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Flyers woes continue: Injury sidelines Patrick 7-10 days

nolan patrick

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - SEPTEMBER 27: Nolan Patrick #19 of the Philadelphia Flyers skates against the New York Rangers at the Wells Fargo Center on September 27, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

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Even when things have gone right for the Philadelphia Flyers in the early parts of the season there still seems to be something that goes wrong.

Their 7-4 win in Ottawa on Wednesday night, which came just 24 hours after they were dominated by the San Jose Sharks, proved to be a costly one as the team revealed on Thursday that forward Nolan Patrick will be sidelined for the next 7-10 days with an undisclosed upper-body injury. The injury occurred in the first period of Wednesday’s win, resulting in Patrick logging just a little more than three minutes of ice time.

Patrick, 19, was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2017 NHL draft and showed pretty consistent improvement throughout his rookie season, finishing with 13 goals and 30 total points in 73 games. By the time the playoffs rolled around he looked like he was ready to become an impact player in the league and entered the season with pretty high expectations surrounding him.
[Related: Injury sidelines Flyers’ van Riemsdyk]

So far, things have not gone as planned. Through the first four games of the season he has yet to record a point, recorded just seven shots on goal, and after Thursday is sitting as a minus-five on the stat sheet. Obviously too early to be overly concerned about that production, and while it’s probably not where he or the Flyers wanted it to be it is still a tough loss for a Flyers team that is already playing shorthanded up front.

Patrick joins James van Riemdsyk, the team’s big free agent addition from the summer, and backup goalie Michal Neuvirth on the injured list. van Riemsdyk will be sidelined for several weeks.

Overall the first week of the Flyers’ season has seen them go through a bunch of extremes, with big wins in Vegas and Ottawa, and blowout losses against Colorado and San Jose with a couple of significant injuries thrown in. This is probably what to expect from the Flyers all season.

MORE: Your 2018-19 NHL on NBC TV schedule

Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.