Couturier's return didn't go as planned
PUBLICATION
Joshua
September 27, 2023 (0:25)
As a result of back problems and back-to-back surgeries, Sean Couturier has been out of the NHL for the last two seasons.
Couturier and the Flyers played their first preseason game last night, and they were put through hell by the Devils.
"They came at us hard. They had a lot of experienced guys in there, put us on our heels a little bit," Petersen told the media after the game.
"That's what preseason's for. You want to make mistakes here, you want to get up to speed. I think we're just gonna take the things that we could learn from out of this game. Obviously not the result that we wanted, but it's more about the process, it's more about the things that we can do better for next game and keep building."
In spite of Couturier's excitement, the Flyers lost 6-0 to the New Jersey Devils. Devils goaltenders Vitek Vanecek and Erik Kallgren shut the door in which Coots failed to deliver as the number one centre.
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"I think all game you could tell that we weren't the first on pucks and we weren't as physical as we should've been in battles. We weren't winning many battles, so we were chasing the puck all game. Just gotta recover a little better here in the next couple days and find our legs and we'll be better as camp goes," Couturier told the media after the game.
"I think we can only get better from tonight's performance."
58.9% of the faceoffs were lost by the team in Newark, as well as being outshot 34-21.
As the avalanche continued, Tyce Thompson and Alexander Holtz added to the total along with Ondrej Palat's and Erik Haula's goals. Only 5:50 into the game, the team was four goals down.
In a trade involving Ivan Provorov, Petersen was acquired. He allowed 5 goals on 24 shots. Unfortunately, neither the defense nor Petersen showed up, so a backup role may be out of the question.
Lapierre said the team was tired and made mistakes, but that's what the pre-season is for, to learn.
Couturier felt the time was not physical enough during puck battles, and the team chased pucks for most of the game.
Developing into a contender will require refining processes and learning from mistakes, and Tortorella will expect these results since this is a young team.
Previously on FlyersInsider
| POLL |
27 SEPTEMBRE | 189 ANSWERS Couturier's return didn't go as planned Do you think Courturier and the Flyers win the next game? |
| Yes | 86 | 45.5 % |
| No | 103 | 54.5 % |
| LIST OF POLLS |
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