Flyers Notes: Flyers' Luke Schenn hit in head with puck

WINNIPEG, Manitoba - The Flyers, their defense already depleted by injuries, breathed a collective sigh of relief as Luke Schenn returned to the ice late in the second period after having his head stitched during Saturday's 4-1 loss to the Jets.

Schenn, injured blocking Tobias Enstrom's second-period shot, received at least seven stitches near his right eye, and said the area felt "tender" but that it shouldn't affect him moving forward.

The Flyers cannot afford to lose Schenn, who has been their best defenseman lately.

Despite missing about seven minutes, Schenn played a team-high 24 minutes, 54 seconds and had a team-high five shots and three blocks.

When blocking Tobias' shot, Schenn said he felt the puck "went right through my helmet. . . . It seemed like everyone was on the other side of the ice and they moved over to [Enstrom], and he hit a wide-open lane. He wound up, and I just tried to get in front of him and block the shot. I'm lucky. It could have been a lot worse."

Ilya Bryzgalov started his 22d straight game, the longest streak for a Flyers goalie since Pelle Lindbergh (24 straight) in 1984-85. The club record is 37 straight starts by Hall of Famer Bernie Parent in 1973-74.

Recently acquired Steve Mason relieved Bryzgalov at the start of the third period and stopped all nine shots he faced in his Flyers debut.

"These are entirely new players for me, a new system," Mason said. ". . . I tried to make things simple out there and overall it was pretty good. It's something to build off of."

Mason became the 49th goalie to appear in a regular-season game in Flyers history and the second who catches righthanded. He also became the fourth former rookie of the year to play for the Flyers. Peter Forsberg, Dale Hawerchuk, and Brit Selby were the others.

The second period marked the first time this year the Flyers had allowed four goals in a period. . . . Ruslan Fedotenko has a five-game points streak.