At the Rink: Flyers at Penguins

PITTSBURGH -- Philadelphia Flyers forward Sean Couturier will not play against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Consol Energy Center on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; CSN-PH, ROOT) because of a lower-body injury.

Philadelphia announced Couturier's absence following its optional Thursday morning skate. He had missed practice Wednesday with what coach Dave Hakstol called a maintenance day.

Hakstol said Couturier was expected to play against Pittsburgh (21-17-7) following that practice, but said, "Things don't always go as planned," regarding his status a day later.

"There's a lot of things that guys go through on a maintenance day," Hakstol said. "I mean, find me one guy in this room that's 100-percent healthy. So nothing's really changed. Unfortunately he can't go tonight."

Hakstol said he will determine his line combinations following pregame warm-ups, including whether forward Jordan Weal will make his Flyers debut. The Flyers also recalled forward Sam Gagner was Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League.

Philadelphia acquired Weal and a third-round pick in the 2016 NHL Draft from the Los Angeles Kings on Jan. 6 for forward Vincent Lecavalier and defenseman Luke Schenn. Weal hasn't played since Dec. 28 against the Vancouver Canucks.

Weal, who has been a healthy scratch the past six games, has yet to score in 10 NHL games.

Gagner, who was waived and sent to the AHL on Dec. 30, has five points in 18 games with the Flyers this season. He had six points in nine AHL games.

Couturier's absence could be more apparent than usual Thursday because of his ability to shut down Penguins center Evgeni Malkin, who has struggled throughout the Penguins' current eight-game losing streak against the Flyers.

Hakstol said he hopes to have Couturier, who has nine goals and 22 points in 38 games, in the lineup against the New York Islanders on Saturday but realizes his absence will be a hurdle the Flyers (20-16-8) must overcome Thursday.

"It changes the structure of our team to some degree," Hakstol said. "But I think the most important thing is that we just have to go and make sure we get back onto our path of the mentality that we've played with. We got away from that the other night [against the Toronto Maple Leafs] for whatever reason. Having [Couturier] out of the lineup, especially against this group, makes it more challenging. But let's take the challenge and go do a good job here."

Penguins defenseman Kris Letang will play Thursday after skipping practice Wednesday because of an undisclosed injury. He has five goals and 16 points in 10 games since Dec. 26.

"I'm dealing with some issues right now," Letang said. "I'm not going to lie, I needed that day … I think the best way [to fully heal] is to rest and try to get better."

Letang said he will attempt to manage his injury until he can fully heal during the upcoming All-Star break.

Here are the projected lineups:

FLYERS

Jakub Voracek - Claude Giroux - Wayne Simmonds

Michael Raffl - Scott Laughton - Brayden Schenn

Matt Read - Jordan Weal - R.J. Umberger

Chris VandeVelde - Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - Ryan White

Michael Del Zotto - Radko Gudas

Nick Schultz - Mark Streit

Shayne Gostisbehere - Evgeny Medvedev

Steve Mason

Michal Neuvirth

Injured: Sean Couturier (lower body)

Scratched: Brandon Manning, Sam Gagner

PENGUINS

Chris Kunitz - Sidney Crosby - Patric Hornqvist

Carl Hagelin - Evgeni Malkin - Phil Kessel

Tom Kuhnhackl - Eric Fehr - Bryan Rust

Kevin Porter - Matt Cullen - Conor Sheary

Olli Maatta - Kris Letang

Brian Dumoulin - Ben Lovejoy

Ian Cole - Trevor Daley

Marc-Andre Fleury

Jeff Zatkoff

Injured: Beau Bennett (upper body), Nick Bonino (hand), David Warsofsky (concussion)

Scratched: Sergei Plotnikov, Derrick Pouliot

Status report: Bennett, who returned to practice Wednesday, participated in Pittsburgh's morning skate Thursday but is not expected to play. He has not played since Dec. 14.

Who's hot: Malkin has at least one point in three straight games and in five of his past six. He leads Pittsburgh with 20 goals and 44 points. … Before being held without a point against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday, Giroux and Voracek each had scored at least one point in three consecutive games. Giroux and Voracek lead Philadelphia with 35 and 31 points, respectively.