Travis Konecny Has Developed Into One Of The Most Elite Rats In All Of Hockey
Take a good hard look, my friends. That face that you 50% see? That right there is the face of one of the greasiest bastards in all of hockey. Travis Konecny is a rat's rat. Travis Konecny is your mom's favorite rat. And Travis Konecny is officially on his way to becoming a star.
We've always known that TK was a pain in the ass. Hockey games are 60 minutes long and somehow Konecny finds a way to chirp for 85 minutes. But in order to truly be elite, you also need to be able to sauce with the best of them out there on the ice. Any jackass can throw on a pair of skates and just piss people off all game. It takes one of the best in the biz to also be able to stuff the back of the net to make your game even more aggravating. So when Travis Konecny was voted into the All Star Game, that's when you knew that Konecny he could be the manager at the Sauce Factory.
Then we get to last night. The Philadelphia Flyers vs the St. Louis Blues. The reigning Stanley Cup Champs. And Travis Konecny went into St. Louis--the city he'll be in just a week or so from today for the All Star Game--and he was the biggest goddamn prick in the building. In the most endearing way possible.
First up we had this little gongshow with David Perron. Now listen--I'll admit that TK definitely started this. He didn't like getting rode by Perron like that so he goes in at the whistle and delivers a little "heyhowyadoin" to the face. So at that point, Perron has the green light to throw a little something at Konecny. The only issue is that he goes straight for a crosscheck toward the throat of Konecny like an absolute lunatic. Some angles seem like it was definitely more toward the chest but still. He turned into a mad man and deserved to at least put the Flyers on the powerplay.
And on that ensuing powerplay?
Well first of all, that's a sick sick touch pass from JvR. You've gotta have some set of balls on you to try to make a tip pass right there but Jimmy van Reemer don't give a shit.
And who is right there on the backdoor to put it away? Travis "The Rat All Star" Konecny. He goads Perron into turning into a lunatic, draws the penalty, gets out there to start the 3rd period and let's David Perron out of the box a little earlier than scheduled. That has to be so infuriating. And that's exactly what Travis Konecny does. He was born to infuriate. If you kept that as a stat, I'd bet that right now Travis Konecny is a top-2 infuriating bastard in the league. Only behind Matthew Tkachuk. Makes sense that it's the Year of the Rat.
The Other Guys
- What a night for Brian Elliott in net. I know things got a little dicey there toward the end but he made plenty of huge stops throughout regulation to give the Flyers a chance here. 25 saves on 27 shots at even strength. 5 saves on 6 shots against the powerplay. And it would be tough to pin any of those 3 goals on him. Big night out of Elliott and that's what the Flyers are going to need with this Carter Hart injury.
- While Brian Elliott played a pretty big role, it was a huge night for the Flyers' special teams. Especially on that 5v3 kill right after the Konecny goal to put the Flyers up by 2. Konecny scores and the Flyers immediately took 2 penalties pretty much back to back. The Blues had 1:41 on the 5v3 and couldn't get anything going. Sure, they eventually tied the game up halfway through the period but being able to hold off that momentum shift early in the 3rd was huge.
- I thought it was a great night for Michael Raffl, even without scoring a goal. But the goal was definitely an added bonus. This play right here was fuckin' mint from start to finish.
Drags his defender down to the faceoff dot, kicks the puck back up to Couturier, him dragging his defender low with him then opens up that space for Hagg to really step down into this shot, and he knows to get himself in front of the net to put away that rebound. Big time awareness/hockey IQ play from Michael Raffl.
- I already wrote a blog about it but let's just run that Voracek game winner back one more time.
In their past 4 games, the Flyers have beaten the Washington Capitals, the Boston Bruins and the St. Louis Blues. The 2018 Stanley Cup champs and both teams from the 2019 Stanley Cup Final. At the very least, that proves this team can play with anybody in the league. The boys? Oh the boys are most definitely buzzzzzzzzin.