Devils' Zubrus goes on IR with kneecap fracture

Devils center Dainius Zubrus will be out four to six weeks because of a hairline fracture on his kneecap, suffered when he blocked a shot in Thursday night's shootout loss to the Nashville Predators.

Zubrus, who on Friday was placed on injured reserve, was scheduled to have surgery Friday evening.

The injury occurred early in the second period, when he went to block Predators defenseman Kevin Klein's shot. The force of it broke Zubrus' shin guard.

"I've never seen a shin guard break," Lamoriello said, according to The Record (N.J.). "It didn't crack. It was just that the cap [on the shin guard] pushed in and the pressure of going in hit a vulnerable spot."

The surgery will stabilize the kneecap without having to put it in a cast.

Zubrus' injury is the latest in a parade of injuries -- the other major injuries are center Rob Niedermayer (upper body); left wing Jay Pandolfo (right shoulder); and defensemen Paul Martin (fractured left forearm) and Johnny Oduya (lower body).

Right wing Ilkka Pikkarainen also was placed on on IR because of the flu. Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond, said to have had an upper-body injury, was activated.