Flyers found their mojo return in a convincing home-ice win over Winnipeg
All-Star Travis Konecny notched his 24th of the season as the Flyers earn their second straight victory since the All-Star Break.
The Flyers may just have their swagger back.
That five-game losing streak before the break? Forget about it. That dreadful opening period against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night? A thing of the past.
There were some moments in their 4-1 win over Winnipeg on Thursday night where they slid back to those days, leaving coach John Tortorella less than happy postgame. But this team had showcased its personality in the first period at the Well Fargo Center to take command.
Did the Orange and Black finally get some puck luck and some help from the hockey gods? Sure. A broken-play goal here and there is never a bad thing. But they also did what they do best and scored two off the rush.
The Flyers opened things up just 3 minutes, 37 seconds into the game when they broke out of their own end. Streaking up the right side, Ryan Poehling took a Tyson Foerster pass off the boards before sending the puck back to the 22-year-old winger, crashing the net back door.
Then came back-to-back broken plays.
Travis Konecny, who dropped the gloves with Jets defenseman Neal Pionk earlier in the period, notched his 24th score of the season thanks to a few lucky bounces.
Off an offensive-zone face-off win by Joel Farabee, Konecny passed to Sean Walker at the right point. His shot bounced off Cole Perfetti into the middle of the ice, where Morgan Frost took a swipe that knocked the puck off new Jets forward Sean Monahan right to Konecny. The Flyers All-Star then shot the puck off Pionk and past goalie Laurent Brossoit.
Frost then added his own goal 2:03 later — with a secondary assist by Konecny to complete the Gordie Howe Hat Trick — to make it 3-0. Off a neutral-zone regroup, the Flyers entered the Jets’ end. Frost took a drop pass by Owen Tippett, but his shot went off the face of Nate Schmidt. (He was OK.)
Tippett then got a shot on goal before Frost buried the rebound to break a 10-game goal drought.
» READ MORE: How Flyers forward Garnet Hathaway recorded 43 hits in a single night
Poehling closed out the scoring for the Flyers with a short-handed goal. Off a face-off in the Flyers’ zone, Kyle Connor and Josh Morrissey had a miscommunication at the blue line, allowing Poehling to pick up the puck and race out of the zone two-on-two alongside Garnet Hathaway.
With his buddy going to the net, Poehling fired off a wicked wrister through the legs of Morrissey. It was the Flyers’ first shortie since Konecny scored on Jan. 6 against the Calgary Flames.
Breakaways
Sam Ersson made 28 saves for his second straight win. He gave up a goal to Kyle Connor with 5:12 left in the game. ... Rasmus Ristolainen did not dress because of illness. Olle Lycksell and Nic Deslauriers healthy scratches as the team once again went with 11 forwards and seven defensemen. Marc Staal played his first game since Jan. 13 in Winnipeg. ... The Jets were without defenseman Brenden Dillon, who was suspended Wednesday for three games because of a check to the head of Pittsburgh Penguins forward Noel Acciari on Tuesday. …
The NHL has made two changes to the Flyers’ March schedule. On March 4, the Flyers game against Kevin Hayes and the St. Louis Blues at Wells Fargo Center will now start at 7 p.m. The March 14 home game against the Toronto Maple Leafs will start at 7:30 p.m.
Up next
The Flyers host the Seattle Kraken on Saturday (7 p.m., ESPN+, Hulu).