Flyers Notes: Del Zotto sits again

WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Michael Del Zotto, one of the Flyers' best defensemen earlier in the season, was a healthy scratch for the sixth consecutive game Sunday in Winnipeg.

Coach Craig Berube said he doesn't want Del Zotto to get down on himself; last year, he was a healthy scratch at times with the New York Rangers and Nashville.

"It's hard. I talked to him a few times," Berube said before the Flyers faced the Jets. "He's worked really hard, though, which is a real good sign. I do worry about it. I've got to try to keep him mentally focused. We like him. We do like him. It's just the situation that we're in. We've got a lot of healthy [defensemen], and I like the way the 'D' is playing right now."

Berube said Del Zotto, 24, "tends to try to beat people one on one" too much.

Zac Rinaldo's upper-body injury is not severe, and the left winger is listed as day to day, Flyers general manager Ron Hextall said.

Berube said he wasn't sure how Rinaldo was injured in the first period of the Flyers' 7-4 win in Toronto on Saturday.

"I don't worry about guys that aren't playing," he said, half-kidding.

Hextall said there is a chance Rinaldo will return to action Tuesday in Minnesota. Chris VandeVelde replaced him in Sunday's lineup and played left wing on a line with center Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and right winger Vinny Lecavalier.

Lecavalier played well in the first two games since returning from a seven-game benching.

"I thought he had some chances [Saturday] and had some jump to his game," Berube said.

The Flyers won't know the severity of goalie Steve Mason's injury, believed to be to his back, until Tuesday; originally, they said they would issue an update Monday. . . . The team began the night with just four wins in 16 one-goal games (4-6-6); Winnipeg was 8-2-6 in those situations. . . . Entering Sunday, Claude Giroux had won a staggering 37 of 46 faceoffs (80.4 percent) in his last two games, raising his overall percentage to 56.9 percent for the season.