Saturday night was Sean Couturier’s 800th career game. The vast majority of the previous 799 were played at center, at least officially. Couturier alluded after the game to some previous games played alongside Claude Giroux where the two of them would switch back and forth, but seeing him on line charts as a left wing was something extremely out of the ordinary.
Couturier did eventually spend some time at center during line shuffling over the course of the game. But his overall night including his time at wing was intriguing. He took 23 shifts and played 15:58, both season highs. He generated seven shot attempts and still took seven faceoffs, winning five of them.
One particular impressive stretch of his time at wing came about eight minutes into the third period. On this shift he throws two hits that lead to two turnovers, and on the ensuing possessions he nearly deflects pucks home twice.
