The Philadelphia Flyers have been making things interesting lately following a rough start that picked up where they left off last season. Over the past month, the Flyers have an 8-3-2 record, which has more than put them back into the early playoff hunt, as they near their second full month of the season.
They’ll also be well-represented at the Four Nations Faceoff, and one of those players is the subject of this article as they’ve been playing dynamic hockey lately. Yeah, it’s a player named Travis we’re talking about today. Travis Konecny, to be exact.
Overall, Konecny has been one of the biggest reasons behind the Flyers resurgence, having put up 30 points and 13 goals in 26 games. So he’s well on pace to bust through the point-per-game barrier if he keeps this up and sets a new career high in the process.
If you did the math, Konecny is on pace to put up between 94 and 95 points, with 41 goals through a full season of play. For a team that had gotten off to such a lean start like the Flyers have, they needed someone who, night in and night out, could put up points, since one part of their overall game as a unit has been lacking.
Philadelphia Flyers needed someone like Travis Konecny to step up
While the Flyers goaltenders have looked better lately, they’re a rather patchwork unit without Samuel Ersson. And even with Ersson, they’re still average, at best, in the net. This puts pressure on stars like Konecny to play good hockey, and he’s picked up the mantle with enthusiasm.
Across his previous five games, we’ve seen Konecny’s talents on full display, with two goals and five points. Unfortunately, he was left off the board during the Flyers recent loss to the Florida Panthers, but not even the best players will grace the stat sheet every night, so I’ll go easy on Konecny there.
It’s also great to see that his game hasn’t been an all-out offense, with 14 takeaways this season and 40 hits. This is giving him more than a half-takeaway per game, plus he’s on pace to land 100-plus body checks, making him a force regardless of where he’s at on the ice.
As implied earlier, Konecny hasn’t been the only player to step up this season, with decent play from Travis Sanheim, while Matvei Michkov continues to prove why he more than deserves a spot in the NHL. If the Flyers have a few more players step up, especially during the hot run they’re on, consider them to be contenders as we inch closer to midseason.