PHILADELPHIA — With four injured players watching from the press box, the Flyers reached the point where they chose to play a defenseman as a forward over any of their forward options and fell, 5-2, to the Montreal Canadiens, the fourth-worst offensive team in the league.
Sean Couturier (back), Cam Atkinson (neck), and Travis Konecny (upper body), all leading forwards, and Zack MacEwen (jaw), an important part of the fourth-line’s identity, sat up top as their team came out flat in their first home game in over a week. Meanwhile, Justin Braun came off the healthy scratch list as an extra defenseman.
Typically, when there’s a seventh defenseman, he rotates in with the other pairings. But whenever Braun was on the ice, there were three defensemen and two forwards.
