Flyers general manager Ron Hextall says forward Michael Raffl is fine after being helped to the locker room in the second period of a 3-2 shootout win over the Rangers on Saturday night.

Raffl took an elbow to the head from Rangers center Jarret Stoll and suffered an upper-body injury.

Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith underwent successful surgery to repair a meniscal tear in his right knee and is expected to miss four to six weeks, the team announced Tuesday.

Keith, 32, played through the Blackhawks' last game, a win over the Blue Jackets on Saturday and was on the ice for 27 shifts and 25 minutes, 34 seconds of ice time. 

The Coyotes have recalled forward Matthias Plachta from Springfield of the AHL and placed center Joe Vitale on injured reserve with an upper body injury.

Plachta, a 24-year-old from Germany, appeared in three games with Springfield this season after starting his career in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga.

Vitale was injured during a fight with the Bruins' Kevan Miller in Saturday's game. Vitale went to the hospital for X-rays after the game.

Logan Couture will need surgery to repair a fractured right fibula at the ankle and is expected to miss four-to-six weeks, Sharks general manager Doug Wilson said in a team statement Friday.

Capitals forward Nicklas Backstrom has been medically cleared for contact but will not play Thursday against the Blackhawks.

"It's probably going to be day-to-day," coach Barry Trotz said Wednesday. "He got bumped a little bit today and we'll see how he feels tomorrow and we'll just sort of take it day by day."

Backstrom is recovering from arthroscopic hip surgery he had May 27. He has not played this season.

Bruins left winger Brad Marchand is out indefinitely with a concussion, coach Claude Julien told reporters Sunday.

Marchand suffered the injury late in the third period of Saturday's loss to the Canadiens.

Julien also announced that the team has placed defenseman Matt Irwin on waivers.

Hurricanes defenseman James Wisniewski will need surgery for a knee injury.

The team said in a release Friday that Wisniewski will have surgery to repair a torn left ACL and will face an estimated six-month recovery time. He was injured during Thursday's game at Nashville after skating just 47 seconds in his debut with the Hurricanes.

Zdeno Chara returned to the ice this week after sustaining an undisclosed upper body injury in a Sept. 24 exhibition game against the New York Rangers. But he's been skating alone, before his teammates take the ice.

Asked about his progress at media day on Thursday, Chara said, ''I skated today.'' Asked if he was able to shoot pucks yet, Chara repeated, ''I skated today.''

Chara said he can't put a timetable on his return as he tries to recover from an undisclosed injury.

''Today was better than it was yesterday,'' he said. ''If it keeps improving, we'll see how it's going to be next week.''