Morning Observations is a feature where we break down the previous night's game with an analytical eye.
A road matchup with the St. Louis Blues was never going to be an easy one for the Philadelphia Flyers, but current circumstances just added to the degree of difficulty. Michael Raffl’s injury right before Christmas forced Hakstol to go with a makeshift first line, Matt Read’s continued absence weakened the bottom-six, and Sean Couturier was expected to be eased back into the rotation after missing a month due to a knee injury. To add insult to injury, Nick Schultz checked back into the lineup to replace Brandon Manning, swapping in a “keep them to the outside” defenseman for a play-driver.