PHILADELPHIA -- Washington Capitals defenseman Brooks Orpik, who suffered an upper-body injury in Game 3, will not play in Game 4 of their first-round Eastern Conference series against the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night.
The Capitals hold a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
"Any time you lose a guy like Brooks Orpik, with his experience, he's been through the grind before and it's tough," said defenseman Taylor Chorney, who could be called into action. "I don't think anybody is going to go in there and do what he does.
"At the same time, we've been through it this year. He spent some time when he was hurt earlier in the year and we had guys step up. As a group, we're all confident no matter who's in there that we can go and get the job done."
Capitals coach Barry Trotz said he has confidence in the defensive core.
"We're really deep at that position ... so that's an area that's a strength for our team," Trotz said after Tuesday's practice.
Orpik suffered the injury in the second period of the Capitals' 6-1 win and did not return. After making a solid defensive play on the backcheck, he was on the receiving end of a seemingly harmless -- and clean -- body check by the Flyers' Ryan White. Orpik fell to his knees and did not move. He appeared dazed and needed to be helped off the ice and taken to the locker room.
"You want to win one for the Gipper. He's done a lot for the team and he's a big part of the locker room," the Capitals' Jason Chimera said. "He's a guy who says the right things. When you see a guy go down like that, you want to win one for him, for sure."
