The NHL Proved They Hate Kids Last Night As The Flyers Bullied The Blackhawks
Final Score: Flyers 4, Blackhawks 1 | (4-3-1)
Kevin Hayes. Philadelphia Flyer. Team Portnoy Member. Hater of Children. Why do I say that? Well because young Joel Farabee finished his 2nd career NHL game last night with his first career NHL point. However, that really should have been his 3rd point of the night. So where did those other two points go, you might ask yourself? Well in an apparent joint operation between Mr. Hayes and the NHL, they did absolutely everything in their power to keep the 19-year-old off of the scoresheet. First up was this ridiculously beautiful feed from Farabee to Hayes in the 1st period, which ultimately ended up getting waived off because Hayes was offside before the puck fully entered the zone.
Offside or not, that pass from Farabee to Hayes is so goddamn smooth. He hits the brakes and completely turns Duncan "2x Norris Trophy Winner" Keith inside out. And then he's able to put that pass right past the reach of de Haan and right onto Hayes' tape for the tap in. Absolute beauty that gets wiped out because of a coach's review. No big deal though. Maybe the Hockey Gods had something bigger in store for young Joel Farabee. Maybe they wanted his first NHL point to be a goal. Which he would get later in the game after picking off a pass in the neutral zone, going on a little break and stuffing home his own rebound.
But as you see again, Hayes was still in the zone before the puck crossed the line. So for the 2nd time of the night, Joel Farabee's first career NHL point gets wiped off the board because Kevin Hayes hates children and so does the NHL for allowing the coach's challenge to exist. It's just not right. The NHL owes Farabee an apology and Kevin Hayes owes him some top ramen and a few Red Bulls. He's 19 so I assume that's all he eats and drinks.
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But like I said with the assist earlier, that was an unreal play from Joel Farabee offside or not. The goal was nice, sure, but the thing that AV is really going to love about this is his active stick in the neutral zone. Speaking of active sticks…
Oskar Lindblom And The 2nd Line Continue To Fucking Rule
You guys want a little Friday Fact? Okay here you go. The Philadelphia Flyers men's professional ice hockey team has the best 2nd line in all of hockey. That's not an opinion, that's a stone cold fact. Just look at this play between Oskar Lindblom and Travis Konecny. First off--great work by Lindblom to get his stick on that bouncing puck and to just get it out to the neutral zone. Then it's great work by TK to have the wheels to dust everybody to that loosie. Between periods Oskar Lindblom said he knew that TK was faster than anybody else out there on the puck which is why he was so ready to tail off and get behind de Haan for the 2v1. Then it was a great feed from Konecny over to Lindblom, and then a great finish from Oskar. This was beautiful right here. It was fast. It was skilled. It was defense transitioning to offense and resulting in a goal. 11 points so far this year for TK. 5 goals so far this year for Oskar. The boys are most certainly buzzin.
You Want To Know Who's Really Buzzing? The Penalty Kill Is Buzzing
Just a quick shoutout here to the whole PK unit. They went 4/4 last night and held the Blackhawks without a single shot on the first two kills. It got so bad that the fans in Chicago even gave some fake cheers during their 3rd powerplay of the night when Patrick Kane was finally able to at least get a routine shot in on Brian Elliott. And it's not like this PK unit was just shutting down a bunch of nobodies. Toews, Kane, DeBrincat and Caggiula all had around 5 minutes of powerplay time on the night and still couldn't get anything past Moose.
And while we're on the subject of Brian Elliott, I just want to mention again that this is exactly what you want to see out of the man. At this point in his career, you couldn't ask for a better backup. Brian Elliott just isn't a guy who you can throw in there for long stretches of time. One or two games here and there? He can absolutely win you those games. 10 starts in a row? He's just not built for that anymore. But what he's been able to do these past two games is give the Flyers every chance to really put a team away, and that's what they've done. So good for Elliott, and good for Carter Hart to be able to have a guy who can step in and let him rest for a couple of nights. P
The Flyers Are Bullies. JvR and Kevin Hayes Almost Killed A Guy
Poor Robin Lehner. He's going to be having nightmares about that one. And as for JvR? Well he might want to lay low for a while. Hopefully the team already left Chicago because I'm pretty sure he's a wanted man. Hit the brakes, sent Lehner flying out of his pads, and then the easy tap in from there. He didn't have to be so rude about it, but that's why I love JvR. And from one Pres Goalie Challenge alum to another, we got to Kevin Hayes who also decided to make Lehner question every decision he's ever made in life to get him to this point.
That's just a ton of confidence right there as a shooter. He was patient, waited to find a little hole to blow it past Lehner, went for it and then broke out a little Patty Kane flair on that celly. Just an all around "fuck you" goal from former Chicago Blackhawks draft pick Kevin Hayes. It's just kind of funny how Joel Farabee can get a point on this goal with an assist but didn't feel the need to go offside to rob Hayes of a goal.
Michael Raffl Leads The League In Being Ferda Boys
On Monday night Michael Raffl was credited with 2 goals and an assist against Vegas. But he said he only wanted credit for one of the goals because he knew that Ivan Provorov's shot didn't deflect off of him. So after making it clear that it wasn't his goal, the goal was later changed to Provorov's. Pretty selfless move there from Raffl to make sure he's not out there stealing anybody else's points.
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Now we get to Thursday night. There's less than a minute to play in the 3rd period of a 4-1 game. This one was already wrapped up. The fans were already out of the building, the Zamboni was already turned on, it was game over. But what does Michael Raffl go out there and do? He soaks a shot and takes it off the back of his right leg. Again, this game was over. If that shot gets through and on net, who cares? It's still going to be a regulation win anyway. But Michael Raffl is ferda boys. He's going to sell out and put his body on the line if that's what it takes to help this team win. That's the type of shit that shows how much this locker room has bought in to the squad. You love to see it and you just hope he's feeling good to go.
Either way, it wasn't the prettiest 60 minutes of hockey but the boys got the job done. 2 wins against Chicago in October? I'll take it, thank you very much.