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Flyers’ Three Stars of the Week: Travis Konecny’s finally looking like himself

The Flyers went 1-2-0 this week, but we’ve still got three stars for you!

Posted on by Joe DeMarini
Nov 11, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Flyers right wing Travis Konecny (11) celebrates his goal with defenseman Emil Andrae (36) and center Sean Couturier (14) against the San Jose Sharks during the first period at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

The Flyers did not have the greatest start to December, going 1-2-0 in their three games on the week. Things didn’t start well in a lopsided 5-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins that saw the Flyers not only lose the game, but also one of their best players; Tyson Foerster injured himself taking a slap shot, and will miss the next two or three months as a result.

The good news was that the Flyers took that loss to the Penguins in stride, soundly beating the struggling Buffalo Sabres 5-2. Sam Ersson, who’s had a somewhat disappointing season, posted a .931 save percentage, his best mark of the campaign. Once again, though, they couldn’t escape unscathed, as Cam York left the game early and is officially out day-to-day with an upper body injury.

York’s injury forced the Flyers’ hand on defense, and head coach Rick Tocchet moved Nick Seeler up to the top pair with Travis Sanheim to replace York. That was less than ideal against the Colorado Avalanche, exacerbated by running Nic Deslauriers on the fourth line, and the Flyers dropped that match in a tightly contested 3-2 loss. As well as the Flyers played against a tired Avalanche squad (using the same goalie in the second half of a back-to-back, even), Colorado is just a better team.

It’s difficult to pick three stars when the team doesn’t win, because then it’s easy to point to who helped the most. In a losing week, we instead have to look at who tried their best and wasn’t actively detrimental. Few players were outright bad this week, but nobody really shined as brightly as they could have–and in a rare event, we don’t have a goaltender cracking the three stars. A losing record will have that effect.

Anyway, let’s get into it.

3. Sean Couturier

1 goal, 1 assist, 2 points, 3 games played, 18:47 Average Time On Ice (ATOI)

It’s not the most sparkling of stat lines, but we’re giving Sean Couturier his flowers for playing in his 900th game and scoring a goal on his birthday.

That was Couturier’s fifth goal of the season, and while he’s averaging almost 18 minutes a night (including over 20 minutes against the Sabres), Tocchet has said he needs to be more cognizant of Couturier’s usage, and pull back on his minutes. Through 26 games this season, Couturier has five goals, 12 assists, and 17 points. Not ideal for a player on Couturier’s contract, but not bad either, and he’s been over 60 percent in the faceoff dots over the last few games.

For his deflection goal early against the Avalanche, his all around strong play, and that weird assist on Owen Tippett’s empty net goal, he earns third star of the week–the birthday present we’re sure he’s always wanted.

2. Noah Cates

1 goal, 1 assist, 2 points, 3 games played, 17:09 ATOI

It’d been five games since Cates’s three-point night against the New Jersey Devils, and he delivered another multipoint effort against the Buffalo Sabres. He even earned first star of the game in that Sabres clash, but we all know this award is far more valuable.

It won’t count as a power play goal, as it came seconds after Buffalo’s penalty expired, but that was a great deflection from in front of the net by Cates. He and Bobby Brink were clearly feeling it that night, as they’d connected earlier in the game too, with Brink getting the goal off a nice feed from Cates.

With Tyson Foerster out of the lineup, Cates and Brink will be under increased scrutiny: were they benefactors of Foerster’s clear talent, or are they good, reliable players in their own right away from Foerster? Against the Sabres, it sure looked like they’ll be fine without Foerster, and Cates gets the second star of the week for his work in that game.

1. Travis Konecny

2 goals, 2 assists, 4 points, 3 games played, 19:51 ATOI

It’s been a long time coming, but Travis Konecny finally (finally!) seems to be turning a corner: he’s got points in four straight games, two of them multipoint efforts, and scored two critical goals this week. The first came on the power play (yes, a power play goal!) against the Buffalo Sabres, tying the score at one after the Sabres had gotten an early lead on a power play of their own.

That goal kicked off some rapid fire scoring, as the Flyers hung another two goals on the Sabres in less than a minute. It’s very fun to have a team that scores in bunches, and a little weird to regularly experience with the Flyers after so many years they seemed incapable of doing so.

Though it ultimately wasn’t enough to get the Flyers a point in the standings, Konecny’s goal against the Avalanche early in the second period gave them a fighting chance. More importantly, he scored in a way we haven’t seen as much this year: in alone, off the rush.

While John Tortorella may’ve not been the best coach, his focus on scoring in transition and off the rush fit Konecny’s game perfectly. Under Tocchet, who has stressed possession, Konecny hasn’t been quite as effective. That five-hole goal against the Avalanche was some vintage Travis Konecny, and we can only hope his solid stretch the last few games is the start of a hot streak. The clear first star of the week.

As an added bonus, that goal against the Avalanche wasn’t the only bit of vintage Konecny we saw last week. One thing we’ve all learned over the years is that a chirping Travis Konecny is an engaged Travis Konecny, though the game got away from the Flyers not long after.

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