ST. LOUIS – The Flyers welcomed center Sean Couturier back to the lineup Wednesday as they returned from the Christmas break to meet the St. Louis Blues, their Original 6 Expansion compatriot, at Scottrade Center.
Couturier, 24, suffered an MCL sprain to his left knee Nov. 22 at Florida and missed 16 games over five weeks. In his return, he skated between Nick Cousins and Dale Weise on the third line. Center Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, left winger Chris VandeVelde and right winger Roman Lyubimov shifted to the fourth line.
Courtier replaced injured left winger Michael Raffl (right knee) in the lineup. Raffl was injured in the final game before the break, last week at New Jersey. Raffl's absence meant a promotion for rookie Taylor Leier to the top line, with Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek. Leier has a goal and assist for two points in eight game since his call-up.
Notable
Defenseman Nick Schultz was expected to play for the first time in 22 games, since Nov. 11. He had been a healthy scratch, the moniker Brandon Manning inherited. Schultz and Shayne Gostisbehere skated as the third pairing. … The Blues activated top-line center Paul Stastny after a one-game absence with an "upper-body" injury. … Backup goalie Carter Hutton was expected to start for the Blues, only his 12th game of the season. He's 2-4-2, with a 2.91 goals-against average and a .893 save percentage.
