Sean Couturier was a 19-year-old rookie the last time he played against the Pittsburgh Penguins in a playoff series. His assignment in 2012, which is likely to be Nolan Patrick’s assignment this time around, was to act as a fly in the ointment of Pens sniper Evgeni Malkin.
He was so good at it that it pivoted a series the Flyers were supposed to lose in their favor. Malkin had eight points in the Flyers’ six-game surprise win but finished at minus-1. Couturier scored a hat trick in Game 2 and finished the series plus-4.
Back then his age and experience were the exception on a veteran-filled Flyers team that included 34-year-old Danny Briere, 36-year-old Kimmo Timonen, and, lest we forget, 39-year-old Jaromir Jagr.