The Philadelphia Flyers forward had a solid regular-season debut in an Orange and Black uniform.
It’s pretty darn fun not being on the receiving end of a blowout, isn’t it? The Philadelphia Flyers were able to snap their four-game losing streak Monday evening as they defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 6-2 to round out their brief, two-game homestand. They finally capitalized on all of the chances they generated, and hopefully, it’ll be a sign of things to come in the future. One of the main stories coming into the game was how forward prospect Joel Farabee would perform in the first regular-season contest of his NHL career. The 19-year-old winger was called up along with Mikhail Vorobyev on Sunday night and looked prettay, prettay good in his big-league debut.
Farabee was very effective from a statistical standpoint. The 2018 First Round Pick finished the game with a 52.94 Corsi, 50.00 Fenwick, 57.18 Expected Goals, 57.14 Scoring Chances, and a 66.67 High Danger Scoring Chances For percentages at 5-on-5 according to Natural Stat Trick, which, outside of Fenwick, are all well above average. He meshed well with Kevin Hayes and Scott Laughton on the Flyers third-line, too, as the combo posted a 57.14 CF%, 53.85 FF%, 70.42 xGF%, and a 66.67 HDCF% while on the ice. The trio also allowed just one Scoring Chance Against in 9:17 Minutes of Time on Ice at 5-on-5, showing just how well Farabee, Hayes, and Laughton worked together defensively.
While he failed to get on the scoresheet, Farabee came dangerously close at times. On a delayed penalty late in the second frame, Hayes tried to find the young forward in front of the net, but the pass failed to connect as Farabee’s stick was slightly hindered by a Vegas defender. Additionally, the Cicero, New York native nearly cashed in on a rebound attempt in the opening period, failing to beat Oskar Dansk with a backhand shot. Both of these plays show how high of an IQ Farabee has in the offensive zone, as he almost always puts himself in the correct areas.
If there was one negative to his overall game, Farabee did allow Jonathan Marchessault to get a partial breakaway opportunity on Brian Elliott with a miscoverage on the rush in his own zone, but outside of that, I thought this was a quality debut for Farabee. I expect him to grow on this performance and eventually become on highly talented Top-6 forward for the Flyers in the next couple of years.