Flyers will find out Monday if center Sean Couturier can play against Islanders
The Flyers start a four-game homestand Monday when the face the New York Islanders, and they still don't know if top-line center Sean Couturier will be available.
The Flyers won’t know until Monday if top-line center Sean Couturier can play in that night’s game against the visiting Islanders.
Couturier missed Saturday’s 6-1 loss to the Isles with an undisclosed lower-body injury, and Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher said Sunday that the team wouldn’t know his availability until Monday.
The Flyers are 10-7-1 with Couturier in the lineup this season, and 5-4-2 without him. He missed 10 games earlier in the year with a rib injury.
Couturier has 19 points in 18 games.
» READ MORE: Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher has had a rough year. Can he redeem himself before the trade deadline? | Sam Carchidi
Homestand begins
For the Flyers, Monday starts a four-game homestand that also includes matchups against the Devils and Rangers (twice). The Flyers (15-11-3) are 7-5-2 at home, 8-6-1 on the road.
Breakaways
Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson remained on the NHL’s updated COVID-19 protocol list Sunday. ... The Flyers have surrendered 50 goals in 11 March games, an average of 4.5 per contest. … Claude Giroux (264 career goals) needs one goal to pass Simon Gagne for ninth on the Flyers’ all-time list. ... Justin Braun leads the Flyers with a plus-10 rating, and Nolan Patrick is at the bottom of the pack at minus-15. … Joel Farabee and James van Riemsdyk top the Flyers with 13 goals apiece. ... Tanner Laczynski, a sixth-round draft pick in 2016, scored his first two goals as a pro Sunday, including the overtime winner, as the Phantoms edged Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, 5-4. Wade Allison, Tyson Foerster, and Chris Mueller also scored for Lehigh Valley.