Flyers Notes: Downie: 'The 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 was making progress and would 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 did not play Thursday night against 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," Downie said after a practice session Thursday at the Wells Fargo Center. "It [stinks] 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, said Downie, who said his vision is back to normal. "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 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."

Nick Grossmann, who has been the Flyers' best defenseman, played in his 400th career game. . . . Former Flyer Jaromir Jagr entered the night as the Devils' top scorer 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 free agents 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 goalless in his last 21 games, dating back to last season. . . . Travis Zajac, Anton Volchenkov, and Peter Harrold returned to the Devils lineup from injuries.