Giroux a fan of new NHL all-star format

Center Claude Giroux, who figures to be the Flyers' lone all-star representative this season, likes the new three-on-three format the league has created for the Jan. 31 game in Nashville.

Instead of the traditional All-Star Game, players representing the four divisions will have three 20-minute contests in the tournament, which will have two semifinal games followed by the championship.

"It's going to be pretty exciting to play and it's going to be pretty exciting for our fans," Giroux said. "It's up-and-down hockey, and there's going to be a lot of skills in those games."

Each team will have six forwards, three defensemen, and two goalies.

The league is piggybacking on the wildly exciting, three-on-three overtime format it has adopted this season.

"When you play three-on-three, you see a shot on one net and two-on-one the other way; it goes back and forth," winger Wayne Simmonds said. "It's an exciting brand of hockey. I don't know if you want to necessarily do it all the time - thank God we don't do it in the playoffs - but it's exciting for the all-star format."

Simmonds smiled.

"The game's probably going to end 30-20," he said.

Sean Couturier, slowed by a concussion earlier this season, entered Thursday's matchup with visiting San Jose with just one goal and three points in his 12 games.

Now in his fifth season with the Flyers, Couturier was sidelined for six games from Oct. 24 to Nov. 3. Since returning, he has steadied the penalty-killing units but had no points in six games entering Thursday.

"That's tough, the amount of time he missed with the injury," coach Dave Hakstol said Thursday after the morning skate. "Coming back on that West Coast swing, I thought his adrenaline and energy for the first couple games was good, but probably as expected, in order to get your game conditioning back, it's taken him a couple games."

Couturier, who turns 23 on Dec. 7, has been centering Matt Read (three goals, five points) and Simmonds (three goals, six points).

"I think he and his line have been good," Hakstol said. "When you look at the matchups they've had and the overall performance they've had in those matchups, I think he's done a good job. He's producing opportunities, he's playing good two-way hockey and he's bringing a competitive leadership."

That said, the Flyers need more from the three players. Heading into Thursday, Simmonds was minus-10, Read was minus-6, and Couturier was minus-4.