Travis Konecny’s return sparked a different type of effort from the Flyers: He ‘kind of brings everyone in the fight’

It showed on the ice, with a goal and an assist, and a familiar game of getting under the opponent’s skin. It showed when he got the Flyers’ player of the game boxing gloves. And it showed when he stood in front of the media in the locker room at Xfinity Mobile Arena after Sunday’s 6-3 win over the Utah Mammoth.

Travis Konecny was happy to be back.

“Yeah, I was hoping to come in and make a difference that way,” said the winger, between smiles, about energizing the group.

“Coming into the game, I was hoping maybe a big hit or something would come along. But, I mean, that stuff, yeah, I probably got a little out of hand just when I was so excited to be back. And just, yeah, I just got to stay in the game and focus on my next shift sometimes.”

» READ MORE: Travis Konecny scores in return as Flyers snap three-game skid with a 6-3 win vs. Utah

The past few weeks were hard for Konecny. An alternate captain and the team’s leading scorer for six of the past seven seasons, the winger missed 10 games with a lower-body injury and watched his teammates lose seven.

Konecny was around the rink — he watched several home games from the press box at Xfinity Mobile Arena — and saw what his teammates were going through.

“I see how hard these guys are working, and how mad they are after the game, where it’s like they’re right there, and it’s one mistake. It’s frustrating, I want to help, and I can’t, so I just try to stay light a little bit ... and be around the best I could,” he said.

On Sunday, Konecny was a sparkplug. As Sean Couturier said: “The game within the game, where he’s emotionally invested, yapping out there, and getting himself involved after whistles, it kind of brings everyone in the fight, and I think that’s the kind of energy that we’ve been missing lately.”

The feisty winger, who got into one big scrum, earning an unsportsmanlike minor, had two points, created three individual shot attempts and scoring chances, and was plus-three. Konecny led the team with a 60.71% share of the shot attempts across all situations (Corsi %).

He also threw four hits, although one almost took Trevor Zegras out in the second period. Konecny bowled Utah’s Artem Duda awkwardly into a prone Zegras on the ice. “I asked one of the coaches, and then he said that he kind of fell on him, and I said, ‘Oh [no]. I’m sorry.’”

Zegras left the game but returned quickly. And it’s a good thing because their line was playing connected all game long.

Although Konecny’s first goal of the season came when his centering pass went in off of Duda in the second period, his linemates played a big role. It started with crisp passing, including a sweet threading of the needle by Zegras to Jamie Drysdale, and Dvorak shooting one off the crossbar.

Konecny and Zegras were still on the ice — albeit Zegras was down hurt — when Noah Cates, who had just swapped with Dvorak, scored later in the frame.

Then early in the third, the trio forechecked and kept the pressure on with Zegras all over Nick Schmaltz deep in the left corner, Konecny hitting Clayton Keller to create a turnover, and eventually Konecny setting up Dvorak for the goal.

Konecny and Dvorak scored 66 and 62 seconds, respectively, into each period to help set the tone.

“I think you always want to start the period off on the right foot, and yeah, we did that,” said Dvorak. “Build momentum off that throughout the period, in the game, and [it] gets everyone feeling good about themselves, and you kind of build off that.”

According to Natural Stat Trick, across more than nine minutes together at five-on-five, Zegras, Dvorak and Konecny were on the ice for two goals, 10 shot attempts, and five scoring chances. It was a continuation of last season, when they played over 280 minutes together at five-on-five and outscored opponents 20-14 at five-on-five.

» READ MORE: Flyers searching for that collective identity that made them so successful last year: ‘It’s not about me, me, me’

“I think there’s some chemistry,” coach Rick Tocchet said. “Obviously, Ziggy kind of knows where to go [when] TK gets it. Whether he shoots it, he’ll find Zegras [and] he’ll find him [and] give it to him [and] then they’ll give and go. I’m a big give-and-go guy.

“Obviously, [Dvorak’s] goal, these are the type of goals you need when you give it to a skill guy. If you watch Keller and those guys, once they give it to them, they fill holes. Same thing that we got to do. I think that line fills holes well, especially when Trevor’s got the puck.”

Now the hope is that with Konecny and Owen Tippett, who also returned after a six-game absence due to an upper-body injury Sunday, the Flyers can right what has been a sinking ship. They entered the game with 12 losses in the first 15 games.

The hope is they can dig themselves out.

“There’s obviously noise, but as far as our group, there’s no talk about that,” Konecny said of the team’s tough start. “Let’s get back on track; let’s chip away and see where we are at the end.

“People can doubt us. That’s fine, they did last year. We didn’t know we were going to get in [to the playoffs] last year; we just put our heads down and went to work. And that’s kind of our plan right now. Do our best, see where we’re at by Christmas time, and reevaluate then.”