Flyers' battered Downie: 'Loss hurt more than my face'

Sporting a massive shiner under his left eye from his fight with Washington's Aaron Volpatti on Friday, Flyers winger Steve Downie said he is making progress and will return to the lineup soon.

Downie suffered a concussion in that 7-0 loss and has been experiencing some sinus problems from the fight. He will not play Thursday night against visiting New Jersey, but Saturday afternoon's game against Edmonton is a possibility.

Officially, he is listed as day to day.

"I made a mistake in the fight and I paid for it," said Downie, who said his vision was not affected. "It sucks to lose those, but the main thing is getting healthy and getting back."

Downie, 26, asked Volpatti to stop the fight.

"When you blow your eye up like that and can't see out of it," it's time to end it, he said. "...You get hit like that, there's no point to keep going. You get hit again in a spot like that , you never know what could happen. Things could get worse."

It was Downie's first action after the Flyers had acquired him from Colorado for Max Talbot.

"My first game, you want to make an impression. Things didn't go the way I wanted them to," he said. "I've put it behind me. We have to focus on winning games, and I'm hoping to get back into the lineup and help the team."

He got into the fight, he said, to try to spark the team.

"At the time, the game's 5-0 and you're trying to get anything going," he said. "It was one of those games _ 5-0, 6-0, 7-0. The loss hurt more than my face."

Breakaways. Ray Emery is expected to start in goal. Bernie Parent in his prime could be in the nets and it wouldn't matter if the Flyers continue to be the Team That Can't Shoot Straight. They are last in the NHL, averaging 1.57 goals per game....Three Devils _ Travis Zajac, Anton Volchenkov and Peter Harrold _ will return to the lineup from injuries.....Nick Grossmann, who has been the Flyers' best D-man, will play in his 400th career game....Former Flyer Jaromir Jagr leads the Devils with 10 points. Jagr said he "had no choice" when he signed with Dallas two years ago because the Flyers made no offer as they were waiting to hear from FAs Ryan Suter and Zach Parise...Jagr said Claude Giroux was the "best player on the ice" in the Flyers' 1-0 win in New Jersey on Saturday.....Giroux is goal-less in his last 20 games, dating back to last season..

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