John Tortorella Compares Konecny to Former Blue Jackets Star
But, of course, no one is quite like TK.
Kyle Ross-USA TODAY Sports - John Tortorella Compares Konecny to Former Blue Jackets StarTravis Konecny played a pretty significant role in the Flyers' 3-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks.
His unassisted goal, the team's second of the night, gave the Flyers a much-needed lead after the Blackhawks' tied things up less than a minute after Travis Sanheim opened the scoring.
It was an excellent sequence. Konecny got a hold of a loose puck, avoided MacKenize Entwistle, and flew up the ice like a man on a mission. He pulled Jarred Tinordi out of position, moving past him and letting the puck fly past Arvid Soderblom. It was a goal worthy of the Flyers' resident superstar (even if he didn't think much of his performance against Chicago).
Flyers fans were thoroughly impressed, as was John Tortorella. Speaking about the goal, the head coach said, "He kind of stutters with it in the neutral zone. I thought he was going to lose it. He has to concentrate on his shift lengths; we're always going to try to keep everybody accountable there. I'm never worried if he gets extended out there because he has such a great engine."
The praise didn't end there, though. Tortorella continued by comparing Konecny to Artemi Panarin—one of the best players currently in the NHL—who played under Tortorella when he was with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
"I coached a guy in Columbus, Panarin," he said. "He is the best player I've seen play tired. It's something some people have. TK has a little bit of that in him. When he's tired, but he still sees an opening, he takes a chance. He finds a way. That's part of who he is, and I'm not going to take that away from him."
It's not the first time Tortorella has acknowledged all of the little unique characteristics that make up Konecny's playing style. At the Stadium Series on Feb. 17, after Konecny took an unnecessary slashing penalty on the Devils' Brendan Smith, Tortorella calmly responded by saying, "That's TK. As I've said to you guys before, I'm not getting in the way of his emotion."
Whether or not Konecny becomes as prolific of a point scorer as Panarin doesn't matter—he's a unique firebrand of a player, equal parts endearing and agitating, and the Flyers faithful wouldn't want it any other way.