EAST RUTHERFORD, April 3 (UPI) -- New Jersey Devils center-right wing Scott Gomez will undergo surgery for a broken left hand and is expected to miss four to six weeks, the club announmced Wednesday.
Gomez suffered the injury when he was sandwiched between teammate Bobby Holik and Dave Scatchard of the New York Islanders late in the third period of Monday night's game.
An MRI revealed two displaced fractures in the hand. Gomez will have surgery when the swelling subsides and miss the remaining six games of the regular season and at least the first round of the playoffs.
Gomez, 22, has been one of the team's best players after being moved to right wing on a line with Holik and Sergei Brylin, compiling five goals and 10 assists in 18 games since the Olympic break.
He was struggling as the No. 3 center without Alexander Mogilny, who signed with Toronto in the offseason, before Coach Kevin Constantine moved him to wing alongside Holik and Brylin.
The Devils (35-28-9-4) are in the seventh playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, two points behind the Islanders and four ahead of the Montreal Canadiens.
A first-round pick in 1998, Gomez won the Calder Trophy as the NHL's rookie of the year in 1999-2000, recording 19 goals and 51 assists and helping the Devils win the Stanley Cup. He slipped to 14 goals and 49 assists last season and had 10 goals and 38 assists in 76 games this season.
