Three players leading the charge for the Philadelphia Flyers
By Jim Lynch
The Philadelphia Flyers are one of the most surprising teams in the NHL right now, and their spot in the latest power rankings confirms that.
The Flyers are fourth in the Metropolitan Division, and if the playoffs started today, they would be the top wild-card team in the East. Philadelphia’s success is due to a big group of players, but today I want to highlight just three.
Three players leading the charge for the Philadelphia Flyers
The first player who has been great for this team has to be Travis Konecny. Konecny leads the team in both goals and points as he has 14 points in the team’s first 12 games.
Not only is Konecny scoring, he is also setting up his teammates for highlight reel goals, like the play he made on Oct. 27 to set up a Tony DeAngelo goal to tie the game 1-1 against Florida.
Philadelphia won that game 4-3 in large part thanks to Konecny, the
number one star according to ESPN
, with two assists.
The second player leading the charge for the Flyers has to be their goalie. After a really rough year in 2021-22, Hart has turned things around this season as he has won six of his first eight games going 6-0-2 during that time.
Hart has his name in the discussion already as a Vezina Trophy candidate, while it is early, his success is important. Hart has a .946 save percentage and a goals-against average of 1.97, the team needs great goaltending to win, and they are getting it.
This brings me to my final player who is leading the charge for this team. It actually is not a player but rather their head coach. John Tortorella has taken over this team, and they are preparing to go on a run to the playoffs.
Tortorella has gained attention with the way he is coaching this team. While it remains to be seen whether or not the Flyers will make the playoffs or if their success will drop off, it is pretty remarkable what he has done with this team in such a short amount of time.
The Flyers’ next game is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 10, at the Columbus Blue Jackets, one of John Tortorella’s old teams.