Travis Konecny’s two goals led the Philadelphia Flyers to a 4-3 win over the Chicago Blackhawks in their season opener.
After a summer of changes, the Philadelphia Flyers knew they had to start the 2019-20 season off strong. Thanks to Travis Konecny and Carter Hart, the Flyers were able to do just that, picking up a 4-3 win over the Chicago Blackhawks.
The game was held in Prague, Czech Republic – hometown of Flyers forward Jakub Voracek. It was the first time he got to play in front of some of his family members. However, it was Konecny who stole the show with two goals. He got the scoring started in the first period. Had it not been for a goal by Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane with just over two minutes, Konecny would have had the game-winning goal as well.
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Philadelphia’s top line led the way, and Konecny was the one who drove it. Sean Couturier was held without a point, but the Flyers out-chanced the Blackhawks 12 to 5 with him on the ice. Oscar Lindblom, who earned a top-six role after a strong training camp, added a second-period goal as well. The trio combined for 10 shots on goal, including a team-high six from Lindbolm.
Michael Raffl scored the game-winning goal at the 9:48 mark of the third period. Second-year goaltender Carter Hart stopped 28 of the 31 shots he saw, including 27 of 29 at even strength. He made quite a few five-alarm saves in the second and third periods, which allowed the Flyers to hang despite a strong push at the end from the Blackhawks.
Takeaways
Splitting up team Claude Giroux and Couturier wound up being a good move from head coach Alain Vigneault. While the second line of Giroux, Voracek, and Kevin Hayes was held off the score sheet, they had a 63% expected goals for percentage at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick.
The Flyers power play underwent some changes this summer. They got a power play goal today, which is a good sign. The Flyers had four scoring chances in about four minutes on the man advantage. One of the changes is they’re getting their wings more involved near the net. Also, their zone entries seem cleaner than they were last season.
A big question for the Flyers heading into the season was how big of a step forward Hart would take. Philadelphia has a very complicated history with goaltending, so understandably, people were curious about him. Hart had some lapses of judgment but really stepped it up in the second and third period, allowing the Flyers to stay in the game.
The jury is still out on the Flyers revamped blueline. Matt Niskanen and Travis Sanheim were impressive. Ivan Provorov and Shayne Gostisbehere each had solid nights while Robert Hagg struggled at times, but wound up getting an assist on Raffl’s game-winning goal. Justin Braun had a rough first game with the Flyers.