Farabee Set To Make NHL Debut Monday Night

ALLENTOWN, Pa. -- After recording a goal in each of his first three pro games and adding an assist on Morgan Frost's first career pro goal in his fourth game at the AHL level with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, Joel Farabee finds himself making his NHL debut Monday night against the Vegas Golden Knights.

While the Philadelphia Flyers -- and their fans alike -- are hoping for the 19-year-old to jumpstart what has been a largely snakebitten offense through six games, Phantoms' head coach Scott Gordon explained over the weekend that it's more about what Farabee is doing away from the puck that has allowed him to have success offensively so far this season.

"The offense is happening for Joel because he plays a 200-foot game," head coach Scott Gordon said after Farabee's third goal of the season Friday night against Binghamton. "He makes good decisions, doesn't turn over pucks, works in the defensive zone, wins 1-on-1 battles. He affords himself the opportunity to not spend a lot of time in his zone because of all the details in his game."

Even though Farabee was unable to score goals during Flyers' preseason action, he said he thought he created plenty of scoring chances and that it could translate down in the AHL.

It also helped that Farabee came to the Phantoms with a positive mindset, and a good attitude.

"Just being there after getting cut, having to spend the last couple days there kind of almost pissed me off a little bit," Farabee said, adding, "Just being over there and not having made the team. I just didn't really want to feel like that ever again, so I figured I'm going to come down here with a good attitude and play with a lot of confidence."

While it's a big adjustment for any player entering the pro ranks, Gordon mentioned the importance of Farabee's one-year stint in Hockey-East with Boston University as a stepping stone for why he's been able to transition to the AHL so smoothly through the first two weeks.

"There's no question when I look at his career path and some of the junior players, the benefit of him playing for a big D-1 college program at BU and the competition he had to play against, it's such a huge advantage because he's playing against 23-25 year old men," Gordon explained of Farabee. "The guys coming from junior, they have to make the adjustment to playing against someone that is older than them versus someone who is younger than them," Gordon said of Farabee's advantage transitioning to the pro game, adding, "Physically, you have to be able to handle it. He's shown he's had success in his freshmen year of college, and that experience has prepared him well for professional hockey."

Beginning Monday night, Farabee gets his next chance to prove he can be an every day NHL hockey player.