February 08, 2024
Kyle Ross/USA TODAY Sports
Tyson Foerster and the Flyers came storming out of the gate against the Jets Thursday night.
Yeah, the Flyers really needed the All-Star break.
Following up Tuesday night's big win over the Florida Panthers and making the return home, Philadelphia took off from the word go and had the visiting Winnipeg Jets out of time and out of options by Thursday night's halfway point.
Tyson Foerster notched the opening tally, Travis Konecny registered a Gordie Howe hat trick, and Ryan Poehling sniped yet another shorthanded goal as the Flyers thrashed the Jets, 4-1, for their second straight victory and a season sweep of a pretty fierce Western Conference opponent.
They're 27-19-6 now, still third in the Metro division with 60 points, and appear back to playing some solid hockey. Well, for the most part.
Here are five thoughts from Thursday night's effort...
Coming back from an All-Star break that they had already ridden a five-game losing streak into, the Flyers returned to the ice against Florida Tuesday night and looked completely flat.
They were passive and skating cautious. "Safe" was the word head coach John Tortorella would go on to use, but then they came out for the second period and it was like a switch flipped. They got aggressive, they controlled the puck, they committed to their checking away from it, and shut a good Panthers team down the rest of the way.
They looked like the team that absolutely dismantled the Dallas Stars a few weeks ago, and the team that for much of this season, has caught everyone off guard and put themselves into a playoff spot two-thirds of the way through.
Then they kept it going right from puck drop Thursday night back at home against the Jets.
Poehling and Foerster flew down the ice to complete a one-time play just shy of four minutes in for the 1-0 lead – Foerster's 10th goal of the season – checks got thrown with purpose, and Winnipeg in general just spent the bulk of the opening frame pinned down in their own zone until Konecny and Morgan Frost broke the wall down themselves to make it 3-0.
THAT'S 🔟 FOR TYSON pic.twitter.com/aunvJ0f316
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) February 9, 2024
The Flyers floored it on the gas. And the Jets, like the Panthers a couple of nights before, didn't know what to do.
"I think for our athletes we need to get some sort of swagger back, some confidence, and they should feel really good about it," Tortorella said after Tuesday night's 2-1 win down in Florida. "I went in there after the second period and I said 'Are you s****in' me? That's how we play! Do you understand how good we can be when we play that way?' Hopefully they gained some confidence and just be consistent. The key for us is to try – in games, within the game and then game to game – is to sustain our personality.
"That's our battle. It's gonna be our battle all through here. We're gonna keep working at it."
So far so good after Thursday night, though it's worth noting too that Tortorella had markedly shorter answers in his postgame press conference following the Jets win and that Konecny noted that the last two periods – when the Flyers arguably let up a bit – needed to be improved on.
"We made a point of coming at them right away and trying to get a lead," Konecny said from the locker room. "I think we really need to – not even look back on the first period. We need to assess the last two and really make sure we stay on top of things."
Or the beehive. Either way, Konecny made sure he regretted it.
Right after Foerster's opening goal, Konecny had the puck in the offensive zone and chipped it away with the Jets' Neal Pionk right in front of him and nowhere else to go. Pionk moved in for the check and threw his hands up high, catching Konecny's face.
Konecny took exception, shoves were exchanged, and then the gloves flew off.
Now, Konecny and Pionk don't particularly stand out as fighters – as much of an agitator as Konecny can be – but they've been in a few before. Konecny had the edge in this one with a takedown that had the crowd roaring.
DING DING 🥊
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) February 9, 2024
Travis Konecny and Neal Pionk drop the gloves. pic.twitter.com/BYkJYEYDx8
Then he really poured salt in the wound late in the period when he shot a loose puck off Pionk in front of the net and in.
"Just get it to the net," Konecny said of what he was looking for in the sequence. "It was kinda rolling, I wanted to one-touch it to the far side. Lucky bounce."
TEEEEKS 😤
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) February 9, 2024
Konecny scores his second goal in as many games and the Flyers take a 2-0 lead. pic.twitter.com/L63hcDhoY2
An angry Travis Konecny is a dangerous Travis Konecny, and with the way this season has been going for him – he's now up to 24 goals and 45 points for the year – he will make you pay.
Pionk found out quick.
"I wasn't trying to fight for any reason, it just kinda happened," Konecny said. "I mean it is what it is. Maybe it sparked us, I'm not sure."
Konecny got called for a hook early into the second period, and so came an opportunity for the Jets to try and get themselves back into this.
Then Ryan Poehling got the puck thanks to a major Winnpeg miscue off the defensive zone draw and it was off to the races.
Let's add a SHG to the mix!
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) February 9, 2024
Ryan Poehling scores on the power kill. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/QQfyVgpos9
The power play is still in the basement – 31st in the league entering Thursday night at 13.2 percent – but the Flyers' penalty kill? The NHL's second-best unit at an 85.4 percent success rate, and one that can and will punish you.
They did it again to the Jets Thursday night, which almost begs the question of who the man advantage is really for.
Samuel Ersson is the No. 1 goalie now.
Carter Hart has been effectively wiped from the team now that he's confirmed to be facing a sexual assault charge tied to the 2018 Hockey Canada scandal. Officially, he's still on his indefinite leave of absence, but his locker stall is gone at the Flyers' training center in Voorhees, PHLY's Charlie O'Connor noted earlier Thursday, and so is his nameplate within the locker room at the Wells Fargo Center. He has also been cut out of the team's home intro video.
The matter is serious, highly sensitive, and one that hockey has to be a far secondary to.
But the Flyers still have to go out and play, and they're going to be counting on Ersson from here on out to take the bulk of the starts.
He was stellar after the first goal allowed Tuesday night in Florida, and was big again Thursday night against Winnipeg with some major saves throughout – 28 in total – aside from Kyle Connor's goal late.
"Thank goodness we had him tonight," Konecny said postgame. "I'm not sure if it was the lead that early that kind of shut us down, but if it wasn't for him, I think they claw back in it there. We gotta fix that."
At this point, it seems pretty clear that the Flyers needed the All-Star break badly, but Ersson just as much.
He's looked much sharper compared to a couple of weeks ago when the gauntlet of the schedule the team had looked like it was catching up with everyone, and like a netminder now braced for carrying the workload the rest of the way.
"I think everybody maybe needed a little bit of a mental break from hockey," Ersson said.
There's still a lot of season left, sure, and Cal Petersen is going to have to take a few starts down the stretch eventually. But hopefully, Ersson is back to the level of play that had earned him a 50-50 share of the starts by January, and that he can sustain it.
"We knew how important this part of the season is," Ersson added. "Everything steps up another notch. We have to do it as well if we want to be a part of the playoff picture."
Noah Cates had the secondary assist on Foerster's opening goal with a quick touch pass along the defensive half boards that sprung Foerster and Poehling up the ice.
It was a solid play that followed up his game-winning goal Tuesday night against the Panthers, and hopefully, it's something that is building toward a much better home stretch for the two-way forward who has struggled with inconsistency this season.
Cates established himself as a regular NHLer last season thanks to being a dependable middle-bottom six center in the faceoff circle and relentless commitment to checking that eventually contributed to a good bit of offensive production too.
But this season, the results haven't been the same. He wasn't as effective on draws, he could only manage a single goal that came in late October, and a broken foot robbed him of some significant time, including all the time it took to get his feet fully back under him.
But coming back from the break, he has looked solid taking the wing on the third line with Poehling and Foerster, and just missed on a juicy scoring chance midway through the third to pile on Thursday night.
After Tuesday's win against Florida, Cates acknowledged that he needed time and a bit of a mental reset from the All-Star break to wipe the slate clean.
Now the games are in playoff mode as he described it, and he wants to factor into the Flyers seeing this last push through.
"I want to be a part of that," Cates said. "I want to be a part of helping this team."
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