Travis Konecny Needs to Find His Mojo Again
By Scott Cole
One of the biggest problem that this Flyers team has had this year is that it is super streaky. They’ve been hot and they’ve been cold.
One of the players who epitomizes this is Travis Konecny. TK is the Flyers super star this season. He leads the team with 24 goals and 49 points. His 25 assists are second on the team to all-star Kevin Hayes. He has also been a leader in the locker room.
You saw this in December. As the Flyers were just wrapping up a 10 game losing streak, he started getting hot. From the 1st of December to the 11th of January, TK was hot. Super hot. In 19 games, he scored 17 goals. As a result, the Flyers went 9-6-3. The culmination of it all was a hat-trick performance against the Washington Capitals.
Since then, Konecny hasn’t scored a goal. Since then, the Flyers are 6-4-2. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
To be fair, it can’t be placed solely on his shoulders. One player does not make a team. There are quite a few other guys who could be scoring right now. Joel Farabee looks lost this season and James van Riemsdyk could certainly be doing more.
This team needs a leader. Konency has been that, in many ways. He has been the guy that has put the team on his back and has carried them through. Because when he is hot, the players around him get hot too.
He’s played on various lines this year, alternating between the top two. He’s been with JVR, Owen Tippett, Kevin Hayes, Morgan Frost, Farabee, and Noah Cates for the most part. When he is doing well, you can see that the other players’ games are also elevated. This makes the Flyers offensive attack more daunting.
And you saw this as the Flyers went from near the bottom of the league in scoring to just about 20th again….and now they are sliding back again.
If Konecny can find his scoring touch again, watch this team take off. And as they get into a tough February schedule, now is the time to get hot. Likewise, if TK wants to be the leader of this team, this will show what he is made of.