Family reunion, new position for rookie Travis Konecny

PHILADELPHIA — It wasn’t until he was a teenager that Travis Konecny got closer with his family.

Well, not nuclear family, anyway.

Even though both grew up in London, Ontario, Konecny and his second cousin didn’t play much together. They missed being on the same minor midget team by one year. It wasn’t until they both made the Ontario hockey league that Konecny and Bo Horvat faced one another.

“It was fun just seeing him on the other side, giving him a hard time,” said Konecny, who played for the Ottawa 67s while Horvat played for their hometown London Knights. “He was in his third year at that point. He was a developed guy in the OHL giving me a hard time.”

Horvat’s father, Tim, and Konecny’s mother, Terri, are cousins.

Thursday the pair of first-round picks met in the NHL for the first time. Horvat, 21 and the Vancouver Canucks’ All-Star, leads the team in points. He was taken ninth overall in the 2013 draft and while he and Konecny keep in touch, it’s not exactly a scenario like Luke and Brayden Schenn who talk daily. Konecny and Horvat mostly see each other in the gym during the summer and golf together.

“We became close over the years,” Konecny said. “I wouldn’t say it’s like a text relationship back and forth, but we stay in touch and see each other almost every day in the summer.”  

Thursday Konecny had some bragging rights in the family. Usually on the second line, like Horvat is with the Canucks, Konecny was elevated to the top line to play with Claude Giroux and Michael Raffl. For the first time in the NHL, Konecny was a right winger. He made the club out of training camp playing the left wing, which was a first for him.

“That’s his natural position,” coach Dave Hakstol said of Konecny flipping to the right. “That’s where he’s played the most hockey. Not here. He’s done a really good job on the left side for us. (Wednesday) looking at a different option there for him, putting a player on his natural wing changes up a little bit for him. Whether that’s more comfortable or not, I wouldn’t jump to that conclusion because I think he’s been pretty comfortable on the left side and pretty effective as well.”

Tuesday’s loss in Buffalo marked the third straight game that lines had been the same, but Hakstol has been mixing and matching a lot lately. How long the Konecny experiment lasts on the first line remains to be seen.

Raffl and Giroux haven’t exactly been lighting it up lately. The captain entered Thursday’s game riding an eight-game goal-less drought, one off this season’s high.

“He’s not playing the way he can play. He needs to play better, but I say that with G because you asked specifically about him,” general manager Ron Hextall said. “We’ve got a lot of guys that need to play better.”

Hence all the changes recently. Maybe Giroux can spark Konecny. Maybe the rookie can spark the captain? Konecny entered the game with two goals in five games since sitting as a healthy scratch, a curious decision at the time by Hakstol.

“It’s not necessarily about getting Travis going,” Hakstol said. “He’s playing pretty well, playing hard. He’s gone through the typical ups and downs for a young player and right now we’re getting to a little tougher time of year. I think his effort and his play has been pretty good.”

Now the Flyers will see how life is on the right side for Konecny, a position he hasn’t played since he was facing Horvat in junior hockey.  

“I played right wing the majority of my OHL career,” Konecny said. “I’ll be fine there, going back to the right side. It’s like riding a bike.”

Loose Pucks

Yet another head-scratching benching from Hakstol Thursday. Defenseman Radko Gudas was a healthy scratch because Hakstol would like to see him “play a little more consistently,” yet the coach played him the third-most minutes on the team since 2017 began. … The other two healthy scratches were Boyd Gordon and Roman Lyubimov. … The Flyers may be active on the waiver wire Friday. It is likely that defenseman Mark Streit plays Saturday, which would end his 13-game absence with a shoulder injury. Someone has to go in order to clear room and that player would potentially clear waivers in time to activate Streit for Saturday’s matinee.

Dave Isaac; 856-486-2479;disaac@gannett.com