Couturier believes a loud WFC can have real positive impact

Sean Couturier
PHILADELPHIA – Now that the Flyers have shown they can feed off the energy of a highly vocal home crowd, team leaders such as Sean Couturier look for that trend to continue.
On Saturday, the Flyers responded to the noise somewhat generated by the return of former first-round draft pick Cutter Gauthier to the Wells Fargo Center with a 6-0 win over Anaheim, their most lopsided victory of the season.
The Flyers went into Monday night’s game against Florida with just a home record of 9-11-1. That will have to improve greatly in the second half of the season if the Flyers fancy themselves as contenders for a playoff spot.
“Especially the support we’re getting from our fans,” Couturier said in response to that subject at the morning skate in Voorhees, N.J. “Getting some emotion in the building definitely helps us for sure get off to a good start and we feed off it.”
The recent schedule continued to be demanding on Monday night as the defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers visited the Flyers.
“It’s another great challenge,” Couturier said. “If we want to take a step forward in the right direction, these are the teams you want to go up against to see where you’re at.”
    The sound level varies from night to night, depending on the opponent and where the team sits in the standings. It’s not quite the second coming of the Spectrum in the early ’70s, but it’s getting there. And that’s a step in the right direction.

    >Ristolainen looking sharp

It’s no secret defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen is having probably his best season since joining the Flyers.
The big Finn has played in all 44 games, has an acceptable plus-minus of minus-3 and delivers the big hit when the occasion calls for it.
Coach John Tortorella said it’s been a big improvement over Ristolainen’s first few seasons here.
At the morning skate, Tortorella mildly complained that Ristolainen seems to be the object of media scrutiny a bit too often.
“I just felt he’s been under a microscope since I’ve been here,” the coach said. “My first year (2022-23) was a tough year for me with him. But since then he’s been a pretty consistent player.”
Ristolainen is extremely mobile for a large (6-foot-4, 208 pounds) player and has a good sense of where to be when opposing forwards are on the attack.
“He’s a big, strong, right-handed defenseman,” Tortorella said. “I think once he started moving his legs consistently, he’s turned into a really good player for us. And not just of late. He’s been a pretty good player for quite a while.”
Tortorella has even used Ristolainen to quarterback the power play from the point.
“The thing I like about him on that is he gets pucks through,” the coach said. “There’s not a lot of thinking. It’s about trying to get pucks through, which I think we need to do more on our power play.
“There’s a stubbornness to him. I think he cares. He’s taken some of the coaching (from associate head coach Brad Shaw) and tried to get better. Sometimes when you have a veteran guy and new things are brought in, the stubbornness takes over. I think he’s done a good job (of listening).”
That mobility often works in Ristolainen’s favor.
“He can escape (forechecking) so much better now,” Tortorella said. “He thinks about his legs all the time as far as moving them and not standing still when he gets the puck. He’s done so many good things around our net, using the net as a screen and getting us out of our end zone.”
Ristolainen, 30, is in the third year of a five-year contract which pays him $5.1 million per year. Some of the media has portrayed that as an “albatross.” But a lot of that noise has quieted down this season.
“I think we have him on a pretty good contract,” Tortorella said. “The way it’s gone in this league as far as contracts with defensemen. He’s been good for us. With him out of our lineup, it would be a big hole for us.”

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About Wayne Fish 2701 Articles
Wayne Fish has been covering the Flyers since 1976, a stint which includes 18 Stanley Cup Finals, four Winter Olympics and numerous other international events.