VOORHEES, N.J. — Instead of the ice, Travis Konecny was wandering the Wells Fargo Center press box on Thursday night when he bumped into someone.
It was Flyers president Paul Holmgren.
Konecny, only 19 years old, was in uncharted territory. He was serving as a healthy scratch for just the second time. For a first-round draft pick that toyed with the competition at the junior level, Konecny has probably seldom watched while others played.
So, Holmgren wanted him to know something.
“He was saying it happened to him, as well,” Konecny said Friday.
The message uplifted the rookie.
“He just made sure I knew to take the scratch the right way and don’t let it affect my confidence and what I’m thinking,” Konecny said. “That was kind of special for me to hear that from someone like Homer.”
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Holmgren has a long line of Flyers history, having been drafted by the organization in 1975, playing eight seasons in orange and black before eventually serving the team as a head coach, general manager and now president.
For Konecny, hearing from such a figure hit home. It allowed the fast and shifty forward with an ultra-bright future to gain extra perspective from his benching, one in which head coach Dave Hakstol is using for future on-ice growth.
“It’s just all part of it,” Konecny said. “Some people don’t have to go through it, and some people do. As far as what I’m going through right now, I’ve just got to look at it the right way and make sure it doesn’t happen anymore.”
It will happen at least once more this weekend. Following practice on Friday, Hakstol said he was “leaning towards a similar lineup” for Saturday’s 1 p.m. matchup with the Kings at the Wells Fargo Center. Typically, Hakstol and the coaching staff have their minds made up by practice the day prior of a game. On Friday at Flyers Skate Zone, Konecny skated in a fourth-line jersey and spent an extra 45 minutes on the ice with fellow scratch Shayne Gostisbehere once practice concluded.
Bonus work for healthy scratches is the norm, but it was so much extra prep that Nick Cousins walked back into the locker room, dressed to depart, and was surprised his teammates had yet to step off the ice.
“I was telling [Konecny] just now, being out of the lineup, you obviously get more practice time,” Gostisbehere said. “It’s unfortunate T.K.’s here but he’s a good, skilled forward to be working with and we’re working off each other.”
In Thursday’s 3-1 win over the Canadiens, Hakstol rolled with defenseman Nick Schultz and forward Dale Weise in the place of Gostisbehere and Konecny. The decision to insert a pair of experienced role players helped produce a well-rounded victory over the Atlantic Division leader on the heels of a dreadful 5-1 loss to the Hurricanes, a team that had lost five straight coming in by a combined score of 23-5.
Hakstol wanted more teaching moments for Gostisbehere, a 23-year-old blueliner, and Konecny, but also gained a cleaner, more grind-it-out style of play with the veterans (see story).
“I can simplify probably even a little bit more,” Hakstol said Friday. “It’s about winning hockey games. We’re in the middle of a playoff battle here and we hope it’s going to be a long battle because I think it’s going to go right down to the wire. It’s just about a lineup and a roster that gives us the best opportunity to win.
“Nobody’s different than anybody else. We’re working to win hockey games here. Ghost and T.K. were out of the lineup last night, but they’re a big part of things here. And they need to be a very big part of things as we continue on through the next couple of months. They were the guys that were out for good reasons.”
Still a teenager, Konecny already understands the NHL business — and Holmgren helped him grasp it.
“It’s definitely not fun to be out of the lineup — I don’t think any player wants to be sitting in the stands to watch a game, but at the same time, take advantage of it,” Konecny said. “If you’re a coach, that’s what you’ve got to do: win hockey games. We had a bad performance in Carolina, they switched up the lineup and got a win last night, so they’ve got to keep rolling with it and I understand that. And I understand at the same time, I’ve got to do whatever I can to get back in.
“Competing and working hard is what I do in the games, so I know I’m capable of doing all that. It’s just a matter of getting back in the lineup, and you get a little more confidence when you start playing better and things are happening good for you — that comes with time.”