While visiting the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night, a night where they finished with a 3-1 win despite playing not that great, Philadelphia Flyers forward Travis Konecny decided to put the entire team on his back and score an unreal goal.
It was a goal where we decided to just drop every jaw we have and blow every mind we are in possession of. It was so pretty. A beautiful escape from a game that we (and the Flyers themselves) had a lot to complain about.
And guess what? It was basically scored by accident.
Despite the goal seeming like the most purposeful thing ever done on NHL ice, after the game, Konecny himself said that different opportunities kept arising for him and he just continued to go for it.
“No, honestly, I was trying to make a play to (Farabee) but then I just got lucky,” he said. “I think I froze the defenseman for a second, unintentionally, and he kind of gave me a little opening.”
Konecny does scoot the puck by Blackhawks blueliner Jarred Tinordi fairly easily and then just gets right into open ice and fires off one of the most pleasing shots we have ever seen come off the stick of a Flyer. God, the sights and sounds of it was just otherworldly.
The Flyers winger did all of this after his shift should have ended dozens of seconds before that. He just went on to give a final last push over a minute into his shift and ended up getting rewarded.
Head coach John Tortorella knows that he can let Konecny do things like that. He knows he has a very large tank and the work ethic to not get completely gassed out on the ice. While there is an effort to not have that happen for everyone, Tortorella recognizes that Konecny is special.
“He kind of stutters with it in the neutral zone, I thought he was going to lose it, then he saw some ice,” Tortorella said. “He has to concentrate on his shift lengths, we’re always going to try to keep everyone accountable there, but I’m never worried if he gets extended out there because he has such a great edge, and he’s such a well-conditioned athlete.
“And I coached a guy in Columbus, (Artemi) Panarin. He is the best player I’ve seen play tired. It’s something some people have and TK has a little bit of that in him. When he’s tired, but still sees an opening, he takes a chance and he finds a way. That’s part of who he is and I’m not going to take that away from him.”
Konecny is just a tireless pest on the ice and sometimes, he is presented with opportunities to show his top-tier skill. And sometimes, it’s when he’s completely exhausted.
