Injured Flyers Phil Myers and Morgan Frost will miss significant time

For the Flyers, the medical news was not good Thursday as they announced that defenseman Phil Myers and center Morgan Frost will miss significant time.

Both were injured when absorbing clean hits from Buffalo’s Jake McCabe in a 3-0 win over the Sabres on Tuesday.

Myers, a second-pairing defender, is expected to miss several weeks because of a fractured rib. The Flyers say he is “week to week.” Frost, who had replaced the injured Sean Couturier (ribs), will be sidelined indefinitely with a dislocated left shoulder. No timeline was given for his return.

Center Connor Bunnaman and defenseman Mark Friedman were in the lineup Thursday in Boston. Friedman was paired with Robert Hagg. The other pairings: Ivan Provorov and Travis Sanheim, and Erik Gustafsson and Justin Braun.

Bunnaman centered Michael Raffl and Nic Aube-Kubel on the fourth line, and Scott Laughton, who had been centering the fourth line, moved to right wing on a unit that had left winger James van Riemsdyk and center Claude Giroux.

“Injuries are part of it; (it’s) next man up. We’re ready to go,” coach Alain Vigneault said before the game.

As for the 5-foot-11, 185-pound Friedman, Vigneault said he “liked the bite that he brought” in his six games with the Flyers last season. “He was extremely hard as far as competing and battling. This year, I would say his camp was just OK, and we made that very clear to him, and he’s picked it up since then, even though he hasn’t had a chance to play. He’s been waiting for this opportunity, so I expect him to play real hard and to compete.”

Moving the puck quicker out of their zone will be more challenging without Myers.

Vigneault said he and assistant Mike Yeo have been spending time getting the defensemen and goalies to “move the puck more efficient. We’re doing a lot of video work right now. We’re doing a lot of one-on-one and D-pair work, and we’re also doing a lot of work with the forwards so they understand the type of support that’s needed, and we can move the puck better as a team,” the head coach said.

The Flyers entered the night allowing 36 shots per game, second-most in the NHL.

Giroux is in his ninth season as the Flyers’ captain, and will play in his 609th game in that role Thursday. The franchise record is 610 games by Bobby Clarke over two terms. Giroux is slated to pass Clarke on Tuesday, when the Flyers visit New Jersey.

Samuel Morin, the converted defenseman now playing left wing, was promoted from the taxi squad to the 23-player roster. ... Defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere, who has been sidelined by the COVID-19 protocol, skated Wednesday in Voorhees and is expected to be back with the team when it returns from the four-game trip, Vigneault said. ... The Flyers and Bruins will meet eight times during this pandemic-altered season, including a Feb. 21 game in Lake Tahoe.