheim Ducks.
Phila.Bright 
Not great news but this is not the worst time for an injury to the Flyers’ top defenseman. Their schedule slows down some and it’s the part of the season that drags and wears on a player. Let’s say Pronger comes back in February, takes some games to get his game back, then is fresher and healthy for the stretch drive. Meanwhile, Bartulis gets into some games and then he’s more ready if someone else is injured later on. With all the broken feet they’ve had lately, how about considering some way to put additional protection on players’ skates?
Some players, especially d-men, wear a protective plastic around the outside of their skates. The issue is that the puck sometimes hits the top of the laces. That’s how Jeff Carter broke his foot in the playoffs and how Chris Pronger broke his.