The Philadelphia Flyers have just one win in their first four games, and they’ve been struggling to score. They’ve been held to three goals or fewer against manned nets thus far, and barely got a second goal on the board while taking just 17 shots against the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night.
Sean Couturier, Bobby Brink, and Owen Tippett are the only players with multiple goals so far this season, while Travis Sanheim, Tyson Foerster, Noah Cates, Christian Dvorak, and Matvei Michkov all have one each. A few names are notably missing from that list, including offseason addition Trevor Zegras and veteran leader Travis Konecny.
Konecny does have two assists, but just five shots on goal through the first four games. He was asked about the team’s scoring struggles after Thursday night’s loss against Winnipeg, but he was not having it.
“It’s four games,” Konecny said while shaking his head.
He continued to shrug when pressed about his personal scoring woes.
“Yeah, getting some looks,” he said. “Four games in,” he then reiterated.
Konecny seemed to be a bit annoyed by the question, which makes sense when a team is just four games into the season. It’s not as if they’ve even been shut out or held to one goal yet, thanks to Michkov’s first of the year late in Thursday’s loss.
The winger came into the year after a hot start in the preseason with three goals in four games. You can’t read too much into stats in exhibition games, but you can get a feel for how a player might be looking ahead of the real thing.
While Konecny hasn’t scored yet, he has been getting his chances. His four scoring chances at 5-on-5 are tied for sixth on the team, and two of those were of the high-danger variety. If you look at all situations, Konecny is tied for fourth with eight scoring chances, and he’s been setting up some plays as well.
But it’s not as if Konecny is piling up the expected goals and just being completely snakebitten. He has a respectable 0.69 individual expected goals on the year. But, once again, it’s four games.
Konecny is no stranger to scoring droughts, though. After scoring twice in the second game of last season, he went four games before scoring in three straight. He then got up to 11 goals and as many assists in his first 18 games before scoring in just one of his next 11 games.
Of course, Konecny’s scoring really dried up in the second half of last season. After scoring 20 goals in the first 41 games of the season, he had just four goals in the final 41. That included one goal in 15 games, and then a 13-game drought after the 4 Nations break.
If Konecny and the Flyers’ woes continue, though, Rick Tocchet may have to shuffle up the lines a bit. The Foerster – Cates – Brink line has been the only one to stick together and consistently generate offense through four games, while Konecny and others have moved around a bit.
We did get a glimpse of a potential exciting top line for one shift on Thursday night, and it resulted in drawing a penalty. That was a 58-second shift with Konecny, Zegras, and Michkov on the ice — easily the Flyers’ three most skilled forwards.
The trouble with that line is there isn’t much defensive acumen, and the Flyers have been using Zegras in a hybrid role as more of a winger with Dvorak as the center.
Putting Konecny, Zegras, and Michkov together might need to happen before long, though, unless they can get going individually on separate lines. We saw Zegras and Michkov together a lot during training camp and the preseason. Maybe it’s time to see it in a real game if the Flyers’ offensive fortunes don’t turn.
But it’s four games.
Konecny and the Flyers haven’t been helped by their tough schedule out of the gate either. They opened up with two games against the reigning Stanley Cup champions, one against a Stanley Cup favorite, and then a matchup against the reigning Presidents’ Trophy winners.
The Flyers weren’t completely out of any of those games, which is something they can build on.
“We played well. I think, for the most part, we can take a lot of positives from the first four,” Konecny concluded.
