Aaron Portzline just reported that Blue Jackets center Sean Monahan will miss tonight's game against the Flyers with an upper-body injury.
It's a bad day to lose a top-six center. Columbus is 7-10-0, has lost three straight, and sits 29th in the NHL, one spot below the Flyers.
Portzline passed along word from general manager Don Waddell, who also gave an update on a second forward.
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Conor Garland, also dealing with an upper-body injury, is considered week-to-week according to Waddell. We noted Friday that Conor Garland's move to injured reserve had already come during the skid.
Monahan has 7 points in 17 games, including one power-play goal and one power-play assist. He has been a steady piece for a team that has scored 42 goals all season, and that's not a lot to lose from.
Garland has 1 assist and no goals in 15 games, so his absence won't change the scoring sheet much. But the Blue Jackets are down two forwards at once, and Rick Bowness has to find a way to fill both spots.
Can the Blue Jackets survive this stretch at home?
Columbus has been far better at Nationwide Arena than on the road. The Blue Jackets are 6-5-0 at home and 1-5-0 away, which gives them a real chance tonight even without Monahan.
Still, a team that lost 3-1 to Tampa Bay on Thursday and has a -12 goal differential doesn't have much room for injuries. Bowness will need his depth forwards to produce right away, because there's no top-six cushion left.
The Flyers aren't in great shape either. Philadelphia is 5-10-6 and fell 3-2 in overtime in Edmonton on Wednesday, a game that left Rick Tocchet's group with a point but still searching for answers.
Both teams are stuck in the bottom five of the league. Philadelphia gets a shorthanded opponent, and a division rival hurting might be the best chance the Flyers have had in weeks to string wins together.
For Columbus, the next piece of news is who steps into Monahan's spot at puck drop tonight, and how much longer Garland's week-to-week status stretches.
This article was written with the help of artificial intelligence, based on public reports and official sources.
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