Gritty throws a big hat on the ice to celebrate the hat trick to Travis Konecny.
The question is whether the Flyers need a bigger hat to cover a hole of Sean Couturier in their series?
Konecny scored three goals on Friday night as the Flyers completed a Penguins 5-2 game at Wells Fargo Center. They did so without Couturier, who left the game less than two minutes into action with an apparent shoulder injury and never returned.
Meanwhile, the Flyers have some 2-0-0 under head coaches Alain Vigneault. The last time the Flyers opened 2-0-0 in consecutive seasons was 1997-98 and 1998-99.
Carter Hart was sharp and Oskar Lindblom sealed the match with an empty goal kick.
Time will tell whether the evening will eventually become bitterly sweet due to the Couturier storyline.
• At this point, everyone knows that Konecny has not scored a goal in 16 games in the NHL’s 24-team tournament for the NHL Series. If it happens to the team’s leading scorer in the regular season, it will be highlighted and talked about … a lot.
Konecny understood why; he is now an All-Star, one of the big boys expected to produce.
He does not sweep it under the rug and moves to his off-season.
“I did not bring my best and of course it sat with me for a few weeks,” Konecny said during training camp. “I got it right, it could bother me and used it to replenish myself for the off-season.”
Konecny did not let the goal drought hold them back. He took the lead Friday night, which was big without Couturier on his line. The hat-trick was the first of his NHL career and he finished with four points.
• The Flyers scored seven goals in the games against the Penguins last season. They played 11 against the Penguins in these two games for the opening of the 2020-21 season.
• The Flyers gave Hart a 3-0 lead in the first period. At the end of the opening stanzas, the lead was reduced to 3-2.
Heart was massive the rest of the way. He hit 31 times on Wednesday night and finished 31 again on Friday night. The Flyers were not very good in the second period and Hart saved them. Over the first two periods, the Flyers were outscored 24-13.
• Claude Giroux, James van Riemsdyk and Jakub Voracek all had two assistants each. Ivan Provorov’s goal gave the Flyers a 3-0 lead in the first period when Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan pulled his goalkeeper Tristan Jarry.
• The Flyers’ power play was 1 for 6.
• Shayne Gostisbehere is unavailable due to the COVID protocol. The 27-year-old defender has not trained with the Flyers since last Friday.
• Next for the Flyers is their first of eight rugby series this season. They welcome the Sabers in the Wells Fargo Center on Martin Luther King Jr. Day (19:30 ET / NBCSP) and Tuesday (19:00 ET / NBCSP).
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