VOORHEES, N.J. -- Defenseman Marc-Andre Bourdon returned to the Flyers on Wednesday fully recovered from an undisclosed concussion suffered while he was playing with the Flyers.
Bourdon will replace Kimmo Timonen (back) Thursday in Toronto and will again be paired with Matt Carle, who he played with during his previous 39 games here.
I needed to take time off, Bourdon said. I feel really good now. Im ready to go and ready to play the same way I was playing and help the team to keep winning.
The Flyers sent Bourdon down to the Phantoms after a 6-4 loss to Pittsburgh in Philly on Feb. 18.
Coincidentally, that was Bourdons worst game as a Flyerfive giveaways and minus-1.
In hindsight, Bourdon admits he wasnt right and says he sustained a concussion at some point with the Flyers, but didnt realize how or when it happened, and thought it was a tiny one.
I dont know what to tell you, he said. Check the tapes. I checked them out. I dont know. Maybe it was a couple hits or maybe it was when I gave a hit. I dont know.
NHL
Its not my first concussion. You get a tiny concussion and its fine the next day. So you get a tiny one and think its OK and you play a couple games with it and it just doesnt go away.
It gets worse. This time, I thought I had a little one and I kept playing on it and it just got worse. Maybe I should have stopped playing at the first point.
When the Flyers sent Bourdon to the Phantoms, he could not play. In fact, he played just four games with them during the entire time he was in Adirondack because he was recovering from the concussion.
My head didnt feel fine, Bourdon said. I had to take time off. I dont really know when it happened. Its complicated. I started to have headaches.
On March 8, the Flyers recalled defenseman Brandon Manning when Pavel Kubina went out of the lineup with a shoulder injury.
General manager Paul Holmgren said that Bourdon was unavailable with concussion symptoms though he, like Bourdon, wasnt sure when or how it happened.
Its now apparent that it had to have occurred before the Feb. 18 game against Pittsburgh. The good news is, Bourdon, who played very well from Nov. 21 through his last stint, is healthy again.
Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said Bourdon will need a bit of a refresher course, but nothing major.
Im sure we will sit with him and refresh a bit and go over the opponent tomorrow, Laviolette said. Like we always do. Their systems are similar to what we did up here. But there are always smaller conversations.
E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net