Highlights Beyond Highlights- Jan. 6 vs. Flames

Ed Snider spent his Flyers career watching games first from a suite immediately next to the press box at The Spectrum, and then from Suite 4 at Wells Fargo Center.  There was one hard and fast rule in those suites, and that was not to try to talk to Mr. Snider while the game was going on. He was laser-focused on the action on the ice, and didn’t want any distractions. 

During all the reflection Saturday afternoon, there were a few situations where it harkened a smile to think what Mr. Snider would have done in those moments. He had a phone in those suites, and a card with numbers for a handful of key individuals in the organization. If he saw something he didn’t like, or had a question about, he’d get on that phone at a whistle. If you were one of the individuals on that card, you’d better be ready to answer if the phone rang.

So when Garnet Hathaway got a roughing penalty for being put in a headlock by a Calgary player, someone’s phone probably would have rang – even if it was for nothing else other than a vent session. Who he called in that moment probably would have depended on the day.

A few others:

Cam Atkinson continues to try to break out of his scoring funk with the hope that when one comes, they’ll come in bunches.  He nearly broke through early in the contest and then had a breakaway with just over four minutes left in the second period that was only a breakaway because of a bit of a jailbreak with Owen Tippett.  Atkinson’s going to get shut down by Noah Hanifin here if he keeps it himself, so he slides it over to Tippett.  Once Tippett draws Hanifin’s pressure, he slides it right back to Atkinson. It turned a slightly dangerous scoring chance into a very dangerous one. It didn’t go for Atkinson and the drought continues, but Mr. Snider would have been downstairs after a game like this with a handshake and encouragement to just stay with it.

Over the last two games the Flyers had transformed from a team that was flat to a team that was in a scoring slump. The spark was back, but the puck wasn’t going in.

Sometimes in that situation you need a “garbage” goal, one that hits someone in the butt and goes in or something like that, and then hopefully the scoring starts coming.

The hope is that Sean Couturier’s power play goal was like that. A shot had gone wide and rebounded off the back boards, and Couturier alertly flipped the puck off the back of Jacob Markstrom and inside the post before the goaltender could get reset.  That instinct, instead of pulling it around front and trying to score conventionally, paid off here.

Mr. Snider would have loved the player that Couturier has become.  As one of only two remaining players on the roster that were on it when Mr. Snider was alive, along with Scott Laughton, Couturier had met him but had yet to develop into the player he is today. Mr. Snider would have been thrilled with Couturier’s breakout season in 2017-18 and his Selke Trophy in 2020. Quality veteran leadership was very important to Mr. Snider, as it’s one of the forces that makes a team successful, and Couturier is providing that in his return to the lineup.

Tyson Foerster’s puck retrievals have been one of the most impressive parts of his game this year.  While not necessarily a retrevial, this was a keep-in that was equally as impressive and kept a possession going.  Bobby Brink immediately picked up on the play and turned to offer Foerster an option, and Foerster found him for a great scoring chance.

Mr. Snider also loved his young players. He was always excited about what they meant for the future of the franchise, and he would have very much enjoyed watching two rookies hook up for a scoring chance like this.

And then there’s the win, and the game-winning goal from Travis Konecny, and the crowd of 19,715 that essentially tied with last season’s finale for the largest in the building since prior to covid. It’s the kind of win that back in the day would have had him high-fiving fans on the way out of the Spectrum.  Here’s to Mr. Snider, and to many more games like this one this season.