Like old times: Jake Voracek back on top line; Travis Konecny drops to young No. 2 unit
Two games into the season, right wingers Jake Voracek and Travis Konecny are trading places.
That didn't take long.
Just two games into the season, Flyers coach Dave Hakstol is breaking up his first and second lines.
Travis Konecny, the right winger on the top line for most of the first two games, is dropping to the second unit.
Jake Voracek is being bumped from the second to the first line.
Voracek will be reunited with Claude Giroux and Sean Couturier. The trio was together for most of the first half of last season and was highly successful.
At practice Monday in Voorhees, the top-unit linemates "were joking it was like we never missed a step," said Giroux, who was with Couturier and Voracek in the third period of Saturday's 5-2 loss in Colorado. "We've had chemistry before together, so hopefully we can get off on the right foot right away."
The Flyers (1-1) will face San Jose (1-2), a 4-0 loser to the host Islanders on Monday afternoon, in the home opener Tuesday at the Wells Fargo Center.
The Flyers opened the season by splitting a pair of 5-2 decisions, winning in Las Vegas and losing in Colorado.
"We have to make sure we hit the same stride. I think we played good hockey on the road," Voracek said. "It was a pretty [wide-]open game in Colorado, and unfortunately we couldn't find a way to win."
For the new linemates, "it's just a matter of getting on the same page and getting our timing back," Couturier said. "I'm pretty confident that we'll get it back."
In the first two games, the first and second lines combined for two goals, scored by Oskar Lindblom and Couturier.
"We want a little more out of both of those units," Hakstol said.
The young second line Tuesday will have 20-year-old Nolan Patrick centering Lindblom, 22, and Konecny, 21. Konecny flourished on Couturier's line in the second half of last season (20 goals in 41 games).
Hakstol said putting Konency's speed and tenacity on Patrick's line "has a chance to grow into something that can be very effective. We want to give them some time to build some of that chemistry, and we'll see how quickly that can build."