VOORHEES, N.J. — Owen Tippett missed the second round of the playoffs because of an internal bleeding issue, he announced in a statement Tuesday. The 27-year-old winger said he’s confident he’ll make a full recovery and return for training camp in September. He’s “making progress and fe eling better each day,” Tippett said in the statement. Tippett sustained the injury during the first round against the Penguins. Despite being banged up, he played the whole series as the Flyers beat Pittsburgh in six games. At his end-of-the-season press conference Tuesday, Tippett said he was playing through a sports hernia injury. But he was unable to play against the Hurricanes, who swept the Flyers, because of the internal bleeding, which he said was not related to his other injury. “Pretty scary when everything’s unraveling, but I just didn’t feel right toward the end of [the first-round series],” Tippett said. “Got tests and stuff, worked with our trainers. Feeling better now. Ultimately, you guys saw that I was skating, it truly was just a day-to-day thing. It just never got to the point of being able to get cleared from our trainers and doctors.” Tippett had participated in morning skates and practices going back to when the second round started. He was considered day to day, but his status grew in concern with each game missed. “You put in a lot of hours and a lot of hard work with the guys that are on the ice, and any time you sit out for one game or a week or whatever it was, it’s tough to kind of watch,” Tippett said. “To stay around the guys, it helped a lot in terms of day-to-day stuff, but it was kind of something you can’t really mess around with.” Tippett played a highly physical style against the Penguins, finishing with 29 hits in the six games. He didn’t know when or how the internal bleeding happened, but he won’t need surgery. However, he was uncertain if the sports hernia injury would require surgery. “He’s a horse,” Jamie Drysdale said. “He was a horse for us, how he took his game to another level this year — on the ice, off the ice in the locker room — really, really impressive. I think everyone realized it.” Tippett led the Flyers with 28 goals in the regular season and had 51 points. He was a massive factor in the team’s surge after the Olympic break. “He was a huge piece for us, so having him not play, it’s obviously a big hit,” Drysdale said. “I think it shows us how valuable he is. He had a heck of a year and was a warrior, battled through a lot.” This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser. ...read more read less