Malkin-stopper Sean Couturier out Thursday vs. Penguins

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PITTSBURGH — One of the reasons for the Flyers' tremendous success against the Penguins at CONSOL Energy Center can be summed in two words: Sean Couturier.

Couturier has been the shutdown centerman going head-to-head against Evgeni Malkin the past four seasons. This is the first meeting of the two teams this season.

Malkin hasn’t enjoyed much luck against him.

Tonight could be different because Couturier was a late-morning scratch and won’t play with what the Flyers are calling a lower-body injury. Couturier saw team dentist Guy Lanzi after the Toronto game.

Whether he has another injury is not known.

The Flyers said on Wednesday Couturier had a “maintenance day,” and expected him to play. His uniform was hung Thursday, as well.

“Things don’t always go as planned,” a tight-lipped Dave Hakstol said. “There’s a lot of things guys through on a maintenance day. Find me one guy in this room that is 100 percent healthy. Nothing has really changed. He can’t go tonight.”

Couturier took the final faceoff in the Toronto loss on Tuesday. Was he healthy at that point or injured previously in the game?

“What do you mean healthy?” Hakstol replied. “He was not injured on that play. I can tell you that.”

Hakstol said he expected Couturier to practice Thursday and is hoping that he will be available Saturday against the Islanders. The Flyers actually had an optional practice with many players taking the morning off.

Couturier’s injury should allow rookie Jordan Weal to enter the lineup but Hakstol would not commit to that and floated the suggestion of using seven defensemen.

It’s likely that Pierre-Edouard Bellemare or Scott Laughton would go up against Malkin.

If it’s Bellemare, then Weal might center Chris VandeVelde and Ryan White, and Bellemare will center Michael Raffl and Brayden Schenn in a head-to-head match-up against Malkin’s line with Carl Hagelin and Phil Kessel.

If it’s Laughton, then Weal goes between Matt Read and R.J. Umberger. Regardless, Weal has to play if for no other reason than the Flyers need every ounce of speed they can muster against the Penguins because Sidney Crosby and Malkin will skate and wear the Flyers out with seven defensemen.

Hakstol admitted Weal’s skating ability comes in handy here.

“He can definitely play with pace and get up and down the rink,” Hakstol said. “No question about that. That would be a strength of his, no doubt about that. You have to play a 200-foot game. ... This team presents challenges there.”

Given the size of Malkin’s line, it makes more sense to move Bellemare into the middle between Raffl and Schenn.

“It changes the structure of our team to a certain degree,” Hakstol said of not having Couturier in this role tonight. “But the most important thing is we have to get back on our path, the mentality we have played with. ... Having Coots out of the lineup, especially against this group, makes it more challenging.”

The Flyers recalled center Sam Gagner from the Phantoms.

New pads
Steve Mason will wear new pads tonight. It’s the same type of pads he has always worn, but a new design. He tested them in practice.

“I gave myself no choice because I left the other ones at home,” Mason said. “I wore them yesterday and that is really all I needed. Same pads, just different colors on them.”

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