Couturier out for Flyers in Game 4 against Penguins

VOORHEES, N.J. -- Sean Couturier will not play when the Philadelphia Flyers play the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVAS, NBCSP, ATTSN-PT).
The Flyers' No. 1 center left practice early Tuesday because of an apparent injury. He collided with defenseman Radko Gudas and left the ice.
The Penguins lead the best-of-7 series 2-1.

RELATED: [Complete Penguins vs. Flyers series coverage]
Couturier leads the Flyers with three points (one goal, two assists) in the series. He's averaging 24:35 of ice time per game, second on Philadelphia to defenseman Ivan Provorov (25:10). During the regular season, Couturier was third on the Flyers with 76 points (31 goals, 45 assists) in 82 games and was second in average ice time at 21:35, behind Provorov's 24:09.
Rookie Nolan Patrick replaced Couturier at center between Giroux at left wing and Jakub Voracek at right wing. That could carry over to Game 4, or Giroux could return to center, the position he played most of his first 10 seasons in the NHL. Coach Dave Hakstol said he had not put any thought into potential changes if Couturier can't play Wednesday.
"We're not going to jump to conclusions here," Giroux said Tuesday. "We'll see how [Couturier] is. But if it does come down to [moving to center], whatever is the best for the team, you go ahead and do it."
Prior to Couturier leaving practice, the Flyers shuffled the top three lines, including a reunion of Couturier, Giroux and Voracek. That line started the season together and combined for 84 points (32 goals, 52 assists) in 26 games.
The Flyers were 8-11-7 in that span, and the line was separated prior to a game against the Calgary Flames on Dec. 4. Philadelphia won 5-2 to end a 10-game losing streak (0-5-5).
"We wanted to have a little bit of a fresh look on a couple of different areas," Hakstol said. "At the time we went away, that line had been outstanding. We weren't playing well as a team at the time, so we wanted to try to build a little more depth into our forward group. … We feel a little bit differently about our forward group now. Wanted to get that [Giroux-Couturier-Voracek] group together again, and as well how the trickle-down affects the other lines as well."
Voracek said it was easy rebuilding the chemistry.

"We found it from the get-go when we got put together (at the start of the season)," he said. "I don't think it's going to be any different now. Just have to make sure we play with the puck, have the puck on our sticks, don't want to give it up too often, especially to that [Sidney] Crosby line. We want to play on the offensive side of the puck and keep them as far away from our net as possible."
The Flyers began practice with Patrick at center with left wing Travis Konecny and right wing Wayne Simmonds, and Valtteri Filppula between left wing Michael Raffl and right wing Jordan Weal, who will make his postseason debut in place of rookie Oskar Lindblom. The fourth line of left wing Scott Laughton, center Jori Lehtera and right wing Matt Read remained the same.
Simmonds, who has one assist and six shots on goal in the first three games, meshed well with Patrick when they played together during the regular season.
"[Simmonds is] one of the premier power forwards in the game," Hakstol said. "He can play in straight lines, plays a hard game, yet along with that he can make plays to mesh with a good, smart player. [Patrick] is a guy that just continues to push the level of his game. … It's a good combination for [Simmonds] and his skill set and his presence. Obviously we hope the three of them together can be a real effective line."
After their 5-1 loss in Game 3, the Flyers are expecting a bounce-back effort in Game 4, similar to what occurred in their 5-1 Game 2 victory after a 7-0 loss in Game 1.
"We've got to play with confidence," Giroux said. "When we play with confidence we can be a better team, we make more plays. We've got to be smart against these guys. We know that. We know the crowd's going to be ready in Game 4 and so will we."