He may not have gotten on the scoresheet, but Joel Farabee played a very instrumental part in the Calgary Flames’ win on Thursday night.
Despite outshooting the Seattle Kraken 46-23, this game came right down to the wire. With just seconds remaining, the Kraken were pushing late before Mikael Backlund buried one on an empty net for his second of the evening.
🔥FLAMES GOAL🔥
Mikael Backlund finishes this game off with an empty netter! What a shot block by Joel Farabee to make that all happen.
🎥: Sportsnet | #Flames pic.twitter.com/QlBPwzCjWS
— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) December 19, 2025
That empty netter, however, wouldn’t have been possible if it weren’t for two courageous shot blocks by Joel Farabee.
“Huge blocks,” Backlund said postgame. “Those go by, you never know if they go in. Those are two huge blocks. He sacrificed the body there for the team and has all year for us. He’s been working so hard and playing so well for us this year.
“He always puts his body on the line for the boys, and we all appreciate it.”
Farabee’s late-game heroics overshadowed what was yet another incredible performance from Rasmus Andersson. The Swedish blueliner recorded three assists in this one, the first of which marked the 200th of his career.
🔥FLAMES GOAL🔥
Rasmus Andersson makes a perfect pass to Mikael Backlund who ties this game!
🎥: Sportsnet | #Flames pic.twitter.com/HWHLHyDT2X
— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) December 19, 2025
As is par for the course with this team, Andersson didn’t want to chat much about his own accolades, instead praising the group’s performance as a whole, and, of course, Farabee’s shot blocks to help close this one out.
“It’s great,” Andersson said. “It does not feel good, so it’s great to see that. That’s what you need to win games, and he’s not afraid to do it. He’s been doing it all year. Hopefully, the fans can see that he does it on a nightly basis. It’s huge in situations like that.”
That willingness to put his body on the line comes, at least in part, from spending nearly three seasons playing under John Tortorella, a coach who demands that type of effort from all of his players regardless of their spot in any specific lineup.
“Guys love it. Those are the things that matter,” Huska said. “We’ve talked to him about shot blocking a lot before. It’s kind of where he’s come from. It’s what they were all about [in Philadelphia], and he’s brought it here.
“When the game’s on the line, you want all players to recognize that you have to do whatever is necessary to win a game. In that situation, there’s two blocks that he came up with that were big ones. Really, really big thing in our dressing room when we have guys step up like Joel did tonight.”
With Thursday’s win, the Flames were able to jump ahead of both the Kraken and Nashville Predators to move into 29th in league standings. They’ll have one more game on home ice before the holiday break on Saturday versus the Vegas Golden Knights, before heading a few hours north up the highway to face the Edmonton Oilers next Tuesday.
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