Flyers make Konecny healthy scratch vs. Islanders

Travis Konecny is out of the lineup against the New York Islanders on Saturday night, Philadelphia Flyers head coach Alain Vigneault confirmed pregame, according to The Athletic's Charlie O'Connor.

Konecny is tied as the team's leading scorer with five goals and is second in points with eight through eight games. However, he's taken just one shot on goal and collected only one point - an assist - over his last three contests.

Vigneault acknowledged Konecny is one of the club's best three forwards and is doing some good things, but the bench boss cited both the team's lackluster five-on-five play as well as the 24-year-old forward's struggles in those situations. Vigneault said he spoke to Konecny about it Saturday morning.

"I've been talking to the players about it for some time, areas we need to be better at, areas that we have been good at in the past," the head coach said. "TK is the one tonight who is not going to play. His five-on-five game needs to be better in the areas that he's aware of."

Vigneault added he's asked the club to play better at five-on-five "basically after every game."

Konecny led the Flyers with 24 goals and 61 points in 2019-20.

Sam Morin, a former defenseman who the Flyers converted to forward before the start of the season, will make his 2021 debut with Konecny out.

Copyright (C) 2021 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.