‘”It’s tough news to take,” captain Brian Gionta acknowledged. “But at the end of the day it’s a good thing he had it and found it early on and it was nothing too severe. He’s a big piece of this team, there’s no doubt about that. But we’ve said all along guys have to step up, take that opportunity and fill that void. It has been tough here but by no means are we going to sit and make excuses about that.”‘