Philadelphia Flyers: Travis Konecny out because of dirty hit

The Philadelphia Flyers got expectedly bad news on Monday when it was announced that leading scorer Travis Konecny will be out indefinitely with a concussion.

Just when Travis Konecny was seemingly reaching his potential for the Philadelphia Flyers, posting 28 points in 30 games so far this year to pace the team, an unnecessary hit has potentially derailed his season.

Konecny, who tallied his 11th goal of the season earlier in the first period of Saturday’s 4-3 win over the Ottawa Senators, took a hit that was high, late and wholly uncalled for from Senators defenseman/resident crime stopper Mark Borowiecki.

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The Flyers received no power play as a result of the hit, and Borowiecki has also escaped any kind of punishment from the league. Wrong all the way around.

It was exactly the kind of hit that the league has professed it wants to get rid of in recent years, yet nothing was done about it in this case. Even Borowiecki himself, who was suspended twice in the span of a week last season for similar offenses, must be wondering how he got away with it.

Earlier in the broadcast, Flyers announcer Jim Jackson made mention of Borowiecki’s penchant for borderline hits, a comment that was spot-on.

These kind of hits are extremely difficult to evaluate because we are talking about split seconds when we consider their timing and subsequent legality.

But take a look, and you’ll see that Borowiecki clearly singles out Konecny in the neutral zone without any regard for where the puck is. Then, the impact occurs shortly after Konecny directs the puck with his skate and looks up to follow its path.

He never sees Borowiecki, who catches him almost simultaneously at two different points of impact.

First, instead of keeping his shoulder at the same height to drive through Konecny’s body, he raises it up, appearing to catch TK right on the chin.

At the same time, he also knocks heads with Konecny, which actually resulted in Borowiecki suffering a cut since he is an uncoordinated thug.

He hit a defenseless player without ever attempting to play the puck, then made the head the first point of contact. I don’t know what else you have to do to get suspended.

Honestly though, it doesn’t even matter that Borowiecki wasn’t handed any supplemental discipline. I don’t really care if he sits out games against other teams or not. And since the Flyers won the game, the embarrassing lack of a power play after that hit didn’t hurt all too much in the grand scheme of things.

But the Flyers’ forward depth will now be tested in a way that it hasn’t been so far this season. With apologies to Nolan Patrick, who is trying to return from concussion issues of his own, this will be the first time that the team’s top group has taken a hit.

It’s something bound to happen in any NHL season, but that doesn’t make it any easier.

Nothing can be done at this point, as Konecny will recover on his own timeline, one that will hopefully be measured merely in weeks instead of months.

Next. Flyers win but lose Konecny. dark

As for Borowiecki, tune in on December 21 when the Flyers visit Ottawa to take on the Senators for the final time this season. Whether or not you agree with the “hockey code”, there might be some kind of payback in the offing.

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