Breaking down Travis Konecny’s goals this season

It has been a while since a member of the Philadelphia Flyers started their season as hot as Travis Konecny has this year. Eight goals in just nine games is something that puts your name in lights and lets fans sing your praises and they engrave your face into the nearest stone.

While at other times throughout a hockey season, scoring this much is considered a very good hot streak, to start the season -- with no other context of how you have played -- just rockets up the potential to a whole new level. Maybe this never stops! Travis Konecny will not stop scoring eight goals every nine games! He should be the player that Alex Ovechkin is trying to beat!

Before reality sets in and we come crashing down from this vivacious high we are currently experiencing -- because Konecny cannot continue scoring one goal for every four shots on goal he takes -- let\'s just sit back and bask at the glory of what a start it has been for the 27-year-old winger.

How did he get these goals? Are they simply flukes or are they repeatable? Are other Flyers skaters more responsible for his tally than Konecny himself? Well, I\'m glad you asked.

1 -- Game 1 at Columbus

Konecny\'s first goal was possibly just a quintessential 2023-24 Konecny goal. Of course, we have such a small sample size to get a real clue of what that character can be and how he\'ll score goals for our Flyers, but this dude took complete control of the scoring chance -- he started it by exiting the zone cleanly, and finished it with an inch-perfect shot.

https://twitter.com/ryanquigz/status/1712614648535478406?s=20

To start the entire play, Konency recovered a misplayed drop pass by Columbus as they tried to set themselves up in the Flyers\' zone. The winger quickly turned around, knowing that there were valley-like gaps in coverage as the Blue Jackets committed to the offense, and quickly snapped a pass to linemate Scott Laughton.

Laughton stopped near the point, waited for a streaking Konecny and then the eventual scorer pulled off some twisting motion that only a select few can really do (from what we can tell, anyways). All in one smooth transition, Konecny accepted the pass, and with his skates essentially perpendicular to the goal, he twisted his body and shot the puck while streaking into the corner of the zone. He had to time it perfectly while also keeping it on the low glove side of the Columbus netminder. And guess what? He did it.

2 -- Game 1 at Columbus

Konecny wasn\'t done in that season opener. In literally the final second of the game, to really make sure the Blue Jackets had no hope in winning their first game of the season, the Flyers winger hustled and bustled his way to put himself in between one Columbus skater and the loose puck. He then scored the easiest goal of his life.

A goal is a goal and it just so happens that his second of the eight he\'s scored so far this season was a gimme of a gimme. Konecny earns enough credit to outwork the other skaters around him to get to the puck, but then after that I\'m sure almost anyone reading this could tap that puck in between the goal posts.

3 -- Game 2 at Ottawa

Ah, that\'s more like it. It took a whole 77 minutes of action until we saw a pure garbage goal coming off Konecny\'s stick. It wasn\'t a pestering and poking and prodding goal, rather a quick reaction as Konecny is in his typical spot on the power play -- standing right on top of the opposing netminder. Tyson Foerster made the attempt and out boy cleaned it up.

https://twitter.com/ryanquigz/status/1713252269183868954?s=20

There really isn\'t much to say. Foerster took advantage of the extra space on the 5-on-3 power play and while the three Senators penalty killers were focused on the shooter, Konecny snuck in and set up his shot to get on the board.

4 -- Game 5 at Dallas

We can\'t believe it took him this long to score another one -- how dare he.

After going two games without slotting a puck in the back of the net, Konecny came roaring back with an absolutely unfathomable performance in Dallas against the Stars. For his first goal of the game, he managed to score an equalizing goal while on the penalty kill, essentially nullifying the Stars\' man advantage that could have really put the game away for them.

Konecny was circling in the neutral zone, looking for a puck to strip like a Hollywood shark trying to claim one of its victims. He swiped at Dallas blueliner Miro Heiskanen, who went to his right to avoid the Flyers winger, but then ran right into Noah Cates, who successfully managed to intercept the puck and quickly set it up for his shorthanded teammate for the breakaway tally.

https://twitter.com/NHLFlyers/status/1715893285909156072?s=20

A lot of the goal can be attributed to Cates\'s awareness and ability to have successful blue line coverage to really stifle the zone entry on the penalty kill, but a whole lot of other Flyers would potentially mess up the breakaway opportunity. Konecny stayed calm and cool and wired it low glove. It was with a little bit more power than other perfectly placed goals of his, but when it\'s in a one-on-one situation like that, the balance of power and accuracy has to sway a little more heavy to the power side, to try and catch the netminder off-guard.

It was Konecny\'s fourth ever goal on the penalty kill, and well, he would add his fifth short after.

5 -- Game 5 at Dallas

Yeah, Konecny scored another shorthanded goal in Dallas. In the third period, Scott Laughton managed to successfully breakout the puck after the Stars fumbled some passes and caused the players to retreat. Travis Sanheim joined the two penalty-killing forwards on the rush, making it a 3-on-2 shorthanded chance (weird) and played a pivotal role.

Laughton held possession through the rush and as soon as he entered the offensive zone, slid the puck over to the streaking defenseman. Luckily, Sanheim\'s blocked shot went right back to his feet -- the defender then cut to the front of the net, making the entire Stars unit focus on him as some shot-crazed fiend. That distraction was enough to have Konecny cut across the back of the net, signaled for the pass while undetected, and then murdered the puck on the uncovered one-timer.

And of course, in Konecny fashion, he crumpled to the ice after he shot the puck, making everyone feel that he put his entire body into that damn goal.

This might have been the moment we all realized this Flyers team could be something different, but this little article is not about that. It\'s about Konecny and his awareness to get into a prime scoring opportunity within seconds of Sanheim\'s initial attempt being blocked and the Flyers regaining possession.

Konecny is getting a boatload of chances to score in this early going, but these two shorthanded goals against the Stars just demonstrates how ferocious and hungry the Flyers winger is for scoring. He won\'t lazily try to just pot one on the power play, or when the team is more established in the zone -- no, it\'s about getting to the damn puck before the other team and then making the most of when you have it.

6 -- Game 7 vs. Minnesota

Konecny\'s sixth goal of the season was beautiful. Nick Seeler of all people drove the puck into the Wild\'s zone, causing all five defenders to really get back on their heels and prepare for whatever the home team was going to lay out for them. The Philadelphia blueliner lays it out for Konecny as soon as he entered the zone -- similar to what Laughton did in Dallas to start the chance -- and then our boy just completely sniped one. No fancy play or established pressure to score dozens of seconds later, just pure and utter brutality with one flick of his wrist past a whole lot of Wild skaters.

https://twitter.com/FlyersNation/status/1717697468870131810?s=20

Over Pat Maroon\'s stick, under Brock Faber\'s glove, and right over Filip Gustavsson\'s shoulder to open the scoring for the Flyers in this eventual 6-2 statement win.

There\'s nothing really too complicated about this. The defending team was expecting some sort of forecheck, or wired puck around the boards to establish themselves in the zone, but Seeler was prepared to give it to the team\'s hottest player and Konecny had the awareness and confidence (because who wouldn\'t be feeling all-powerful in the middle of this streak?) to score off the rush from an absolute laser.

7 -- Game 8 vs. Anaheim

Another Konecny tally, another chance created from some solid defensive play that launched a counterattack.

While this was not a good game for our Flyers at all, it did feature some scoring from the top of the lineup. Cam Atkinson got the goal to make it 4-1 (oof) and then Konecny came scorching through less than a minute later to cut the lead in half within one minute.

Scott Laughton started the play with a great breakout pass to find Konecny in the neutral zone all by himself, then the winger made a quick pass to Sean Walker, who was in motion heading through and into the Ducks\' zone. Walker, kind of surprisingly, found Konecny via a royal road pass across the mouth of the goal and he sort of just shoved it into the back of the net.

https://twitter.com/nhl_goal_bot/status/1718336051679277177?s=20

Konecny really loves that glove side, eh? It was a blink-and-you-miss-it sort of scoring chance with a collection of very good passes -- the kind of dishes that we have not seen in a very long time and felt good about on this Flyers team -- and it made it a total team goal.

He still played his role as the official driver, though. Konecny, like in previous goals, was the connective tissue and the finishing touch on the entire sequence of touches. A quick reaction to accepting the breakout and not taking it for himself, but seeing a teammate in motion with a more direct path into the offensive zone, and then to set himself up for success as he created his own diversion from where he would set up for his shot.

8 -- Game 8 vs. Anaheim

Later in the game against the Ducks, Konecny made it 6-3 (oof) with his second goal of the game and the most recent tally of his incredibly hot start to the season. And instead of on the rush, it was a goal scored on the power play after being able to establish the formation and just continue playing the man-advantage roles for a good amount of time.

Sanheim collected the puck from Atkinson, after he missed a cross-ice pass seconds earlier. Brink then made his way up along the half boards and drew two Ducks penalty killers closer to him, creating a nice little pocket for Konecny and Couturier to snuggle into. A quick passing sequence of Brink to Couturier to Konecny ended the power play and earned him his eighth goal of the season.

This is just extremely good from the Flyers and a good sign of some work on the man advantage plays. Brink expertly draws so much attention with just being a shooting threat from that side of the ice, magnetizing the defenders to him for Konecny to have the space needed to eventually score this goal.

It\'s all about time and space and connections and this little play that might not add up to a whole lot -- it didn\'t make a difference in the loss -- but it is something the best teams in the world are able to pull off and the Flyers did it with a rookie, a rehabbing vet, and Travis Konecny.

What we learned

Within Konecny\'s goals, we can see trends and little notions of what we might be able to expect from him this season in Philadelphia.

Ability to score off the rush. This is nothing new for Konecny, we have seen his ability to score off these counterattacks and rush chances before, but possibly not with this consistency. He has vastly improved his ability to place his shots in motion and almost thinks at twice the speed as before, especially before last season. And even then, it feels like his teammates are much more prepared to give Konecny these chances and cash in on them with thoughtful passing instead of panicking and pretending like you\'re surprised you suddenly have the puck at your stick.

The wide variety of goals. Konecny is able to score from anywhere on the ice in motion or staying completely still. It\'s not something any team can really predict or establish a specific gameplan for. The Flyers winger has a knack to getting in open space and flourishing within it. It can be established plays or just some improvisation in some haphazard defensive coverage and take advantage of any opportunity given. There is just such a variance in how this guy has been able to get his goals this season, and that\'s not even including the notion that he has scored at 5-on-5, shorthanded, and on the power play already.

Konecny is even more valuable than we previously thought. While the future of this team and whether Konecny remains on it in the near future, is still uncertain, we can be sure that what we thought of the player two years ago and what we think of him now is completely different. We have always thought of him as a very solid contributor, but after his career year last season, scoring eight goals in nine games feels like an impossible mark-up from already setting the bar so high. Is it too bullish to say that he should be considered one of the 20 best forwards in the league? The best 15? His offense has certainly exploded enough to maybe be considered by some people looking for some hip opinions.

Some decrease in scoring might eventual come for Konecny -- he is currently fourth in the NHL in goals above expected, according to MoneyPuck -- but that does not mean we can\'t learn and enjoy what he has done so far this season. He is a maniac on the ice and everyone should fear him.

Talking Points