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Flyers Vibes are High After a 5-2 Win and Travis Konecny Bloodying and Chirping an Ex-Ranger
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Feeling good on a Tuesday morning after the Flyers hammered the Kraken 5-2 and TK beat up Ryan Lindgren before chirping him in the penalty box:
Best performance of the year imo because they went down early and responded well. Five goals on the evening and two on the power play through Tyson Foerster and Noah Cates. Owen Tippett had a two goal night after ripping off five shots after flipping the figurative double birds to social media haters.
It’s waaaaay too early for any kind of concrete takeaway in the goaltending department, but in four games played, Danny Vladar has a .929 save percentage and is allowing 1.75 goals per game. That first number is 9th-best in the NHL and the second is 4th-best. He’s allowed just seven goals on 99 shots. Sam Ersson led the Flyers with a .883 save percentage last season, which was 49th among goaltenders, so while we’re not yet ready to crown Vladar the second coming of the late Bernie Parent, you really like what you’ve seen so far.
RE: the power play, it’s up to 15.8%. 21st in the league. Nothing to write home about, but it was 14.5% last year and 30th of 32 teams. The year prior, it was 12.2% and dead last, so incremental improvement here since hitting rock bottom in 2022 and 2023. The power play league average typically falls around 21 or 22%, while the league’s best teams will get into the 27-29% range. Every so often a generational PP unit will hit above 30%, like the 2022-2023 Oilers.
Other random observations? Keep Nikita Grebenkin in the lineup, please. Trevor Zegras doesn’t have a goal yet, but five straight games with an assist and he’s opening things up on the ice in a good way. Matvei Michkov has looked better. No real concerns there at all. Ersson is clearly a backup or #2 in a split role, and Cates has probably been the most consistent performer overall. Lots of good things to focus on moving forward. They’ve got a lot of winnable home games coming up here.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com