VOORHEES, N.J. \u2013 There was a time not that long ago when you could pencil in Sean Couturier as a first line center on the Flyers\u2019 lineup card any given night.<\/p>\n
But this season, those nights have become less frequent.<\/p>\n
Currently the team captain has been relegated, at times, to the fourth line and for good reason. He hasn\u2019t scored a goal since Dec. 7 against Colorado, a drought of 27 games.<\/p>\n
The 33-year-old is the longest tenured Flyer, so when coach Rick Tocchet met with him to discuss the current situation, there was an air of respect in the talks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been struggling putting the puck in the net, that\u2019s for sure,\u201d Couturier said after Monday\u2019s practice at the Flyers Training Center. \u201cProbably been gripping the stick at times when I get really good quality chances.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had conversations. He\u2019ll probably move me around in the lineup. Just be ready. Doesn\u2019t matter my role. Try to do what I can to help the team. I\u2019ll be ready in any situation I\u2019m in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Couturier has just five goals in 53 games. At this pace, he will finish the season with about eight. The lowest total of his 14-year NHL career in a season of at least 50 games is 11.<\/p>\n
\u201cI definitely need to be better and help this team offensively,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m making plays out there, I just need more out of myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Couturier has not had a 20-goal season since 2019-20.<\/p>\n
\u201cI put pressure on myself to help offensively,\u201d he admitted. \u201cThings really haven\u2019t been going my way lately. It\u2019s tough. You have to find a way to fight through it.\u201d<\/p>\n
To make matters worse, his plus-minus number has dropped to minus-7.<\/p>\n
Many of Couturier\u2019s 211 NHL goals have come from close range and that\u2019s something he\u2019s been working on.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s getting back to the basics of going to the net,\u201d Couturier said. \u201cHave it (the puck) hit my skate or my pants. Just get a bounce and kind of loosen up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tocchet knows Couturier brings a lot to the table. When No. 14 won the Norris Trophy for NHL\u2019s best defensive forward in 2019-20, he was a plus-21 playing against the likes of stars such as Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019ll get his minutes,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cI think, for example, when he gets behind the net he doesn\u2019t move his feet. When you move your feet, options open. When you stand still, options close. That\u2019s really what it comes down to.\u201d<\/p>\n
The dialogue has been important.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s huge,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cAt this point in the season, I\u2019m spending more time with guys who are struggling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Couturier has spent various times of the season with proven scorers such as Travis Konecny and Owen Tippett. Both those players are having fine seasons and some of the credit has to go to Couturier, who does have 21 assists.<\/p>\n
The key for Couturier is to keep things moving and he knows that.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has a habit of kind of staring his options down and he doesn\u2019t move his feet,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cHe knows it. I thought in practice today he was really concentrating on that. He was concentrating on fundamentals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Couturier has this season plus four more left on an eight-year contract which pays him $7.75 million per year.<\/p>\n
Next two games vital<\/p>\n
With the Flyers at least seven points out of a playoff spot heading into Monday night action, the players know they need strong performances against Washington on Tuesday night and Ottawa on Thursday night before the Olympic break.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way we played those last two periods (against Los Angeles on Saturday), I think it gives us confidence that we can play with anyone,\u201d Couturier said. \u201cIt\u2019s really on us to pull off these efforts consistently for 60 minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to get back to the basics of competing, winning one-on-one battles every shift and being hard to play against.\u201d<\/p>\n
Christian Dvorak agrees that it\u2019s important to take some positives into the break.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou want to go into the break with some momentum,\u201d he said. \u201cSome positive energy. These last two games are obviously big ones.\u201d<\/p>\n
Short shots<\/p>\n
Tocchet said goaltender Sam Ersson\u2019s injury is not too serious and there\u2019s a chance he will play in one of these last two games. Aleksei Kolosov was recalled from Lehigh Valley on Monday in case Ersson isn\u2019t ready to back up Dan Vladar.<\/p>\n
Travis Konency had the day off for maintenance \u2026 Tocchet indicated defenseman Emil Andrae, who\u2019s been a healthy scratch the past three games, should see some action this week.<\/p>\n
www.flyingfishhockey.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"VOORHEES, N.J. \u2013 There was a time not that long ago when you could pencil in Sean Couturier…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242640,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5112],"tags":[1468,5,4,1467,56,5205,43,5095],"class_list":{"0":"post-441974","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-flyers","8":"tag-flyers","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-philadelphia","12":"tag-philadelphia-flyers","13":"tag-philadelphiaflyers","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-top-stories-tmc"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116002943433728794","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}