Flyers' Nolan Patrick making slow progress from apparent concussion

Rookie center Nolan Patrick, sidelined with an apparent concussion, is making progress and Flyers general manager Ron Hextall hopes he is able to play Tuesday in Minnesota.

Patrick, 19, the No. 2 overall pick in the  draft in June, missed his seventh straight game when the Flyers hosted Chicago on Thursday night.

In nine games, Patrick has one goal, two assists, and a plus-2 rating.

"I hope he's a couple days away from practicing with the team," Hextall said after the morning skate Thursday in Voorhees.

Patrick skated before practice Thursday but was not with the team.

"It's a matter of kind of ramping him up every day and hopefully things continue on the path they're going on right now," Hextall said.

Hextall said Patrick's recovery has "taken longer than we thought and certainly hoped, but he skated [Thursday] and everything went good. He worked out. You just can't go from zero to 60; it's got to be zero to 20 and then up, so he'll go a little harder"  Friday.

The general manager said he did not anticipate sending Patrick  to the AHL's Phantoms for a rehab stint. He also ruled out sending him back to his junior team in Brandon.

Defenseman Andrew MacDonald, who has not played since a 2-1 win over Edmonton because of a leg injury, will be examined by a doctor on Friday. Hextall said he hopes MacDonald can start skating next week. It appears the earliest he might return would be Nov. 18 against Johnny Gaudreau, Jaromir Jagr, and visiting Calgary.

Entering Thursday, the Flyers had won just two of seven games (2-3-2) without MacDonald.

Former Flyer Mark Recchi, who is a Penguins assistant, will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday night in Toronto. He spent more time with the Flyers than any of his seven teams.

Recchi played in  10 seasons for the Flyers out of his total of  22, collecting 232 goals and 627 points in 602 games with Philadelphia. He finished his career with 577 goals and 1,533 points.

In 1984, Bernie Parent became the first Flyer to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, followed by Bobby Clarke (1987), Ed Snider (1988), Bill Barber (1990), Keith Allen (1992), Mark Howe (2011), Fred Shero (2013), and Eric Lindros (2016).

Breakaways

Entering Thursday, the Flyers had four players averaging more than a point per game: Sean Couturier (1.20), Jake Voracek (1.20), Shayne Gostisbehere (1.17), and Claude Giroux (1.13)…..Radko Gudas returned to the lineup and was paired with Travis Sanheim  after a two-game absence because of a head injury….Ivan Provorov averaged 18 minutes, 3 seconds of ice time in his last five games heading into Thursday….Defenseman Robert Hagg averaged 19:13 in his first 15 games, placing him third among NHL rookies. He led rookies with 48 hits in those games