Nearing the halfway mark of the season, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers are on completely different trajectories, and few moments can sum it up better than this chaotic sequence of events from Flyers forward Joel Farabee.
Trailing 3-0 to the Penguins during the second period, Farabee misconnected on two one-timers during his team’s power play.
Flyers fans at Wells Fargo Center weren’t having any of it, booing Farabee off the ice — and he responded with his best Bryce Harper impression in the tunnel to take out his frustration.
It may have provided some temporary reprieve. On his next shift, Farabee grabbed a new stick, jumped back onto the ice and set up Cam Atkinson on a textbook 2-on-1 to cut the deficit to 3-1, the lone bright spot of the Flyers’ evening.
A 14th-overall pick in the 2018 draft, Farabee has appeared in 27 NHL games this season. The assist against the Penguins gave the forward 16 points in the 2021-22 campaign.
Pittsburgh held on for a 6-2 victory, its 10th-consecutive win, while Philadelphia dropped its third decision in a row and a sense of urgency seems to be kicking in.
A month ago, the Flyers fired head coach Alain Vigneault amid a nine-game losing skid and named assistant Mike Yeo as the new bench boss on an interim basis. With Thursday’s loss to their Pennsylvania rivals, the Flyers dropped to 13-15-6.
Philadelphia currently has six players in COVID-19 protocol, while three players are on injured reserve.
“It sucks right now. I don’t know what to say,” Flyers forward Scott Laughton said post-game.
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