Highlights Beyond Highlights- Nov. 11 vs. Sharks

It’s a defensemen-appreciation column today, not that the forwards didn’t do plenty to merit inclusion here, but we watched Vitek Vanecek make enough saves live last night that we don’t need to watch them again.

Our first look goes to Travis Sanheim on a play he made right after the Flyers almost scored three times. As the offensive pressure continued, San Jose was able to jailbreak and send Fabian Zetterlund up the left wing. It would have been a breakaway if not for a veteran recovery by Sanheim, who dropped back to neutralize the threat. More notable is that Sanheim was nearing the end of a shift when called upon to take care of this. It’s clear that Sanheim is evolving into the Flyers’ top minute-eating defenseman – this was his second consecutive game of 30 minutes or more, and his third in a row of at least 28 minutes.

Our next look goes to Rasmus Ristolainen. Healthy again, he has had an excellent season playing the brand of hockey that he’s known for, being very difficult for opposing forwards to deal with. Lately though, he’s started doing some Mark Howe impersonations. He has skated the puck out of the zone like this two or three times in recent games, and on this occasion, he draws a penalty on Ty Dellandrea, who’s trying to slow him down. Usually you’d see opponents taking this penalty on someone like Owen Tippett – not normally on Rasmus Ristolainen. But it’s becoming another weapon in his arsenal.

And finally, Emil Andrae makes his way onto the list once again. The 22-year-old has looked extremely comfortable in the NHL since his call-up, and he has the wherewithal to make a breakout play of his own here. In true take-what-they-give-you fashion, Andrae sashays his way up the left wing almost end-to-end before getting a shot off on Vanecek. It would have been one of the highlights of the game if it had gone in, but that little detail doesn’t make the effort any less impressive.