Couturier inspires Flyers in Game 5 win against Penguins
Scores late goal to extend Eastern series three days after getting injured in practice
Couturier, nursing a lower-body injury that kept him out of Game 4, not only played in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference First Round against the Pittsburgh Penguins, he scored the game-winning goal with a wrist shot from the blue line with 1:15 remaining in the third period.
RELATED: [Flyers win Game 5 | Complete Penguins vs. Flyers series coverage]
The Flyers then got an empty-net goal from forward Matt Read and defeated the Penguins 4-2 to trail the best-of-7 series 3-2. Game 6 is at Philadelphia on Sunday (3 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, TVAS).
"In warmups, I started feeling good and felt good enough to go and give it a try," said Couturier, who was injured in practice Tuesday when he collided with defenseman Radko Gudas. "It was well worth it."
Certainly, but back to story time with Giroux, the Flyers captain.
"I told him the story of [Chris] Pronger in Game 6 in Buffalo [in 2011]," Giroux said.
The Flyers were trailing 3-2 against the Buffalo Sabres in the first round. Pronger had missed the previous 21 games, including the first five in the series, with a hand injury.
"He surprised us at 3:30, after our naps, that he was going to be in," Giroux said.
Pronger barely played in Game 6, just five shifts totaling 4:33, but the Flyers won 5-4 in overtime and cited his presence as motivation. They won Game 7, 5-2, with Pronger getting an assist and playing 17:27.
Giroux relayed that story to Couturier before Couturier went on the ice for the optional morning skate.
"I'm like, 'You going to pull a Prongs or what?' " Giroux said. "He texted me right after the skate and he goes, 'Yeah, I'm pulling a Prongs.' It was pretty funny."
Couturier said he still needed to feel good in warmups to be able to play. It's a great thing for the Flyers that he did, because their season might be over had he not been in the lineup.
He scored the winning goal on a wrist shot through traffic that nicked off Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin's skate and beat goalie Matt Murray. He also played 6:51 shorthanded, one second fewer than defenseman Ivan Provorov, helping the Flyers go 5-for-5 on the penalty kill.
They allowed one power-play goal in Game 4, Pittsburgh's first goal in a 5-0 win.
"He's a warrior out there," Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere said of Couturier. "For him to be out there, him going through what he's going through, it's amazing. Just to see him out there running the PK, being really sound, getting a huge goal at the end, it's huge."
Couturier, though, had a wrestling match going on in his mind the past few days.
He wanted to play. That was the easy part. It burned him to sit out Game 4 and watch the Flyers get shut out. He wanted in, regardless of how he felt.
But Couturier also had to be honest with himself and make the smart decision. He had to park his determination to play and decide if he was healthy enough to make a difference. The last thing he wanted to do was be selfish and hurt the team.
"All day, the past few days, you think about it," Couturier said. "It can get tough mentally, but you take it one shift at a time, one battle at a time, and you go from there. If I could last the whole game, it's a good sign. Moving forward, hopefully it can get better and better."
He played the fewest minutes he has played in the series, just 16:55, on the fewest amount of shifts he has played all season, 19. By comparison, Couturier played 26:18 in Game 3 and 27:15 in Game 2.
Couturier didn't play on the top line either, ceding that role to Valtteri Filppula, who had a goal and two assists. He instead played on the third line with Scott Laughton and Wayne Simmonds.
He also didn't play on the first power play. In fact, he played five seconds on the power play, coming on late on the Flyers' only man-advantage of the game.
"Him being in the lineup, I think, it gives a boost to everybody just because of what he means to our hockey team," Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said. "But at the end of the day it comes down to going out and doing the job, and he did that. Obviously he played a few less minutes tonight than he normally does, but I thought he did a heck of a job, especially on the PK. He was a huge factor for us. And down the stretch in the third period, not just the winning goal, but his play down the stretch in the third period I thought was pretty good."
But the winning goal was the difference. It gave the Flyers life in the series, in their season. It also gave Couturier a chance to be better in Game 6, which would make for a heck of a story.
"I've got a lot of respect for that guy," Giroux said. "He's one our leaders."
