As the zebra-painted shirt with the orange armband skated toward the penalty box late in the third period, fans inside the Wells Fargo Center knew the impending doom that was about to arrive. A retaliatory cross-checking penalty was being assessed to Philadelphia Flyers winger Joel Farabee. Florida was already 3-of-4 with the power play, and Farabee handed the Panthers a golden opportunity to untie the contest with under 2:30 to play in a 5-5 game.
Flyers & Joel Farabee candid about Panthers penalty
Farabee, 24, watched the Flyers’ top defenseman, Travis Sanheim, get leveled into the board by Florida center Sam Bennett on a borderline hit that was not whistled by the officials. Farabee instituted some on-ice justice in the former of a stick to the ribs of Bennett that was detected by the officials and whistled for a two-minute penalty, sending the Flyers forward to the “sin bin” at a critical time in the game.
Florida scored on the resulting man advantage to take a 6-5 lead before adding an empty net goal to finish off the 7-5 scoring in South Philadelphia. When Farabee spoke to the media following practice on Thursday, Joel said he needed to be more mindful in those situations. “I got to be a lot smarter about the situation,” Farabee said. “ it was really dumb on my part, but at the same time, I’m going to stick up for my teammates.”
Flyers Head Coach John Tortorella agreed that it wasn’t the smart decision by the young forward. “Those are tough spots, because we talk about that all the time,” Tortorella stated, referring to sticking up for one another as a team on the ice. “I think there’s got to be a little bit more patience sometimes in that type of situation.” The penalty on Farabee occurred three minutes after Florida tied the game at 5-5.
To his credit, Farabee was very candid about the play. “It doesn’t matter who it is.” the sixth-year NHL winger said. “In that situation, it’s our best defenseman (Sanheim). As a group, we do a really good job of sticking up for each other. I take ownership of the penalty late in the game, but at the same time, it’s our mindset (to stick up for one another).”
Tortorella passed along a similar comment during his chat with the media when asked about Farabee standing up for his teammates.
“Very important part of who we are,” Tortorella said. The Flyers bench boss didn’t put all the blame on the Flyers forward for the loss but instead backed up his NHL winger. “That not the biggest thing that happened (the late penalty). That’s a big part of what Joel is. He leads by example, and I think he’s had a good year. His numbers don’t prove it, but he’s been doing a lot of good things for us.” Through 26 games this season, Farabee has 3 goals and 6 assists for 9 points while averaging 15:23 of ice time this season.
Farabee hopes he can learn from the situation moving forward despite the loss. “It sucks we didn’t get any points out of it.” Joel said. “I think, defending Cup champs, to go down 3-0, and be up with a chance to win, I think that shows a lot about this group.”
Philadelphia will have their next chance to show what they are made of against the Boston Bruins, a team that usually gives them fits. The Flyers visit the Bruins for a 1 p.m. EST afternoon game tomorrow at TD Garden.
Mandatory Credit: Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images
