Hit on Konecny lights fire in Laughton and Farabee

PHILADELPHIA >> Since returning from an injury due to a fractured right index finger, Scott Laughton has seemed to be a better player. What he isn’t, is a fighter.

“I knew it was coming,” Laughton said after he was jumped, mugged and otherwise assaulted by Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk with time running out on a 4-3 win Saturday. “It’s part of the game when you do that stuff and chirp. You know it’s going to come.”

He should have suspected it, anyway, since much of the game had been at the very least chippy after a solid, old-school check by Ottawa’s Mark Borowiecki plastered Travis Konecny to the ice late in the first period, knocking him out of the game with a suspected concussion.

No additional word on Konecny’s status was issued by the Flyers, either during or after the game, but Laughton had plenty to say about it to the Senators right after the hit and during the final minute of play.

Whatever he said, it took away the Senators’ threat as they were playing with an extra skater and no goalie in the net. There were still some 30 seconds left and there was still a goal to get for a Senators tie when Tkachuk went after Laughton.

“Definitely wasn’t happy,” said Tkachuk, the second son of former NHL player Keith Tkachuk, who had his own reputation for similar activities. Young Brady, 20, goes by the nickname, “Bulldog” by the way.

“He said something towards the bench,” Tkachuk added about Laughton, “and I wasn’t happy with that. So ... it happens. “Yeah, leave it at that.” Yeah, even down a goal with your goalie pulled for an extra skater with 30 seconds left. Leave it at that.

“I would have liked to drop the gloves,” Laughton said, “but I just can’t fight right now, with my finger and everything, and I’ve got some padding there. So once I do that, I guess it’s a penalty or something.”

Tkachuk was penalized, and his act of aggression — the capper on an entertaining game with a notso-talented but very spirited Senators team — will likely get a review by the league board of dopey disciplinarians.

Those guys do need a laugh, after all.

Asked what he said to the Senators bench that caused Tkachuk to lose his sense of self at the wrong time, Laughton said, “I can’t remember.” Probably for the best. “T.K. gets hit there and I don’t think guys on the ice saw it,” said Laughton, who had scored the winning goal earlier in the third, and has four goals in his last six games.

“I don’t know what happened there,” he added. “Jakey (Voracek) stepped up for himself and did well against a big boy and Farbs (Joel Farabee) did a good job getting his first out of the way.”

Translation: That would be a reference to Farabee’s first NHL fight. The 19-yearold skill player from Cicero, N.Y., isn’t exactly used to old-school style of hockey … like anyone named Tkachuk would be.

“I didn’t really get many punches in,” Farabee said about jumping on JeanGabriel Pageau ... also a skill player who didn’t get any punches in. Actually, their fight was more like a mosh pit dance between old friends.

“I didn’t get knocked down, so that’s a plus,” Farabee said, beaming.

That other Flyers defender of Konecny’s bruised honor, one Mr. Voracek ... well, he did get knocked down, though the crowd would declare him a winner of his fight, which did at least resemble one.

Voracek declined to come out after the game for a boxing self-commentary. Probably a good idea. But at least he had tried to act like he wasn’t going to let the Senators push any more Flyers around.

“I think it’s a definition of a team standing up for each other,” Farabee said. “Obviously T.K. went down and the boys got fired up because of it. So we just stand up for each other and the end of the game (the Tkachuk episode) was a good reason why we won.”

Since the Flyers had no player actually accustomed to fighting in uniform (Chris Stewart was a healthy scratch again), it takes a heck of a hurtful hit for them to get fired up.

“After the hit I think it changed the game a little bit,” Shayne Gostisbehere said. “I think we responded pretty well. Kudos to Jake and Joel in sticking up for T.K. and getting in there, and Laughts, too.

“But it’s hockey. It happens. (Konecny) would say the same thing. Hopefully he’ll be OK. But with the way our team responded, that was a big plus for us.”