Morning Observations is a feature where we break down the previous night's game with an analytical eye.
My big concern after news broke that Matt Read would miss four weeks due an upper-body injury was that this might be one lost piece too many for the roster to survive. It’s not that Read is an essential piece by himself; it’s that combined with the previous loss of Sean Couturier, the Flyers now had lost key play-drivers on two separate lines.
Ever since Couturier left the lineup, the second line has no longer been able to carry play, but the team was overcoming that weakness due to improved results from the Read-Bellemare-Weise trio.