Flyers return home after sweeping two-game trip sparked by Bobby Brink and Travis Konecny

NASHVILLE — It didn’t start out great but the Flyers battled back and skated away with a 3-1 win to complete a sweep of a two-game road trip.

Here are three reasons the Flyers defeated the Nashville Predators on Thursday night.

Coach Rick Tocchet probably said it best about Bobby Brink: “He’s small in stature, but he’s got a big heart.”

Brink may stand at just 5-foot-8 and weigh 169 pounds but he plays a much bigger game.

“Yeah, he’s a full 200-foot player now,” said forward Noah Cates. “I think there’s no question about that. His skill and offense is the biggest part of his game, but he’s trusted in 200 feet and makes smart plays, hard plays, and just kind of all over it and always seems to have his legs.”

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On Thursday night he used his legs, his body, and his smarts — even while playing on the off-wing at times.

In the second period, he got rocked by Justin Barron and still ended up with the puck as he sat on the ice. He played it over to Sean Couturier, putting the goal by Matvei Michkov in motion.

It was a heads-up play but what he did leading up to the Cates game-winner is a clear example of what Brink has been doing since November of last year.

Cates lost the faceoff in the left faceoff circle in the Predators zone to Michael McCarron but Brink sprinted off the right hash marks diagonally into the left corner and pressured 6-4, 206-pound defenseman Nick Perbix to allow Travis Konecny to corral the puck.

“We talked about that after, yeah,” said Konecny. “It’s the little things that, like a lot of people don’t see, that Bobby does and Catesy, and that’s what made that line before with [Tyson Foerster] and them so effective.

“That no matter what, you can trust and believe that your linemates [are] going to be working hard, and if you work hard for them, they work hard for you. They kind of get those extra chances at pucks, and the competing is going to kind of win over the long run.”

Speaking of Konecny, prior to the win, when asked about how he feels about his game, he told The Inquirer: “Right now, it’s coming. I got a lot more to give. I know that I haven’t had my best stuff yet this year, but, I mean, as of late, I’m feeling a little bit better. Just try to keep it rolling.”

He definitely did that in Nashville.

Like Brink, Konecny is short in stature at 5-9 but plays with a much bigger heart and level of determination. He didn’t get rewarded with a goal until notching an empty-netter to seal the victory, but Konecny was highly involved throughout the night.

And he was big along the boards — especially on the Cates goal.

Along with Brink, he controlled the boards, with Konecny knocking down a clearing attempt by Nashville defenseman Brady Skjei and then blocking McCarron’s attempt to get the puck out with his shoulder.

He ended up finding Jamie Drysdale at the right point for the shot that led to Cates burying the rebound.

Before the game, Tocchet said that he has liked Konecny’s game and it was coming. He liked his game afterward too.

“He’s been giving us a good effort,” Tocchet said. “Yeah, he wants to score more and stuff, but just as long as it doesn’t affect his game. That was a big empty-net goal, chasing that puck down and scoring. I mean, you never know they could come back and score there. So, yeah, that was a big play for us.”

The Predators came out hard, with Tocchet saying he “didn’t like our start,” and even though they only put 24 shots on goal, across several stretches of the night it felt like they kept the Flyers in their end.

At one point, Cam York (1 minute, 10 seconds), Travis Sanheim (1:16), Christian Dvorak (1:32), Trevor Zegras (1:30), and Owen Tippett (1:42) were pinned for most of the shift. During the flurry, Dan Vladař had to make five saves, including stopping Nashville’s Jonathan Marchessault from 18 feet out and Erik Haula on the doorstep. York and Sanehim each blocked a shot, too.

There were moments when it seemed the Flyers were a bit discombobulated. Tocchet thought there was too much standing around and that his team “didn’t close,” like finishing checks and plays.

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But what was fascinating to watch was that when it looked like everything was disjointed, the box-and-one defensive structure the bench boss likes to use appeared through the fog.

“We’ve been working on it a lot, borderline everyday in practice, so it’s something that we’re definitely comfortable with,” said Drysdale.

“Now, there’s always going to be plays that you haven’t seen before, adjustments you have to make but, it’s just a matter of keeping it to the outside, giving them as few Grade A’s as possible and working from the inside out.”

According to Natural Stat Trick, the Flyers were outchanced 34-21, with the Predators getting a hefty amount of high-danger chances (19-9). Nashville had a 62.4% expected goals for percentage but only one goal, which actually came off the body of Drysdale past an unsuspecting Vladař.

“I don’t think last two games, I was getting a lot of bounces, but at the same time, I did that video with [goaltending coach Kim Dillabaugh], and he helped me out with my confidence, saying that I was trying to do the right things, but it just wasn’t going my way,” Vladař said.

“So coming into today, I was just trying to trust my game, and I really trust the guys. ... I think the last 50 minutes of the hockey game, we were the better team, and we deserved to win.”

The Czech netminder was fantastic otherwise — especially early on and coming after he only faced two shots in the opening period against the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday.

Before the Flyers got their second shot of the game, with 6:58 left in the first period, aside from the goal, the Predators had seven. Nashville also had 13 shot attempts that either missed the net or were blocked.

He faced just four shots in the final period with the Flyers only up by a goal until Konecny’s empty-netter.

“They were pushing on us a couple times but we [bent] and didn’t break and the end result’s a win,” said Cates. “So it’s huge for us.”