Provorov Bounces Back vs Carolina

PHILADELPHIA — The whirlwind has been constant since training camp when the two rookies, Travis Konecny and Ivan Provorov, were told they made the team.

Two 19 year olds who realized their dreams of making the NHL now have a handful of games under their belts and whether those results are good or bad, they’re still trying to find their footing.

“The boys are trying to do everything for Travis and I to feel welcome,” Provorov said. “They talk with us about little things when they can and we’re slowly starting to get comfortable.”

Saturday night, Provorov was very comfortable. He had a two-assist night, blocked four shots and booked nearly 20 minutes of ice time in the Flyers’ 6-3 win over the Carolina Hurricanes.

“I felt comfortable from the first shift and I built off that,” he said. “I thought had a good game. It helps when the whole team plays well. We had a great team game today and that helped a lot, too.”

It was much better than Tuesday in Chicago when Provorov was a minus-5 on the night. His play for the night as a whole wasn’t indicative of that statistic, but there were certainly things going against him. For one, he fell with control of the puck and it led to one of the Blackhawks’ seven goals.

After the game he got some advice from another young defenseman, although Shayne Gostisbehere was three years older than Provorov in his rookie campaign.

“Hey man, we’ve got 79 more of these things so I would get over this one,” Gostisbehere told Provorov. “You’re a hell of a player. You’re gonna make good plays and sometimes you don’t get the bounces.”

Saturday the Flyers changed Provorov’s defense partner, putting him with Brandon Manning who was the team’s best defenseman in the first week of the season.