Jordan Weal showed something Saturday.
He showed he can be relied on as this stretch run boils for the Flyers.
Playing his first NHL game since April 10, 2016, Weal fit in just fine during the Flyers’ 2-1 overtime win against the Sharks at the Wells Fargo Center (see game story).
For Weal to get his chance in 2016-17, it took an injury to prized rookie Travis Konecny and 47 points (15 goals, 32 assists) in 43 games with AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley. But Weal is now here and needed as the Flyers vie for the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card bid, a spot eight other teams have in their sights.
“Hopefully I can stick around,” Weal said. “For now, I just have to go play my butt off every night and see how it goes.”
Placed right in the thick of things on the Flyers’ second line, the natural center blended well on the left wing next to Sean Couturier and Jakub Voracek. Weal was a plus-1 in 12:45 ice time, including 49 seconds on the power play, while Couturier was a game-best plus-2 and Voracek registered an assist with seven shots on goal (see 10 observations).
Weal helped create opportunities and sustain possession, areas often covered by Konecny.
“With the puck, I thought he was confident,” Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol said. “He was quick. He held it and made plays. The goal we scored 5-on-5, he was part of that. The whole line was, but he was a good part of that. So, I think he played a good hockey game.
“I like what he did on our own half of the ice. I thought he was clean playing against a team that’s really good on the wall. It’s tough coming out of the blue line, coming out of your own end.”
Weal, 24, nearly mirrors the 19-year-old Konecny in size. Both are 5-foot-10, while Weal is listed as four pounds heavier — 179 to Konecny’s 175.
Weal looked comfortable with Couturier and Voracek, a good sign for the Flyers with 26 games remaining and Konecny expected out four to six weeks.
“We were making plays down low and working the cycle really well,” Weal said. “I thought the biggest thing was we didn’t spend any time in the D zone. We were breaking out well and backchecking hard and creating turnovers and going the other way. When we do that as a team, I think we’ll have a lot of success.”
When acquired by the Flyers last January in the trade that sent Vinny Lecavalier and Luke Schenn to Los Angeles, Weal played only four games for the big club. He didn’t play much with Los Angeles, either. A lot of his time was spent sitting in the press box as a healthy scratch.
Not this season.
“It was a little different than last year because I’ve played 43 games already this year and [I’m] in the season groove, I guess you could say,” Weal said. “Compared to last year, where I was sitting around a lot and I couldn’t really get my mojo going. It was nice to kind of jump right into it and my game is already there. It’s just playing hockey now.”
In Konecny’s absence, he should be playing a lot more of it.
Saturday was his start.
“It felt good because last year I was sitting out for so much time,” Weal said. “You don’t get those situations in practice where there is a lot of 5 on 5, especially in this league. It was nice. It was refreshing.”
Trending