x

Already member? Login first!

Comments / New

Flyers’ 3 Stars of the Week: Barkey remains fun, and the fourth line finally steps up

A pretty successful 2-1-0 week for the Flyers, and the fourth line enters the 3 Stars for the first time all year.

Posted on by Cole Keller
© Kyle Ross-Imagn Images

This past week, the Flyers have somehow played three games while also having a four-day holiday break. In that stretch, the Flyers went 2-1-0 against three of the worst teams in the Western Conference, with wins over Vancouver and Chicago and a regulation loss against Seattle. 

The week started off on the right foot with a pretty dominant 5-2 win over the Canucks, where the new look fourth line of Nikita Grebenkin, Rodrigo Abols, and Carl Grundstrom combined for two goals. The next night, Sam Ersson put in one of his strongest performances of the season in a 3-1 win over the Blackhawks. Then, after a four day holiday break, the Flyers began their West Coast trip with a lifeless 4-1 loss to the Kraken on Sunday night. 

With the results this week, the Flyers now sit in third place in the Metropolitan Division with 45 points, but second in the division in terms of points percentage (.608). They are tied with division leader Carolina for the least regulation losses in the Eastern Conference with 11, and continue to find ways to earn at least a point in the majority of their games. 

So, before tonight’s games in Vancouver, let’s dive into what players really stood out this past week for the Orange and Black. 

3. Denver Barkey 

0 goals, 0 assists, but he was a bundle of energy and fun 

There were not many pure standouts on the scoresheet for the Flyers this week, so we really liked the things that Denver Barkey was doing this week. While he wasn’t able to register a point, he was frequently in and around offensive chances for the Flyers, and was an annoying pest for defenses to deal with. 

One area of strength that came out for Barkey this week? His ability to frustrate defenses, and draw lots of penalties in the process. Take the play below from Sunday night in Seattle, where Barkey blocks a shot at the top of the defensive zone, gains the puck in the neutral zone, and earns a penalty on a mini-breakaway chance. Relentless, all-three-zones hockey from Barkey is going to endear him to Rick Tocchet, and that’s exactly what we saw from him this week. 

The way Barkey plays, though, sometimes can come with a cost, and we also saw that this week against the Blackhawks. On a power play, Barkey went hard after a Chicago defenseman along the boards to retrieve a puck, and ended up throwing a hit that Barkey received the worst of. He left Tuesday’s game, but the injury ended up being not serious. Still, from here on out, it’ll be interesting to see how Barkey’s 5’8” frame holds up in the NHL. 

2. Travis Konecny 

1 goal, 2 assists, 3 games played, and he looks like he’s back 

The trend started before this week, but Travis Konecny’s play as of late has really inspired confidence that the 28-year-old forward still has an extremely high level of hockey in him. He’s back to making a shift-by-shift impact, as being united with Trevor Zegras and Christian Dvorak has really played out well for the Flyers. 

This week, Konecny’s point against the Canucks came on a secondary assist to a Dvorak goal. With a creative zone entry, Konecny was a key part in a goal that emphasized what he arguably does best – offensive creation on the rush. 

Then, against the Blackhawks, Konecny put in one of his most complete games of the season, with a goal and an assist to show for it. While Konecny’s goal came off a ridiculous feed from Zegras, the play started with another strong zone entry from the Konecny-Zegras combo, and was also all about Konecny’s movement and creativity in the offensive zone. 

And finally, later in the Chicago game, Konecny had a bit of luck with his power play assist, where his pass from the side of the net ended up on the stick of Noah Cates in front for a goal. 

1. Nikita Grebenkin, Rodrigo Abols, Carl Grundstrom 

Combined for 4 goals this week, the first really good fourth line of the season 

With Rick Tocchet loving the idea of rolling all four lines all the time, even in late-game close situations, it’s imperative that the Flyers’ fourth line can keep up. For much of the season before this week, that simply wasn’t happening, and the Flyers were getting absolutely caved in the defensive zone when the fourth line was on the ice. 

Well, since the benching of Garnet Hathaway, the new look fourth line of Nikita Grebenkin, Rodrigo Abols, and Carl Grundstrom has been a revelation. There’s actually some offensive tools on that line now, with the puck protection of Grebenkin and the shot of Grundstrom giving the Flyers some real quality on the fourth line. 

This week, the line combined for the first two goals in the game against Vancouver. For the first goal, Grebenkin protected the puck as he entered the zone, left it for Abols, and immediately went to the netfront for a deflection goal. Strong, “gritty” work from Grebenkin and exactly what you’d like to see from the fourth line. 

On the line’s second goal of the game, Grebenkin flashed some pretty high-end skill as well. Again, Grebenkin’s puck protection skills along the boards and behind the net are some of the best on this Flyers roster, and having that in a fourth line position can be a luxury. This play below is really all Grebenkin, even with Grundstrom’s persistence for the rebound. Grundstrom also added an empty netter in Chicago to seal the deal on Tuesday night. 

Finally, the fourth line registered the only goal for the Flyers in Seattle, on an absolute rip from Grundstrom to make the score 3-1 Kraken. It’s been pretty shocking to watch Grundstrom become a serviceable player for the Flyers, and while he’s certainly not going to keep up on this pace (6 goals in 11 games), his shooting skill is real. Combine that with Grebenkin’s puck protection skills and Abols’ well-rounded game, there could be lots more offense to come by for this new look fourth line. 

If you enjoyed this article please consider supporting Broad Street Hockey by subscribing here, or purchasing our merch here.

P.S. Don’t forget to check out our podcast feed!

Looking for an easy way to support BSH? Use our Affiliate Link when shopping hockey merch!

LOGIN SIGN UP

Talking Points