Flyers

Sean Couturier Looks to be a Healthy Scratch for the Second-Straight Game

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Mar 21st, 2024 · 1:34 PM EDT

---

Looks like Coots isn’t playing in Raleigh on Thursday night:

📍 Raleigh#Flyers out for morning skate. John Tortorella already addressed the media and when asked if Sean Couturier is playing what he needs to see from him replied, “I’m not talking about Sean.” pic.twitter.com/XPhxJJXpAl

— Jackie Spiegel (@jackiespiegel93) March 21, 2024

Couturier stayed on late with Gurianov, Atkinson, and Staal. Expect them to each be a healthy scratch again tonight for #Flyers against Carolina. https://t.co/qSxhtrsf8r

— Jackie Spiegel (@jackiespiegel93) March 21, 2024

We covered all angles of this in two Wednesday columns, one from myself and one from Ant. I think the overwhelming takeaway is that the Flyers won 4-3 without Coots the other night, so the coach will get the benefit of the doubt that he’s pressing the right buttons. What’s curious is that Torts typically benches a vet for a single game, and then he’s back in the lineup, but that’s not the case with his captain this week.

One thing we didn’t touch on Wednesday is something that people tend to overlook. You can make the right decision and still lose the game.

Too often people think of these things as a straight line, like “Torts benched Coots and the Flyers won, THEREFORE it worked.” That’s a juvenile way of thinking. Even if the Flyers had lost the game, the decision to bench Coots could have been easily justified based on his recent run of form. Likewise, you can make incorrect decisions and still win games. See: Rivers, Doc.

Like I wrote yesterday, if the Flyers win, then this stuff doesn’t matter. The only real concern is whether Torts wears out his welcome and creates irreparable locker room issues. But that’s certainly not the case at this very moment.