Tyson Foerster will miss time with a lower-body injury; Sean Couturier will play vs. Flames
Although captain Sean Couturier returned to the lineup on Sunday night against the Calgary Flames, the Flyers will be without Tyson Foerster.
The winger blocked a slap shot by Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly in the Flyers’ zone with 13 minutes, 51 seconds left in the first period of Saturday’s game. The shot from Rielly appeared to hit him on the inside of the left ankle, and after Auston Matthews tied the game 1-1 seconds later, Foerster went down in pain.
Foerster went down the tunnel immediately but returned and played the rest of the game. He scored his fourth goal of the season in the third period on a power play.
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“He’s not going to play the next few games,” coach Rick Tocchet said on Sunday. “We’ll re-evaluate in 3 to 4 days, type of thing. He blocked that shot, so we’re not trying to hide anything. So we’ll see what happens from there.”
Tocchet said Foerster’s remaining in the game did not make it worse.
The line of Foerster, Bobby Brink, and Noah Cates has been one of the Flyers — and the NHL’s — best. Only 11 trios have played more than 100 minutes together this season, and according to Money Puck, the Cates line has the lowest expected goals against (3.9) despite playing against the opposition’s top lines every night.
Owen Tippett will slot in with them.
“So we’ll put Tipp in there. I think that’ll help those guys. Hopefully be seamless with him going in there. That’s kind of our game plan,” Tocchet said.
Couturier returns after missing Saturday’s 5-2 loss with an upper-body injury. Earlier in the day, he said he was day-to-day but feeling a lot better.
On Thursday, Couturier did not return after the first intermission due to an undisclosed injury. He took a shot off his body from teammate Noah Juulsen with 14:37 left in the opening frame, and, while he was shown on the broadcast in pain, he played the rest of the period.
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While it was painful, Couturier was just relieved Juulsen’s shot didn’t hit him in the face.
“It was coming right at my face. It was actually the same exact play when I lost my teeth in juniors, same exact thing, gave it to my D, went to the net, and it was coming at me,” he said of his time with Drummondville of what is now called the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League.
“This time, the shot wasn’t as hard,” he added with a smile. “So I was good enough to respond. That’s what I told Jules.”
