Travis Konecny and his success on the penalty kill

On Thursday night in Vancouver Konecny exited the game after battling an illness which has been going around not only the Flyers locker room, but across the NHL. Despite still being ill, Konecny laced up his skates Friday night and had a stellar performance in the Flyers loss.

In the first period, the Flyers netted their ninth shorthanded goal of the season as Scott Laughton and Travis Konecny flew down the ice in a two-on-one as Konecny snuck behind the Kraken defense and netted in a pass from Laughton to give the Flyers the early advantage.

Not only did Konecny put in the early goal, but he also had a tremendous defensive play in the second period as he put his body on the line and blocked a shot with the back of his leg before hobbling off to the bench. Cameras showed Konecny in discomfort throughout the night but he was still able to battle through and put his body on the line for his teammates.

The Flyers are one of the best teams in the NHL in the penalty kill as they rank in the top five and have netted nine total shorthanded goals on the season, while having just 12 total on their own powerplay. Konecny is a massive reason for their success on the kill thanks to head coach John Tortorella developing him into a penalty kill specialist over the past two seasons. Since Tortorella's arrival, Konecny has seven shorthanded goals and is currently on pace for a 40 goal season this year.