The Philadelphia Flyers' push for the playoffs continues after a successful weekend. They took care of business on Saturday night against the New York Islanders and both Montreal and Carolina lost their Friday matchups. The Flyers are only five points back of the final wild card spot.
However, Sunday afternoon the NHL brought down a punishment against key Flyers forward, Jakob Voracek, with a two-game suspension for a hit against Islanders' Johnny Boychuck. Leaving the Flyers without one of their best offensive pieces for key upcoming games. A few thoughts on this weekends result and a look beyond:
Playoff Picture
As stated, despite a season of sub-par performances and inconsistency, the Flyers find themselves still in a fight for the playoffs with just 14 games remaining. Despite the Flyers strong record in the new calander year, they'll need some additional help outside their own work to have any hope for the playoffs. With a win tonight against Ottawa, the worst team in the league, and a Columbus loss to the Islanders tonight, the Flyers will be just 3 points outside the final wild card spot.
NHL Inconsistency
One of the more bizarre moments in the Flyers' NHL season occurred just yesterday afternoon when the NHL announced that Jakub Voracek would be suspended two games for his interference call against Islanders defenseman, Johnny Boychuck. The play resulted in Boychuck exiting the game, which was later called to concussion protocol and Voracek being hit with a five-minute major. The problem here is there is nothing, that I can see, that warrants a five-minute major let alone a two game ban. The Department of Player safety has to get a more consistent ruling pattern if it wants to be taken seriously at all. Judge for yourself on Voracek, here is the NHL reasoning:
Philadelphia's Jakub Voracek has been suspended for two games for Interference on NY Islanders' Johnny Boychuk. https://t.co/9YI9Jhc1oU
— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) March 10, 2019Evgeni Malkin was only hit with a one game suspension for this stick swing against the Flyers back on February 11th.
Malkin with a dangerous stick swing on Raffl. pic.twitter.com/uTrWDvMSzi
— The Hockey Epic (@TheHockeyEpic) February 12, 2019Travis Konency
To put it simply, Travis Konency should be a household name in the Philadelphia area. For a blue-collared town that prides itself on athletes who give full effort night in and out, Konency is that player on the Flyers. He also is a trash talker to nearly the levels of one Joel Embiid.
Travis Konecny is a legend. pic.twitter.com/w92WJe1MaX
— Ryan Gilbert (@RGilbertSOP) March 6, 2019Since the New Year, Konency has produced 22 of his 43 total points including this end-to end goal Saturday night.
YOU CAN'T STOP TK! -- pic.twitter.com/elFh4HTMuo
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) March 10, 2019With Voracek out the next two games, I'm expecting Konency to step up.
Follow Bill Kornfeld on Twitter @RadioBill1210 or email him bill.kornfeld@entercom.com
