Travis Konecny a player to watch for Philadelphia Flyers vs Avalanche

The Philadelphia Flyers and Colorado Avalanche meet in a game two rematch from earlier this season.

Coming off a 5-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils, the Philadelphia Flyers must mimic that performance in tonight’s game to defeat the Colorado Avalanche.

The Avalanche are 5-1-2 on the season, and possess one of the best offenses in the NHL. They’re tied fifth in Goals-For with 29, which is just one goal behind the Flyers as a team. Forward Mikko Rantanen leads the league in assists with 12, and is tied second with teammate Nathan MacKinnon in total points with 14. MacKinnon is also riding an eight-game point streak and will need to be accounted for whenever he steps on the ice. Colorado is much better offensively than the Devils so far this year, and the Flyers will have to put up a consistent defensive effort in order to defeat them.

The Flyers offense will again play key in this game, too. The Avalanche are tied fifth in lowest total Goals-Against with 19 and second in the league in team save percentage with .936. Philadelphia will need to put more shots on net than the 21 they did against the Devils to create more chances.

Colorado are also a great penalty-killing team to begin the year, ranking third in the league with a 89.74 penalty-killing percentage. They do commit a good amount of penalties, though, with 12.6 Penalties in Minutes per game. The Flyers went a dreaded one-for-five on the man advantage Saturday against the Devils, and must convert on chances when given the opportunity.

Travis Konecny is a player to watch for the Flyers in this game. He is currently riding a three game point streak, and has shown good chemistry with fellow line-mates Oskar Lindblom and Jordan Weal. Konecny scored the lone power-play goal against New Jersey on the second unit. The Flyers will not only need him to keep playing at a high level to help spark the second unit, but also need consistency from their top power-play squad as well.

Brian Elliott will get the call for the Flyers, opposing Semyon Varlamov. Varlamov is off to a great start this season with a 3-0-2 record, 1.77 Goals Against Average, and a .948 save percentage. He also held the Flyers to just two goals on 37 shot attempts in their game earlier this year. Elliott is coming off a good start against New Jersey, making 19 saves on 21 shots.

The Flyers are looking for their first win streak of the season and to have an above .500 record since the regular season opener against the Vegas Golden Knights.