Travis Konecny is heating up as Flyers find their way

The Flyers knew that they were skating ugly Thursday night in Nashville.

The Predators had set up camp in the offensive zone, had taken the first lead, and through nearly 12 minutes had the Flyers outshot, 9-1, with that lone Philadelphia shot coming on a chance breakaway from Travis Sanheim that Nashville goaltender Juuse Saros waited on and gloved up.

It was bad. It could've been worse, but the Flyers hung in there, checked, and climbed back.

Travis Konecny played a huge part in that.

The 28-year-old winger has had a bit of an underwhelming start to the year, but he's shown signs of heating up through November, and as the Flyers recovered to take Thursday night's road game from the Predators, 3-1, Konecny made a series of great plays to help bring them to the win, all before his empty-netter at the end confirmed it.

A quick touch pass at the top of the circles while in the defensive zone sprung Sanheim on his first-period breakaway chance; a second-period shot from in front of the crease on a heads-up pass from Noah Cates while behind the net required Saros to flash a quick glove to stop; a nudge of a loose puck that bounced off the boards in the neutral zone sparked a 2-on-1 with Nikita Grebenkin that Saros guessed right on to play the pass; and then Konecny pinned the puck down twice on Nashville clearing attempts to keep play onsides for the Flyers, before he saw a pass out to Jamie Drysdale, who was streaking through the middle with tons of empty space around the defenseman.

Konecny got the puck to Drysdale with a clear shot, Cates and Bobby Brink both crashed the net, and Cates punched in the rebound for the Flyers' lead and a secondary assist credited to Konecny.

Then at the end, Konecny floated over center ice, collected the puck and made a slick move past a Nashville defender. He took his shot at the empty net for his fifth goal of the season, and for the Flyers' second straight win on a quick two-game road trip, which sends them back to Philly with an 8-5-1 overall record and on a 7-3-0 run over their last 10 games.

But it definitely hasn't all been pretty. The first chunk of Thursday night in Nashville certainly wasn't, and the Flyers knew it. Yet in the end, the team is coming back home with what they wanted: a full four points and increasing signs of promise.

Konecny's recent play has been one of those signs, which lends to confidence that they can figure out the rest as they go.

"We just knew how terrible we started," Konecny said of the Flyers' play against the Predators postgame. "It was just, 'We'll worry about that on film tomorrow and just get back to the way we had planned on starting,' and just kind of almost reset."

In a way, a bit like the turn of the calendar has been for Konecny's game.

Eric Hartline/Imagn Images

Travis Konecny and the Flyers have turned their offense around a bit since a rough night against the Flames.

Through 10 games in October, Konecny registered six points (three goals, three assists) and a plus-1 rating but didn't quite stand out as a focal point in the Flyers' offense like he had in the previous few years.

Since the calendar has turned to November, though, he has six points (two goals, four assists), a plus-2 rating, and at least a point in all four of the Flyers' games.

He's been a much more active-looking skater of late, and that's important for the Flyers, because for as much emphasis that has been put on their recent struggles to work the puck inside and get to the net, they just as much need their high-skilled forwards carrying and controlling the puck, drawing attention, and creating plays to free up that space in front.

Konency seems to be getting in rhythm in that regard, Matvei Michkov, too, as he finally scored for the first time in 10 games Thursday night to tie it.

Cates at center and Brink on the wing have also been highly impactful and seem to be skating much stronger against opposing checkers, even after Tyson Foerster went on Injured Reserve, which split their relentless two-way line up as a result.

Brink skated on the opposite wing of Michkov on Thursday night, and Cates centered Konecny's line with Nikita Grebenkin, and they were all the key factors on the ice in the Flyers tying the game up then taking the lead.

Postgame, Konecny gave a lot of credit to Cates' compete and his willingness to take on and win tough puck battles as one of the main reasons why the Flyers were able to rally.

But at the same time, Konecny's awareness, anticipation, and ability to take the puck and convert those won battles into scoring chances were just as crucial.

He only seems to be doing more of that as a still-young season progresses, and for the Flyers that's huge, even if it looked a bit ugly to start.

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