Flyers hoping Simmonds brings out the best in Couturier

NEWARK, N.J. - During training camp, one of the more interesting moves made by Flyers coach Craig Berube was creating a line that has Sean Couturier centering Matt Read and Wayne Simmonds.

Last season, Couturier and Read were together with numerous other wingers, including Steve Downie. The addition of the high-scoring Simmonds gives them a fast, feisty player who distracts goalies, wins board battles, and could jump-start Couturier's production.

"They've kind of got a little bit of everything on that line," Berube said Sunday before the Flyers lost a preseason matchup with the New Jersey Devils, 3-1. "You have Read, who has speed and makes plays; Couturier is a good centerman who makes plays in the middle of the ice; and a guy [Simmonds] who's a big, physical player at the net. And they can play against top lines.

"It looks like a solid line to me."

Simmonds, who led the Flyers with 29 goals last season, thinks he can add "a different offensive element" to Couturier's game, "but I think they'll help me as well. Those guys are great defensively, and I'm going to try to work on my defensive game and get better at it."

Couturier was a prolific scorer in juniors, but has not managed more than 13 goals in any of his three NHL seasons.

"He's our best defensive forward, but I think if you were to put him in an offensive role, he'd put up a ton of points," Simmonds said. "From a pure skilled standpoint, he's one of the most skilled players."

The Flyers on Sunday started a span in which they will play preseason games on three straight nights - and four games in five nights - and the grueling stretch prompted Berube to reach into the minors and play a handful of players who have no chance to make the team.

Among the youngsters in Sunday's lineup: defensemen Robert Hagg and Jesper Pettersson and forwards Taylor Leier and Marcel Noebels. Blair Jones, battling for a fourth-line center spot, was on a line with Leier and minor-league veteran Brett Hextall.

"We have a lot of games, and a lot of these guys have played well, and they deserve to get another look," Berube said.

Center Claude Giroux, trying to get in shape after suffering a lower-body injury 15 minutes into the first day of camp, did not play Sunday and will not play Monday against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden, Berube said.

Giroux might play Tuesday at the Wells Fargo Center against the Rangers, Berube said.

Leier scored a shorthanded goal for the Flyers (2-2-1), who were outshot, 41-16, including an empty-net goal. . . . Backup goalie Ray Emery (lower-body injury) skated in the morning but did not dress for Sunday's game. Rob Zepp, 33, who has never played in the NHL and has spent most of his career in Germany, started in goal and was brilliant, but the Devils took a 2-0 lead on power-play goals by Scott Gomez in each of the first two periods. In the first 40 minutes, the Devils, bolstered by six power plays, outshot the Flyers, 35-7.

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