Philadelphia Flyers: Win game, but lose Travis Konecny

In a surprisingly feisty affair, the Philadelphia Flyers managed a 4-3 win over the Ottawa Senators, but they now might have to play without their leading goal-scorer Travis Konecny for the time being.

It wasn’t easy, but the Philadelphia Flyers deserve full marks for their victory over the pesky Ottawa Senators on Saturday.

Of more long term importance, however, is the status of Travis Konecny, who scored his 11th goal of the season earlier in the game to move into a tie with Oskar Lindblom for the team lead.

More from Section 215

But late in the first period, Konecny left after taking a late, high and hard hit from Senators defenseman Mark Borowiecki. It’s exactly the kind of garbage hit that the National Hockey League says they want out of the game completely, so it was genuinely concerning to see no penalty assessed on the play.

Borowiecki, who recently foiled a would-be thief in Vancouver and has been dubbed “BoroCop”, deserved some immediately justice himself on the play, but none was forthcoming. Perhaps he will hear from the Department of Player Safety in the form of a fine or suspension, but that would be of no comfort to the Flyers if they are without one of their most dynamic players for any length of time.

Hopefully, Konecny will be able to return in short order, as the fourth-year winger has shown himself to very durable during his young career so far. His absence for the final two periods on Saturday definitely had a ripple effect through the Flyers’ lineup, and they managed to pick up two points despite the challenge that the situation presented.

It wasn’t ideal that the Flyers gave up three separate one-goal leads before Scott Laughton‘s go-ahead marker finally proved to be the winner. And the Flyers’ lone full power play was an absolute mess: no offensive pressure, then a shorthanded goal allowed on a miscommunication between Carter Hart and Shayne Gostisbehere, followed by nearly surrendering another shorthanded goal.

But the team lived up to the namesake of its mascot on Saturday, gritting out a win against an opponent who took their best shot at them.

Laughton was jumped in the final minute by Ottawa pest Brady Tkachuk, evidence of how much the Flyers had gotten under the skin of their opponent on the day.

It wasn’t a signature win by any means, but there is some feeling of satisfaction that should come from beating your opponent on the scoreboard while also leaving them angry at the end of the game.

The Flyers will now be setting out for a three-game road trip, and it remains to be seen if Travis Konecny will be a part of it.

The team has shown enough depth of late that it should be able to weather missing cogs here and there, but a potential head injury like what Konecny looked to suffer could cause problems if it lingers.

In the end, the two points are nothing to sneeze at, and all the Flyers can really do is cross their fingers and hope for good news on T.K at the moment.

Next. Flyers' Black Friday Decade in Review. dark

Regardless, the schedule and the mission remain the same, and they should strive to carry this same kind of play onto the road with them this week.

Home/Philadelphia Flyers