After a challenging season, Farabee finishing strong

PHILADELPHIA » From training camp through the regular-season wind down, the achievements and critiques of Joel Farabee have been a recurring Flyers theme.

For the player, for the franchise — and even for his demanding coach — it is ending with a flourish.

While often grumbled about by John Tortorella — and with his camp having reportedly leaked trade wishes at the deadline — Farabee has scored a goal in each of the last four games, including a 5-4 , shootout triumph over the Minnesota Wild Thursday.

“It’s a confidence league, and when you are playing with confidence, you start to feel good,” Farabee said. “I feel our line is really clicking with (Noah Cates) and (Owen Tippett). I felt like we had some really good cycles and made a lot of plays tonight. I hope we can keep it going.”

With 11 games to play, Farabee has 13 goals, one more than last season. And considering that he required major summertime neck surgery yet somehow made himself ready to begin the season, that meant the right wing was one of the few Flyers to exceed expectations in his fourth NHL season.

“I’m not a big ‘expectation’ guy,” Tortorella allowed. “I do think he’s played better.”

If Tortorella was slow all season to rave about Farabee, he had reason. Before his current outburst, Farabee had gone 26 games without a goal. But with enough games remaining to nudge to within the vicinity of his career-high 20th goal, Farabee likely will finish as the Flyers’ nominee for the Masterton Trophy as comeback player of the year.

“As I have been this year about some of his play, I have never been critical of him for how quickly he came back,” Tortorella said. “It’s high marks for how he handled that.”

It was enough for Farabee to remain high in the Flyers’ plans — unlikely as that might have seemed earlier.

“I do think an offseason,” said Tortorella, “is so important for him this year.”

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Convinced that Travis Sanheim would enjoy a breakthrough moment this season, Tortorella was determined to find a way to make it happen.

So he tried. And tried. And tried some more. He even has a list.

“Conversation. Sitting. Not playing,” Tortorella said. “I’ve tried 10 different ways from Sunday. It’s great that he scores a couple goals, but there’s a lot of work to be done.”

Sanheim, who delivered a pinpoint pass to Scott Laughton for a first-period goal Thursday, scored two goals in a Tuesday victory over Florida, boosting his season total to seven. That maintained his longshot chance to match his careerhigh nine, set in 2018-2019.

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The Flyers Charities Carnival will be Sunday afternoon from 11 to 3 at the Wells Fargo Center. In addition to its humanitarian mission, Laughton feels the event could have on-ice benefits to a team with so many young players and recent roster upheaval.

“I think you really get a sense of the culture and everything that goes with it,” he said. “You get to see the kids and the fans and try to interact with them. It’s a cool event.”

Tickets ($30) are available. Doors will open at 10:30.

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Though he is ticketed for a weekend return to Lehigh Valley, Tyson Foerster has caught Tortorella’s eye with six points in his first seven NHL games, including a third-period goal to force a 4-4 tie Thursday.

“Puck protection, positioning,” Tortorella said. “I think he gets it. He gets it away from the puck.”

Foerster was the No. 23 overall pick in the 2020 draft.

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NOTES » Nick Deslauriers was a late scratch with an upper body injury and will be reevaluated Friday. Tortorella called him day-to-day … Sanheim’s assist was the 100th of his career … The victory was Tortorella’s 700th in the NHL. Any reaction? “No.” … The Flyers will host Detroit Saturday afternoon at 1.