Flyers leading scorer Travis Konecny has grown accustomed to playing at the top of the lineup for his NHL team. With Philadelphia, he is used to playing in all manpower situations and sometimes being double-shifted in crunch time.
However, in best-versus-best tournaments such as the 4 Nations Face-Off, Konecny and other players who are used to heavy NHL usage in high-leverage situations must adapt quickly to playing somewhat different roles. Above all, they have to make the most with less ice time.
In Team Canada's 4-3 overtime win against Sweden on Tuesday evening, Konecny skated 10:20 of ice time on a line with Tampa Bay Lightning forwards Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli. Over his 16 shifts, Konecny was credited with three hits and charged with one giveaway.
With 3:28 remaining in the second frame, Konecny had a potential scoring chance as he drove to the net for a rebound opportunity. However, an excellent backchecking play by Minnesota Wild center Joel Eriksson Ek prevented Konecny from getting to the puck at point blank range.
Konecny was on the ice for Tre Kronor goals in the third period by Adrian Kempe and Eriksson Ek. On the first goal, Konecny challenged a play in the neutral zone by Swedish defenseman Erik Karlsson but the pass connected with Kempe. The LA Kings forward then moved in and beat St. Louis Blues goalie Jordan Binnington at 1:54 of the third period.
The latter goal, scored at 8:59, started with Eriksson winning an offensive zone faceoff back to Detroit's Lucas Raymond. Moving toward Raymond, Konecny ended up below the puck near the point. Meanwhile, rapid puck rotation from Raymond to Jesper Bratt (New Jersey Devils) to Eriksson Ek at the back door created a slam dunk for the Wild's center.
In the meantime, Flyers netminder Samuel Ersson served as the third goalie for Sweden in the opener against Canada. Consequently, he did not dress. On Saturday, Sweden will take on traditional arch-rival Finland. The Finns are without Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen, who is unavailable for the tourney due to an upper-body injury.
