Luckily, Konecny shoots rather than thinks in sudden win
PHILADELPHIA >> Things are going so well this season for Travis Konecny, he knows he doesn’t want to screw it all up by thinking.
The Flyers’ leading scorer almost caught himself doing that Monday night, but by catching himself and just doing what comes naturally, Konecny wound up the hero in a stunning, 6-5 comeback win over the Boston Bruins.
The Flyers had been down by three goals in the second period to the big, bad Atlantic Division leaders, not an enviable position to be in. But a determined push by every line and some unusually loose goaltending by Jaroslav Halak paved the way for two late goals by Sean Couturier and newcomer Connor Bunnaman, then a
third period goal by Travis Sanheim to get the game into overtime.
It would take a tremendous 3-on-3 session and several rounds of shootout stuff before Konecny found himself alone at center ice ... thinking too much for his own good as he launched into his shootout try.
“I don’t tend to watch film because I find at times I just start overthinking it,” he said. “But I will admit, I was coming down (ice) planning something different. I kept telling myself on the way down, ‘just do it, do it, do it!’ ... and I chickened out and I ended up shooting. But it worked out.”
Konecny’s wrist shot caught an outside post and deflected just inside the other post behind Halak, providing a potential winning strike. But it wasn’t over yet ... and who would have thought Konecny’s huge shootout goal would promptly be overshadowed by the Bruin most likely to be hated by the other team, one Brad Marchand?
“Oh, it’s tough to see that happen,” Konecny said with apparent sincerity, “because
you don’t want that to come back at you. But it was a nice way for us to know it was over.”
It ended when Marchand, skating hard en route toward the solitary puck sitting in the center ice circle, went to push it toward Flyers goalie Carter Hart ... and seemingly missed. After a few seconds of confusion, the officials huddled and decided that Marchand had indeed barely touched the puck as he stormed past.
Kind of like when you are nervously on a first tee in front of a bunch of waiting peers and spectators?
Almost like another world-class puck-handler did
last season while Hart was on the other end awaiting a shootout attempt.
“Yeah, (John) Tavares, last year,” Hart remembered about the Toronto and former Islanders star. “He overskated and lost it.”
And this time? “I could see the puck moving,” Hart said of Marchand’s near-miss. “So I thought, ‘It’s over.’”
“I was just trying to get going,” Marchand said. “I just missed it.”
Asked if the league should look at that rule about touching the puck, Marchand quickly said, ‘No, that’s the way it is. I’m not going to overthink it.”
When it comes to that, he’s thinking along the same lines as Konecny.
••• Impressive of Marchand to shake off his shocking mis-step that ultimately cost the Bruins the game. But in addition to that, he spent time afterward complimenting the Flyers’ will to win.
“They just kept coming,” Marchand said with a reference to the Bruins’ losing what had been a 5-2 lead. “They were jumping four and five guys on every play. They caught us on some bad turnovers and missed coverages and stuff. We know when we get up on teams they’re going to keep coming, they have nothing to lose.”
•••
Two goals by defenseman Travis Sanheim in this game gives him three in his last four games. He also scored twice in a Dec. 23 win over the Rangers. Other than that, Sanheim had only one other goal the entire season.
“I wish I knew that in the first half,” he said of whatever the secret to his recent scoring binge might be. “It was just stick to my game. I try to play a two-way game, and when I get the opportunity I try to jump and make the most of it. I guess now it’s working.”