Flyers looking for Travis Konecny to have a scoring breakthrough

Energy, relentlessness and skating ability — these are the three things that come to Flyers interim coach Mike Yeo’s mind when he thinks of Travis Konecny.

In recent games, those three things have not translated to goals for Konecny. He has not scored since the Flyers’ Nov. 18 shootout loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. After scoring in the first three games of the season, he’s scored just two goals over the next 23 games.

But Yeo can see that changing in the near future.

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“As far as I’m concerned, he’s been starting to make more plays,” Yeo said. “Starting to skate. I think he’s starting to feel better about his game.”

Since Yeo took over four games ago, Konecny has five assists. Two of them came in the Flyers’ most recent game, Friday’s 5-3 victory over the Arizona Coyotes.

Konecny had a goal listed on his ledger for a brief period of time when officials initially attributed the Flyers’ power-play goal to him. Upon further review, the goal deflected off James van Riemsdyk’s stick. But it was Konecny’s initial shot that made the goal happen.

Scott Laughton also attributed his goal against the Coyotes to Konecny. He mentioned Konecny’s speed and play-making ability in setting up the goal and said, he “got lucky”and scored it.

“I know it’s just a matter of time if he continues to do that,” Yeo said.

When the Flyers prepared for Tuesday’s game against the New Jersey Devils, they took a businesslike approach.

“I don’t know if we necessarily have hated these guys, for a rivalry team, compared to maybe, say, Washington or Pittsburgh,” Yeo said. “I think that we have to treat it like it is, a division opponent. A rivalry game.”

Yeo said he doesn’t mean they need to be nasty, but that they need to be more physical, bring more attitude, and stay “on their toes.”

This season, when dealing with the Devils, van Riemsdyk noticed that they always manage to find “that little underneath play.”

“Stylistically, they were tough to play against,” van Riemsdyk said. “I think just the way that they kind of would delay coming through all the zones. It seemed like they’re not really [throwing] the puck away.”

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Defenseman Justin Braun also noticed the Devils were able to sneak through holes, using speed to pick apart the Flyers’ defense in 5-2 and 3-0 wins. The Flyers need to be cognizant of that to keep from being swept in the season series.

Sean Couturier returned from his maintenance day, which meant the lines were the same Tuesday as they were against the Coyotes. Yeo has kept the lines together since they had some success, and he said he hopes he’ll be able to continue to do so. ... Defenseman Ryan Ellis had an MRI on Monday. He has not skated with the team yet, and Yeo did not give a timeline for his return.