PHILADELPHIA — It hasn’t been an enjoyable stretch for Travis Konecny. Not only is the Philadelphia Flyers’ most consistent offensive weapon for the past few years enduring a woeful scoring slump, with just one goal in his last 21 games, but he’s had to watch as the organization has sold off some of his closest friends.
For a player that thrives on emotion, the shock over some of the recent departures may have exacerbated his difficulties. Konecny acknowledged that because the team has lost a good measure of skill and veteran leadership, he may be feeling a greater weight to pick up some of the slack in both areas.
“Maybe a little bit,” Konecny said on Friday. “There’s definitely some things that when you lose guys like that, that have been here for a long time, some of the responsibilities they had not only on the ice but off the ice … there’s definitely some holes to fill.”
When coach John Tortorella, speaking about the Flyers’ ongoing rebuild, said he feels “bad for those guys that have been here for (my) three years here” and have “done their work,” there’s no question one of the players he’s referring to is Konecny, who has reached new heights under the coach but has yet to be rewarded with a chance to push for a Stanley Cup.
That understanding seems to be part of the reason that the coach isn’t all that concerned with Konecny’s current downturn.
“I don’t worry about him because I know eventually he’s going to get out of it,” Tortorella said on Friday. “I worry about athletes when they don’t try. I’ll never have to worry about that with him.”
The problem, in Tortorella’s view, is that Konecny is just too much in his own head at the moment. He might even be trying a bit too hard.
“Overthinking is an understatement,” Tortorella said. “I’ve spent three years coaching him telling him to just stop thinking, because he’s such a reactive player, and that’s when he’s at his best.”
That consistent message from Tortorella is something Konecny’s heard plenty of times, apparently. When it was suggested to him on Friday that maybe he’s thinking too much on the ice as his coach suggested, his locker neighbor at the team’s practice facility, Travis Sanheim, interjected:
“Don’t think,” Sanheim said.
Konecny: “Yeah, don’t think is the key.”
That’s what Torts said.
“Oh, I know,” Konecny replied.
Sanheim: “That’s why I said it.”
The slump is all the more shocking considering what was the growing narrative around Konecny more than midway through this season. That is, he was simply becoming one of the most dangerous wingers in the NHL, and that his place on Team Canada for the 4 Nations Face-Off was well-earned. On Jan. 21 when the goal slump began, Konecny was tied for 10th in the NHL in scoring with 54 points in 47 games.
So, what’s wrong now?
It should be mentioned that on Jan. 16 in a game on Long Island, Konecny toppled into the end wall, with his right shoulder seemingly taking the brunt of the impact. He left that game for a brief stretch before returning. It’s possible that threw him off course, even if no one has said so.
Still, Konecny’s shot output over the past two months hasn’t really changed. Prior to Jan. 21, he was averaging 5.21 shots per 60 minutes. Since then, headed into Saturday’s Flyers’ 5-0 loss to Carolina, he was at 5.33 shots per 60 minutes.
It’s the underlying numbers that are more concerning. According to Natural Stat Trick, Konecny was averaging 5.63 individual scoring chances per 60 minutes prior to his slump. Since then, it’s dropped to 3.75 per 60 — the lowest mark among Flyers forwards during that stretch, in fact.
The overt suggestion there is that Konecny just isn’t getting to the areas of the ice necessary to score goals.
That sparked a change, as Tortorella broke up what had been his most consistently effective line this season before Thursday’s game with Tampa Bay. Bobby Brink has been taken off of the Noah Cates-Tyson Foerster line, replaced by Konecny, who is still the Flyers’ leading scorer with 65 points, just three off his career high set last season.
“His offensive instincts and ability down low I think are high end, and elite in this league,” Cates said after their first game together, a 4-3 Flyers shootout win over the Lightning, their only victory on the seven-game homestand (1-6-0). “We kind of have all the elements that we need to make some plays and score some goals.”
Cates and Foerster are arguably the top two-way forwards on the Flyers’ roster. As long as Konecny can read off the two of them, he should, in theory, be able to “get into open ice,” Tortorella said.
It hasn’t worked yet. In two games together, the new line has a shot-attempt share of just 38.6 percent, and an expected-goals share of 42.6 percent. They were on the ice for Carolina’s first goal on Saturday night, when Konecny gave the puck away in front of goalie Sam Ersson, resulting in an easy flip in by Sebastian Aho.
Konecny had a couple chances to score against the Hurricanes. But in the first period on a two-on-one shorthanded rush, he mishandled a feed from Ryan Poehling on a play that, when he’s on, is probably an easy conversion for him. In the final minute of the third period, he couldn’t squeeze a backhand inside the near post, and moments later Scott Morrow capped the scoring with his first NHL marker.
Tortorella is hopeful that all it’s going to take is one puck getting past the goaltender to get Konecny going again. It’s why he had Konecny on the ice to start overtime against the Lightning on Thursday, and why he gave him an opportunity in the shootout that night, too — only to see Konecny’s attempt hit both posts, and the cross bar, before bouncing harmlessly away.
So Konecny’s struggles continue. His last two goals came on six-on-five delayed penalty on Feb. 8 against the Penguins, and an empty netter against the Devils on Jan. 18 — meaning he hasn’t scored a goal at five-on-five since Jan. 7 against the Maple Leafs, more than two months ago.
“He’s tied up in knots,” Tortorella said.
(Photo: Kyle Ross / Imagn Images)
