February 22, 2024
Kamil Krzaczynski/USA TODAY Sports
With his goal Wednesday night against Chicago, Flyers winger Travis Konecny has at least a point in the past seven games.
Travis Konecny was caught with the puck on a shift that was running way too long during Wednesday night's 3-1 Flyers win in Chicago, but in an attempt to flip a pass over to linemate Joel Farabee so he could get off the ice and to the bench, he flubbed it.
Then an opportunity opened up.
Jarred Tinordi, as the Blackhawks defenseman in front of him, committed to the motion of Konecny trying to make the pass and not where the puck was actually going as it slipped off the blade of his stick.
None of it was by design, Konecny said afterward, but it froze him, and the Flyers winger found an extra gear to skate back after the loose puck and drive in toward the net.
Tinordi was caught flat-footed and didn't have the momentum to catch up, and Konecny found himself all alone in the offensive zone by the left faceoff dot. He picked out the top-right corner of the net past Chicago goaltender Arvid Soderblom and nailed it with a quick shot. 2-1, Flyers and a key turning point in a game that Philly needed coming back from the Stadium Series loss last Saturday.
"I just got lucky because I think I froze the d-man for a second," Konecny said postgame. "Unintentionally, and it kinda gave me a little opening."
Travis Konecny gives the @NHLFlyers the lead! 🟠⚫
— NHL (@NHL) February 22, 2024
📺: @NHL_On_TNT & @SportsonMax ➡️ https://t.co/W9mpYG1lMO pic.twitter.com/HjebqwTFLu
But hey, take them wherever they come and however they come, because nothing gets easier the later into the season the Flyers push, definitely not when in a playoff race.
Oh, and watch the shift lengths. More than a minute will gas anyone.
"We're always gonna try to keep everybody accountable there," head coach John Tortorella said. "I'm never worried if he gets extended out there because he has such a great engine."
But that's been evident all season, and last.
Konecny has 27 goals and 54 points through 57 games following Wednesday night's win, and has managed at least a point in the Flyers' last seven contests. The 26-year old has gotten nearly all of them with an aggressive playstyle that always has him flying up and down the rink, which not only led to All-Star recognition a few weeks ago, but has been a major factor that's contributed to why the Flyers have been as successful as they have so far – much to the surprise of many.
Konecny has the engine to keep skating, as Tortorella said, but has been just as much of the engine that has kept the Flyers going, which is a large part of why he now has an alternate captaincy letter on his chest too.
He even reminds Tortorella of another star he used to coach back when he was behind the bench for the Columbus Blue Jackets: Atermi Panarin, who is now the leading winger for the New York Rangers.
"He's such a well-conditioned athlete," Tortorella said. "And those are the things – I mean, I coached a guy in Columbus, Panarin. He is the best player I've seen play tired. It's something some people have. TK has a little bit of that in him. When he's tired, but he still sees an opening, he takes a chance, he finds a way.
"That's part of who he is and I'm not gonna take that away from him."'
But that's not to say there isn't any cleaning up to do moving forward.
Konecny skated on a line with Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee Wednesday night, and they did well to control possession, but did so with a little too much risk in moving the puck for Tortorella's liking, especially with generational rookie Connor Bedard out there and waiting to pounce on any chance for the Blackhawks.
"They were too lateral," Tortorella said postgame. "TK makes a great play, a one-on-one play, on his goal, a very important goal, but I think I've had TK with [Sean Couturier] for quite a while. It just hasn't been working for either one of them. I wanted to change it up, so I'm gonna have Frost center him a bit. Gotta look at the tape. Not sure what it's gonna look like to me.
"I actually didn't like the line tonight for most of the game, especially situational play, but we'll see. I'm not gonna judge too much on tonight's game. It was just an ugly game. We grinded away and we ended up finding a way to win."
And Konecny agreed that they were far from perfect.
"It wasn't a clean game for us," he said. "We did change a little bit and we're able to get the lead and hold on to it, but we can definitely move on from that one and start fresh."
They'll look to do so with a major weekend back-to-back against the Rangers at home on Saturday and then the Penguins in Pittsburgh on Sunday awaiting on-deck.
Follow Nick on Twitter: @itssnick
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports
