By Sam Bush
As the Flyers prepare for tomorrow night’s game in St. Louis, they may be getting two of their injured stars back.
Sean Couturier (above) seems primed to return after missing 16 games with a knee injury.
Mark Streit could also return from what the team called an “upper-body injury,” but the defense is used to moving pieces. Matt Read and goalie Michal Neuvirth have outside chances of returning before January.
What would the return of Couturier mean? What might change is the matchup responsibilities for everyone else. Pierre-Edouard Bellemare became the “shutdown” guy in Couturier’s absence and he could move from third line to fourth when Couturier returns.
What’s the biggest difference between third-line center and fourth-line center?
“It depends from team to team,” Bellemare said. “The system that we have on this team I don’t think it changes very much, but the expectations from the hockey experts are different from third line to fourth line. You know if you’re on the third line and your top two lines are not chipping in, you need your third line to get the dirty goal. This is the same for the fourth line, but there’s less expected of them.”
