Flyers' Radko Gudas takes out key teammate Sean Couturier in practice
VOORHEES, N.J. — Philadelphia Flyers forward Claude Giroux bent over to talk to his ailing center who yet to get up.
Sean Couturier’s stick was behind the net, body in the left circle and he was on all fours. A collision with defenseman Radko Gudas in Tuesday’s practice made the Flyers’ No. 1 center leave early.
He needed help from director of sports medicine Jim McCrossin to get off the ice and limped heavily off the ice with an apparent right leg injury.
“I didn’t see him. He didn’t see me,” Gudas said. “Tough break.”
Giroux noted after practice that Couturier's situation didn’t look good.
Some were more optimistic.
“Coots will be fine,” forward Wayne Simmonds said. “I’m not worried about Coots.”
With Game 4 approaching Wednesday night, the Flyers are already down 2-1 in the series against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Couturier, their No. 1 center and on both the top power-play and penalty-killing units, has averaged 24 minutes, 35 seconds per game. His loss would be a gargantuan blow to a team that is already trying to climb a steep hill to win a playoff series.
“You don’t like to see that. Coots is playing 20 minutes a night for us right now, is a big piece to our team,” Giroux said. “I don’t really know what’s going on, but I guess we’ll find out soon.”
There was no immediate update on Couturier’s condition after practice, which featured new lines.
Couturier and Giroux have been together every game this season. Tuesday they went back to a new right wing in the form of Jake Voracek. That trio had been playing very well for the Flyers before they were broken up in December. Subsequently, that’s when the Flyers broke their 10-game losing streak.
“Me and Jake have played a lot of years together and every time we get a shift together or go back on a line together during a game it’s like we haven’t missed a beat,” Giroux said. “He’s a fun player to play with.”
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“We haven’t seen it together for a long time,” coach Dave Hakstol added. “I think we went away from it after 25 games with Coots, G and Jake together. At the time we went away from that, the line had been outstanding but we weren’t playing well as a team at the time.”
Other changes in Tuesday’s practice were Travis Konecny being put on a line with Nolan Patrick and Simmonds, Michael Raffl moving off the first line to the third line and Jordan Weal joining Raffl’s unit with Valtteri Filppula.
Weal, who had three points in a game against the Penguins this season, hasn’t played in the playoffs yet and replaced struggling rookie Oskar Lindblom.
The Flyers aren’t the only ones with an injured player. Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan announced after the Penguins practiced Tuesday that right wing Patric Hornqvist will miss Game 4 with an “upper-body injury.”
Hornqvist has a goal and two assists in the first three games of the series.