All players, even ones as self-confident and skilled as Konecny, can start to press at times. He hadn't lost confidence yet but he was getting frustrated. His relieved response to his goal in Columbus showed how badly he needed not just additional scoring opportunities but for a dividend.

The next night, the mini-drought ended. Although Konecny downplayed the notion that his season-opening goalless stretch bothered him -- he'd scored 24 goals last season in just his second NHL campaign -- the reality was that he needed a goal to just relax and play hockey.

"I'm not really worried about it. I'm getting good looks and I know they'll start going in sooner or later. But, yeah, I obviously want to get the first one out of the way," Konecny said on Oct. 17.

He'd hit three goal posts. He had a puck bounce over his stick on an Oskar Lindblom rebound with a half-empty net stare at him. He'd been robbed on a few outstanding saves by opposing goalies.

It was the look of a young hockey player who had just had a huge weight lifted off his shoulders: his first goal of the 2018-19 regular season after six-plus games of frustration.

The look on Travis Konecny's face said it all: After the 21-year-old Flyers right wing re-directed a Robert Hägg shot into the net during the first period of Thursday's game in Columbus, Konecny looked skyward and breathed a huge sign of relief.

So often in hockey, there is a razor-thin line between playing loose and confident and playing to the cliche of "gripping the stick too tight." Sometimes all it takes is a deflection or some self-made good luck to turn things around in a positive direction.

Two afternoons after the goal in Columbus, Konecny and the rest of the Flyers' secondary power play unit -- which had yet to score this season and, for various reasons, had received little ice time per two-minute segment -- was on the ice with the Flyers trailing the New Jersey Devils 1-0 in the first period.

Jordan Weal won an offensive zone draw to Travis Sanheim, who passed the puck to Konecny. Skating to the top of the right circle, Konecny thought "shoot" all the way. With a quick release, he wired a perfectly placed shot over the glove of New Jersey goaltender Keith Kinkaid and into the net.

The Flyers have been trying to establish more of a shooting mentality in general and within the second power play unit in particular. Konecny himself has noted that he wants to shoot more when he has a look at the net rather than attempting a pass. With his first goal out of the way, Konecny didn't try to pick a corner on his shot. He simply got rid of it quickly, and the red light went on.

On each the subsequent power play for the Flyers in the Devils game, the second unit received extended ice time. Although they did not score again, on this day, the second unit was more effective than the powerhouse first unit at gaining offensive zone entries and generating crisper puck movement.

"We've been working at it for a while. It's just one [goal]. We're not going to be settled in now. We're going to keep building off of it. It was nice that we got one," Konecny said.

Konecny's sudden outburst of four points (two goals, two assists) in the last three games after he had just one assist to show for the first five games is partially a product of the fickle nature of hockey but also a measure of persistence paying off through some adversity.

Most of all, it's just an early season offensive building block for the player.