Highlights Beyond Highlights- March 15 vs. Maple Leafs

You’ve seen the clips on social media before.  An NHL player loses one of his skate blades while blocking a shot or doing some other activity, and suddenly he’s flailing around like Bambi on a waterslide.  Garnet Hathaway seems to be immune to this phenomenon. He loses his blade at the start of this clip when he tries to impede a shot attempt from Calle Jarnkrok. Yet the penalty kill continues, and Hathaway continues to play hockey effectively, with a couple brief exceptions, for some 40 seconds.  And then after Felix Sandstrom got him a whistle, Hathaway got involved in a scrum with one blade.  He certainly might be the best one-bladed skater in the game.

One of the best opportunities the Flyers had during the contest came with just over four minutes left in the second period, and while it was a team effort throughout, Owen Tippett was able to keep it going at one point and draw a penalty. This puck is on the verge of being cleared out twice, but the first time Tippett pins the Maple Leaf to the boards and then on the second attempt, after it’s knocked down, Tippett grabs it and tiptoes the line to stay onside.  He’s then pulled down and a penalty is called, allowing the Flyers to play 6-on-5 for several seconds until the Leafs touched up.

And finally, major kudos to the Flyers video staff for catching the hand pass that called back a Toronto goal in the third period.  The video coaches spend their evenings reviewing all kinds of things as the game happens, from zone entries to whether a puck may have hit the netting and come back into play to possible goaltender interference situations and more. This was a pretty difficult point in this play to spot this hand pass, but the eagle eyes in the back did so.  Unfortunately it didn’t have more of a helpful effect on the outcome, but it’s an example of them being the best in the business.