Highlights Beyond Highlights- Nov. 7 vs. Tampa Bay

We open with a couple defensive highlights that stood out as the Flyers continue to play a good team defensive game. Rasmus Ristolainen demonstrates here why you want him playing on your team as opposed to having to play against him. In one constant motion without stopping, Ristolainen takes away time and space from a player up the far wall, then steps into a passing lane and breaks up a return pass to that player, and then pressures another player into a blocked shot attempt down above the near-side circle.

The other comes from Sean Couturier, and this is just one of a few defensive standouts he had in this game. Couturier is covering the center point man at the start of this clip, taking away a passing option from Ryan McDonagh. McDonagh, veteran that he is, is always a danger on the offensive end. On this play he dumps the puck in deep and then tries to sneak down into the slot behind the Flyers defensemen, who are turned and focused on the player behind the net. He would have been successful, except Couturier saw him and in turn snuck up behind him, and put a well-placed stick between McDonagh’s legs to break up the scoring chance. Given where this developed, it could have been a game-saving play.

The rest of today’s piece goes to Joel Farabee, who had a fantastic game. This first clip would have been an ordinary highlight that everyone would have seen if the shot had gone in. it’s the kind of thing the Flyers would love to see Farabee doing more often.

Later in the first period, Farabee creates this entire sequence after taking the pass along the right-wing wall. Farabee has Couturier going with him, but he doesn’t have the greatest passing lane, and trying to thread one through here risks Tampa getting a stick on it and going right back the other way. So he holds and ends up just throwing a shot on net, which gives Couturier the opportunity to get a deflection or a rebound. Neither happens, but because Emil Andrae is in a good spot on the far wall to get the ensuing rebound that Vasilevskiy directed towards the boards, he finds Farabee right back in front again for another great chance.

And finally, early in the second period, Farabee’s forechecking ends up drawing a penalty. He’s the F1 here and is the only forward staying on the ice while the rest of the line changes. After dumping in, he sees that Tampa’s defense is choosing to reverse the puck behind the net, and he’s able to sneak in on McDonagh, who doesn’t realize he’s there. Farabee gets in the way of McDonagh’s second chip pass, and ends up drawing the holding penalty to put the Flyers on the power play.