The Flyers' outlook down the middle of the ice appeared grimmer when Monday's practice began in Voorhees, New Jersey.
It ended up looking much better by the end of practice.
With the Flyers already down two centers because of injuries to Sean Couturier and Morgan Frost, Nolan Patrick didn't come out for practice.
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But the 22-year-old center became a part of a promising sight on the opposite ice at Virtua Center Flyers Skate Zone. Alongside Couturier and Philippe Myers, Patrick worked out with skills coach Angelo Ricci.
Myers, who celebrated his birthday Monday, is out with a fractured rib.
Head coach Alain Vigneault said Patrick didn't practice for maintenance reasons and is expected to play Tuesday against the Devils in Newark, New Jersey (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP).
That was one good piece of news for the Flyers at center. The other piece was Couturier skating, as well.
The Flyers on Jan. 16 announced that Couturier would be out a minimum of two weeks with a costochondral separation, which is when one of the ribs comes apart from the sternum.
"Today was a step forward by skating and trying to get my game shape back together," Couturier said Monday.
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The 2019-20 Frank J. Selke Trophy winner suffered the injury on sort of a run-of-the-mill check he absorbed early on in the Flyers' second game of the season.
"It was one of those hits that I take every game," Couturier said. "I've probably taken over 1,000 of those hits in my career and probably have gotten hit a lot harder before and nothing happened.
"The first few days were pretty painful when you'd like sneeze or sleeping wasn't easy the first few nights. Now I'm feeling a lot better, I'm able to do a lot of normal things like skating today and hopefully it just gets better and better."
Couturier said he hasn't set a strict timetable for his return. This upcoming Saturday would mark two weeks since the announcement of his diagnosis.
“Sean is slowly but surely progressing, permitting him to skate with our skill coach," Vigneault said. "But he’s not at the point yet where he can come back and skate with the team, so I’m still foreseeing a little bit of time here before he can join our group."
Without Couturier, the Flyers have gone 1-2-1, a stretch in which they've been outscored 16-9 and have allowed 36.5 shots per game. The Flyers did essentially win their second game without Couturier as he was injured in the opening two minutes and did not return.
"There are some things that we need to clean up in our game," Couturier said. "It's early in the year and we're going to make sure we fix those things, and moving forward we're going to become a pretty good team."
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