The past week hasn’t been kind to the Philadelphia Flyers. After a relatively quiet trade deadline, the Flyers have fallen into a slump. They now sit at sixth in the East Division with eight points between themselves and the fourth and final playoff spot. That being said, there are still some players who are performing better – and some who are performing worse – than others. Each week, we will take a look at players on the Philadelphia Flyers who are on a hot or cold streak. This week, we’ll examine Wade Allison and Travis Konecny.
Hot and Cold Streaks
Hot Streak: Wade Allison
This week, the Flyers introduced several young players into the lineup in an effort to reinvigorate the stagnant offence. 23-year-old winger Wade Allison has been by far the best of them. Although he only played in the past two games, he quickly made his mark on both.
Let’s start with Allison’s first appearance against the Pittsburgh Penguins. He came out looking fast and energetic and made several smart plays, a few of which resulted in very dangerous chances for the Flyers. Interestingly, Allison also played on the man advantage in his NHL debut – he’d clearly made a good impression on the coaching staff. Then, in his second game with the Flyers, Allison shifted up to the second line and scored his first NHL goal from a James van Riemsdyk-like position at the side of the net.
The wait is over for Wade. @budlight | #budlightcelly pic.twitter.com/llV6Q4UpDu
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) April 17, 2021
Allison’s energy is exactly what the Flyers need right now. He drove play, skated hard, and ended up with two solid performances and a goal to boot. If nothing else comes of this disappointing week, the Flyers will at least have found a talented, scrappy young player with the potential to boost their offensive capabilities for many seasons to come.
[pickup_prop id=”6234″]
Cold Streak: Travis Konecny
At this time last week, Travis Konecny’s performance would have merited a hot streak. He was racking up points at a furious pace, with two goals and five assists in just five games. For a minute, he looked like the Konecny we had seen during the 2019-20 regular season – the one who’d been sold as the future of the Flyers’ forward core. But then he went silent, and his lack of production was only highlighted by the promising week he had previously.
To be fair, Konecny was far from the only Flyer to have a quiet week. But a player who goes from a point-per-game pace to nothing simply tends to look colder than one for whom zero-point stretches are the norm. An ill-timed – though questionable – holding penalty on Brian Dumoulin in the final two minutes of a tied game against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday didn’t help Konecny’s case. All this isn’t to say that Konecny has been the worst player on the Flyers over the past week. He’s just had the most noticeable dip in play. And at a time when the Flyers’ forwards are struggling to score, they desperately need the massive offensive spark that top-form Konecny can provide.
Main Photo:
