Toronto Maple Leafs captain Mats Sundin will be sidelined for three to four weeks with a slight ligament tear in his right elbow.
Toronto general manager John Ferguson confirmed that Sundin suffered the injury in Monday's 4-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers.
Mats Sundin (13) leads the Maple Leafs in scoring this season with 19 points in 17 games.
(Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)
Sundin's injury will not require surgery.
Ferguson said the injury occurred in the first period, even though Sundin played the rest of the game and won the faceoff for the winning goal in the third period.
"But he was obviously under some great deal of discomfort after the game," said Ferguson.
The loss of Sundin is a big blow for the Leafs, who sport an impressive 5-1-0 record in their past six games. The Swedish star leads the team in scoring with eight goals and 11 assists in 17 games this season.
With Sundin out, Ferguson expects the club's other forwards to step up, much like the defence did when blue-liners Pavel Kubina, Andrew Wozniewski, Carlo Colaiacovo and Staffan Kronwall were injured earlier in the season.
"Brendan Bell and Ian White along with Hall Gill, and Tomas Kaberle and Bryan McCabe especially — they were not only able to get us through that, but really come through for us," said Ferguson. "So this is going to be an opportunity up front. You don't replace Mats, but it is going to be an opportunity for others to demonstrate their abilities to handle more.
"Handle more responsibility, handle more ice time and be difference makers for us."
Injury problems have dogged Sundin, who collected nine points in his last five games, the last two seasons.
He missed 12 games early in the 2005-06 campaign after suffering a fractured lower orbital bone when his left eye was struck by a puck in the season opener.
Even though he missed 13 games, Sundin still tallied 31 goals and 78 points to lead the Leafs in scoring.
The Leafs visit the Bruins in Boston on Thursday before returning home to host the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday (CBC, 7 p.m. ET).
with files from Canadian Press
