Highlights Beyond Highlights- Oct. 26 vs. Wild

There was certainly a lot to like about Saturday’s win over Minnesota. While the Flyers do need to generate more shots on goal in the early going – although they had nearly a half-dozen high-quality scoring chances in those first two periods that didn’t result in shots on goal – and also need to continue working on staying out of the box, just about everything else about their game was vastly improved.

There were a couple plays early on that were examples of the tone the Flyers set in the contest. John Tortorella had talked about how the Flyers’ forwards had been flat, which didn’t allow the defenders to step up and generate transition offense.

Here’s a look at a Minnesota breakout where that situation improved. The initial outlet pass to the Wild player in the neutral zone beats Tyson Foerster, but it doesn’t beat Ryan Poehling. If they had been flat, that pass would have beaten both Flyers and left Travis Sanheim to deal with two Wild players while Poehling perhaps tried to recover.

Instead, Poehling is able to pressure the neutral zone opponent into making a bad pass towards his teammate along the wall. That enables Sanheim to pinch and make a one-touch pass to Poehling that sends the play the other way.

Not even a minute later, Scott Laughton’s line gets in on the fun. The Wild were trying to regroup in their own zone, but Laughton just put his shoulder into Brock Faber’s chest and put an end to that. The play starts a possession that ends up with a shot from the point for Egor Zamula. That kind of play was consistent throughout most of the Flyers’ game.

A play during the Wild’s 5-on-3 power play early in the second period demonstrated why Nick Seeler was missed during his recovery from injury at the start of the season. You’ll see Seeler first get his stick entirely on the ice to block a centering pass to the end boards. After Sanheim was able to tap it into the corner, Seeler gains position on two Wild forwards and is able to clear the puck all the way down. It’s the kind of defensive tenacity that defines his game, and is just one example of several strong defensive plays across the board in this contest for the Flyers – many of which were contributed by Rasmus Ristolainen, who played one of his best games as a Flyer.