Highlights Beyond Highlights- Dec. 18 vs. Red Wings

Noah Cates was in the right place at the right time on his second-period goal, but it wasn’t an accident – it was all a result of hard work. In this extended clip of the tally, Cates loops around at the blue line before seeing the puck head into the zone with a Detroit player in pursuit. He steps on the gas at that point, getting to the end boards in time to make the defenseman’s life difficult and help the Flyers regain possession. Then when he sees the puck go to the point, it’s a quick set of strides to get himself to the front of the net to try and provide at least a screen, if not a deflection. It wasn’t a conventional deflection, but it got the job done.

The next two plays come early in the third period where the Flyers played their best minutes of the game. They pinned the Red Wings in their zone for most of several minutes thanks to plays like this, which is a great stick by Matvei Michkov to knock down a clearing attempt and keep the possession alive.

Then it’s another keep-in that leads to the Ryan Poehling goal, this time from Travis Sanheim on the left point. Sanheim could have overdone it here and pinched down the left wall, but he stayed put at the point and waited for the play to come to him. That enabled him to feed Sean Couturier, who ended up with the beautiful assist to Poehling for the tap-in.