Highlights Beyond Highlights- Nov. 14 vs. Senators

The NHL is a funny place sometimes. Some games, a team plays great and should win, but doesn’t. Other times, you get what happened on Thursday night.

If you didn’t see the game and just saw the score afterwards, you saw it as a win. In reality, the Flyers were not at their best in Ottawa, but they got enough bounces to get out of Canada with two points. The players would be the first to admit they need to be better across the board. A win is a win, but the club will be looking for a stronger performance on Saturday against Buffalo.

That’s not to say it wasn’t without some good plays. The first we’ll look at takes place on the Flyers’ first goal, and it’s an example of what good positioning can do. The Flyers are in jail here, with the puck tied up along the left-wing boards near the corner. Ottawa should have nothing to worry about in this situation – two players are pressuring the puck, and a third is taking away the pass to the point. But Garnet Hathaway puts himself in the perfect spot to receive a pass out of that scrum, and Ottawa doesn’t pick him up right away. Noah Cates recognizes this and makes a perfect little surprise backhander to Hathaway. From there, all it takes is three touches of the puck – Hathaway to Emil Andrae to Travis Sanheim – and the Flyers go from nearly giving up possession to scoring a goal in less than three seconds.

This was the first of probably three or four terrific feeds that Noah Cates completed in the game. Travis Konecny’s goal is a front-facing highlight, but the pass from Cates deserves a closer look. This is a 50-foot laser that needed to elude three sticks to even arrive at its destination, and it hits Konecny in stride right on the tape.

Also, watch Konecny’s path to scoring this goal. In this clip, you can pick Konecny up between the circles in the Flyers end. He’ll come to the near-side boards and take a hit. When he comes off that hit, everyone else on the ice heads back towards the far-side boards where the puck is. But Konecny slips away like a teen sneaking out of the house late at night, getting behind the defense with nobody seeing him until he received the pass from Cates.

Finally, an acknowledgement of Joel Farabee’s centering pass during a Flyer power play. The degree of difficulty here is immense, as Farabee has to lift this puck over the traffic in front but also land it right where Tyson Foerster is going. Foerster’s shot couldn’t quite get under Linus Ullmark, but it was a remarkable setup.