Joel Farabee scored the first goal of his career, as well as his first primary assist, in a win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night at the United Center, only for both to be overturned on review after ‘Hawks’ coach Jeremy Colliton challenged the entries.
Kevin Hayes was off both times, wiping out a goal for himself, only to get it back on a breakaway in the third period. Farabee picked up the official first point of his career (a secondary assist), and the only one of his three that actually counted.
Brian Elliott was once again strong, stopping 23 of 24, while the Philadelphia penalty kill was dominant, allowing Chicago only one shot on goal on four power play opportunities.
Claude Giroux and James van Riemsdyk each recorded their first goals of the year, and the Philadelphia Flyers appear to be clicking in all phases of the game following Alain Vigneault’s “trust the process” remarks last week.
While their nine standings points through eight games puts them in the middle of the pack by points-percentage (.563- 16th in NHL), the Flyers continue to show territorial and scoring chance supremacy, and it appears the goals are following, with ten in the last two games, plus the two disallowed on Thursday.
On the postgame chat, we talk about the ideal lineup, what we’ve seen out of the defenseman, how best to manage Brian Elliott’s workload, and how dumb of a rule offside is. Seriously, the most pointless rule in maybe all of professional sports.
