Highlights Beyond Highlights- Dec. 16 vs. Red Wings

John Tortorella’s philosophy requires a commitment to shot blocking, and that’s not just for the big defensemen. It goes all around, and sometimes an unexpected contributor will lead the way. That was Joel Farabee on Saturday, who blocked four shots for just his third career game of four blocks or more. Perhaps more impressive was that he got three of them within the last or first minute of a period – times when it might be easy to coast into an intermission or ease into a period. That’s not what this team is about though. Also, Farabee fronted Moritz Seider for three of the four blocks, someone who, at 6-4, 205 lbs, is no fun to stand in front of. The Flyers rank fifth in the NHL in total blocks this season, and it’s been a big reason for their success.

The re-emergence of Travis Konecny since Tortorella arrived is not coincidentally tied to his use on the penalty kill during the Tortorella Era. Konecny had never killed penalties before last season, but with Sean Couturier and Cam Atkinson both out for all of last year, he was called upon to do so. Tortorella, for his part, has said he couldn’t believe Konecny hadn’t been used in that role. When you look at everything Konecny does on the first 20 seconds of this particular kill, you’ll see why. When there’s success in that part of his game, it raises confidence and bleeds over into other situations as well.