Flyers' Keith Yandle has illness, could see NHL consecutive games streak end

Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Keith Yandle hasn't missed an NHL regular-season game since March 2009 while with the then-Phoenix Coyotes and became the league's new ironman in January when he played in his 965th consecutive contest. 

That streak is now at 989 consecutive games but is in danger. 

Per Adam Kimelman of the NHL's website, Yandle participated in Tuesday's 4-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild but didn't practice Thursday because of an illness. He skated as part of the fourth defensive pair Friday, and Flyers coach Mike Yeo suggested the 35-year-old's status for the Saturday evening home matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs may not be unveiled until shortly before the puck drops. 

"We haven't made a decision yet on the lineup yet for tomorrow," Yeo explained. "Obviously Keith was sick yesterday, he missed practice so wanted to get him out there. Haven't had a chance to talk to him to see how he did in practice today. We do have a couple of guys who are banged up and a couple guys that are battling a little bit of sickness right now so we'll make a determination on lineup tomorrow."

Yandle has tallied one goal and 14 assists across 67 games this season, but the Flyers are already eliminated from playoff contention and, thus, are only playing for pride and experience at this point. 

"I'm not sure what's going to happen tomorrow so don't want to get into any of that right now," Yeo added. 

The Flyers play at the New York Rangers on Sunday afternoon.