Couturier racks up five points with MCL injury

Somebody probably started making the T-shirts halfway through Sunday afternoon’s Flyers-Penguins game.

The new rally cry for Philly sports fans was set — “Pulling a Prongs.”

As the story goes, Sean Couturier’s status for Game 5 on Friday was in serious doubt because of a knee injury he suffered in practice the day before. That is, until Flyers captain Claude Giroux took it upon himself to tell Couturier a story from only a few years back, of how Philadelphia defenceman Chris Pronger had suffered a serious hand injury that was supposed to keep him out of a playoff game against the Buffalo Sabres, but Pronger surprisingly showed up and played anyway.

Later that afternoon Giroux received a text message from Couturier (right) that said: “Yeah, I’m pulling a Prongs.”

Not only did Couturier play, but he also scored the game winner with 1:15 left.

And on Sunday, the 25-year old centre outdid himself.

In the 8-5, Game 6 series-ending loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, Couturier factored in all Flyers goals, scoring three and assisting on two others. He played 20:05, had five shots on goal, threw three hits and was a solid 10-6 in the face-off circles.

He also absorbed much Pittsburgh abuse, including a cross check from Kris Letang that drove Couturier’s head into the back of the net.

After the astonishing performance it was revealed Couturier was playing with an MCL injury that would have kept him out for a month during the regular season.

Pretty gutsy, right? Couturier finished the series with five goals and nine points in five games. It was but a continuation of his breakthrough season.

After spending the first six seasons developing into a solid defensive centre, Couturier exploded offensively with 31 goals and 76 points. Along with being a Selke Trophy finalist, he was tied for 26th in league scoring.

And it looks like he’s only going to improve on those numbers.

The Flyers now have themselves one of the best two-way centres in the league — and they have him at a very cap friendly $4.33 million hit until the end of the 2021-22 season.