Flyers ready for Game 4 against Penguins, with or without Couturier

VOORHEES, N.J. -- Resiliency has been the buzz word around the Philadelphia Flyers all season.
For good reason.

They had a 10-game losing streak in November, a five-game losing streak at the start of March and, after making the Stanley Cup Playoffs, lost 7-0 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference First Round to the Pittsburgh Penguins, a defeat that left them embarrassed, but not finished.
"We just don't really get down on ourselves," Flyers forward Jakub Voracek said.
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Their resiliency is being tested again with center Sean Couturier, one of their most important players, possibly out for Game 4 at Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVAS, NBCSP, ATTSN-PT). The Flyers trail the best-of-7 series 2-1.
Couturier, who centers the first line and plays on the first unit of the power play and penalty kill, sustained an apparent injury in a collision with defenseman Radko Gudas during practice Tuesday. Couturier was limping and needed assistance from trainer Jim McCrossin to get off the ice. Coach Dave Hakstol said Wednesday morning that Couturier would be a game-time decision.
Couturier, who had 76 points (31 goals, 45 assists) in 82 regular-season games, has three points (one goal, two assists) in the series and leads the Flyers forwards with 24:35 of ice time per game, including 4:34 shorthanded.

"There's a lot of guys in here that can pick up slack, guys that are itching to get more time too," goalie Brian Elliott said. "If he's not available, if he is available, I think our guys are ready for that."
The Flyers don't have anybody who can do what Couturier does. That's why he's their No. 1 center.
But Elliott's response is telling because it projects Flyers' attitude.
"I think it's the makeup of the players," former Flyers forward Danny Briere said.
Briere is the vice president of hockey operations of the Maine Mariners, Philadelphia's affiliate in the ECHL that begins play next season. Briere has played on resilient teams. He was on the Flyers in 2010, when they came back from being down 3-0 in the Eastern Conference Semifinals to defeat the Boston Bruins in seven games.
"It would have been easy to pack it in when they lost 10 games in a row [0-5-5 from Nov. 11-Dec. 2]," Briere said. "Why didn't they? I think leadership has a lot to do with it and everybody buying in. I know it sounds cliché, but once you do it once, and for them it was getting out of that 10-game losing streak, you realize you can do something special. It builds. It breathes. They're going to try to use that same approach now. That's what I would do."
The Flyers used that approach after Game 1. They won 5-1 in Game.
"Momentum is something that starts new every game [in the playoffs]," Briere said. "I really believe that you have to start over every single game. And it has showed in this series."
So the Flyers should believe they can win Game 4, with or without Couturier.

"We just have to make sure we don't make many mistakes," Voracek said. "We made mistakes [in Game 3]."
Like giving the Penguins seven power plays. Pittsburgh scored on three of them.
Like turning the puck over and feeding the Penguins' transition game.
Like being flat-footed on a center-ice faceoff directly after the Penguins made it 3-0. Five seconds later, it was 4-0.
"I think this is when coaching becomes very, very important," Briere said. "So, I'll give you an example. It was 2006. I was with Buffalo and we played the Flyers. We had won the first two games at home and we came to Philly and lost the two games there. We went back home and as players, we were a little depressed. [Former Sabres coach] Lindy Ruff got us in a meeting and he got mad at us and basically made us watch video of all the turnovers that we made.
"He didn't say a word for about 45 minutes. He just showed us clips of all the turnovers we had made in the previous two games. Everybody got a taste of it. Everybody had made a few. When the video was over, he got up, looked at us, and he said, 'They didn't beat us, you beat yourselves.'
"He made us believe that it was our fault. That's what I mean when I say the coach can have a big say in it. He can almost dictate what you're going to think."
So what does Hakstol, whose team went 7-1-3 in its final 11 regular-season games to make the playoffs, think on the eve of Game 4?
"Our guys have been through similar situations," Hakstol said. "This one is just a little bit more elevated."