Flyers, Farabee complete overtime comeback in ‘Minny’

After the midway point of the NHL regular season, checking and team defense begin to find a new gear leaguewide. John Tortorella elected an 11F/7D lineup format, benching Bobby Brink. Brink, a native of Minnetonka, MN, wouldn’t dress in his hometown return.

“Other players are playing better. This is all part of the process for Bobby [Brink]. He’s going to be a really good player, but there are a lot of things that he needs to work on, and I think he’s been a little inconsistent. Bobby Brink doesn’t have a cemented spot in the National Hockey League. He has a ways to go as far as to find that, but that’s to be expected.”
John Tortorella; 1/12/2024

The Philadelphia Flyers (22-14-6) took the Minnesota Wild (17-19-5) to overtime. Joel Farabee put his team on the scoreboard, and, in overtime, on the powerplay, he scored the game-winner.

“I’m in a real good place in my game. I know what Torts [Tortorella] expects out of me, what Rocky [Thompson] expects out of me on the powerplay, and things like that. I’m not really thinking too much out there, just going out there and playing. I find that’s when I play my best hockey.”
Joel Farabee; 1/12/2024

Owen Tippett and Tyson Foerster matched Matthew Boldy and Ryan Hartman in the third period, while Carter Hart saved 26/29 shots on goal to improve his record to 11-8-3 this season.

Powerplay QBs (+)

Yegor Zamula and Jamie Drysdale were very notable in the powerplay units. Both are great at moving laterally along the blue line. Drysdale is the better skater of the two, but Zamula picked up a powerplay point on the game-winner, putting a puck on target, while Farabee gets credit for the deflection goal.

“We feel Z [Zamula] has earned that spot. Jamie [Drysdale] is going to be a guy that’s going to play there. [We] just stay with it, and Z just throws a puck to the net, and we score.”
John Tortorella; 1/12/2024

Before Drysdale arrived, Tortorella began to look at Zamula as a candidate to become a powerplay quarterback. Drysdale takes the lead on the second unit, and his roving style, even away from the man advantage, creates scoring chances when it doesn’t seem there’s much of a shooting angle.

“I see there’s maybe ten seconds left. I know we play four-on-three and need to try to score goal. I see Beezer [Farabee] in front of the net with good traffic; Fleury probably didn’t see a shot. We work in practice every day with Beezer. I shoot from low line [and] he tipped the puck, and we take two points.”
Yegor Zamula; 1/12/2024

Suddenly, the Flyers scored a powerplay goal in their last four games but still ranked 32nd in the NHL with the extra man.

Playing For One Another (+)

Last night was the start of a strong back-to-back. A win in overtime against the Wild means that Sam Ersson will likely enter the lineup against the Winnipeg Jets, who stand atop the NHL.

“I don’t know where we go during the year as we keep on playing, but I trust the group that they’re going to play hard, and they’re going to play for one another. We’ve had some stuff going on with the team, and everybody just seems together. I think that carries you through sometimes when you have some bad minutes in the game. It’s a good group.”
John Tortorella; 1/12/2024

Since Monday, things could’ve gone upside-down for Philadelphia with the fallout of the Cutter Gauthier trade, but instead, they’re handling business and are 2-0-0.