-Sean Couturier continues to work his way back after twice undergoing back surgery and presented possibly his best outing of the 2023-24 season on Thursday night against the Oilers at Wells Fargo Center. Couturier matched up against McDavid's potent line and shut down any offensive threats, finishing the night with two assists. Following the game, Flyers Head Coach John Tortorella stated that Couturier’s line faced off against the McDavid line for every shift in the game, except one (in which McDavid picked up a secondary assist on a Zach Hyman goal). Thursday marked only the second time in the last 89 games that Connor McDavid was held without a shot on goal during a 60-minute contest. Couturier (1g-3a) owns a team-best +7 rating through the opening four games of the season. While Couturier gets reacclimated to his offensive game, it seems that he has picked up where he left off defensively.
- The Flyers were up by two after two periods and were down one defenseman after Marc Staal had to leave the game following a collision near the Flyers net. Most nights in this league, you’ll see a team that’s trailing after two make a huge push in the third; the idea of Connor McDavid and company being the group to make such a push, combined with the Flyers having five defensemen, would have sounded dire on paper. But not only did the Flyers survive just fine with five defensemen, they allowed the Oilers to gain no momentum in the third, outshooting them 17-4 and adding another goal in the first five minutes. With Staal out, Cam York played a career-high 26:30 and Travis Sanheim reached 27:03, the fifth-highest total of his 420-game career. Sean Walker played 22:34, his highest single-game total in nearly two years, while bagging his 18th career goal.
- Bobby Brink’s assist on the Flyers’ first goal was a front-facing highlight, but perhaps lesser appreciated is the fact that he already has the confidence to make that play in the NHL at this point. Many young players would shoot as soon as possible after receiving that pass during their first dozen or so games at any new level. Brink, however, showed the poise to return it through traffic to Farabee. It would have been a savvy choice even if the puck hadn’t made it through that traffic, but fortunately it did.
