The Columbus Blue Jackets snapped their seven-game losing streak tonight after escaping Philadelphia with a victory. This is one of the few times this year we can type that out after the Philadelphia Flyers dominated most of this game.
Elvis Merzlikins stopped 47 shots, Carson Meyer recorded his first NHL goal and assist in the first period, Noah Cates scored his first NHL goal, Ronnie Attard collected his first NHL point, and Justin Danforth scored the game-winning goal with 6:44 remaining in the third. The Flyers had a 38-16 shot advantage after 40 minutes but it was Columbus who took control in the third period as they were able to take the game out of the Flyers hands.
After snapping their four-game losing streak on Sunday with a surprise shootout win over the New York Rangers, the Flyers welcomed back Scott Laughton and Keith Yandle to their line-up before the first game of a home-and-home with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Nick Seeler and Zack MacEwen remained out of the lineup after sustaining injuries in their 6-3 loss on Saturday against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Hayden Hodgson was sent down to the AHL as they not only need bodies for their playoff push, but also because there was no room with Laughton’s return.
FIRST PERIOD
The newly formed line of Scott Laughton, Travis Konecny, and Noah Cates started the game with the first scoring chance as Laughton back-handed a loose rebound in the slot for Merzlikins to pad aside. However, on the ensuing rush, the Columbus Blue Jackets took a very early 1-0 lead as Brendan Gaunce jammed home a puck from the short-side. Ronnie Attard’s initial clearance attempt was kept in right at the blue line by Gaunce. He then sent a pass towards Eric Robinson, who was streaking towards Hart. The shot was stopped but the rebound was loose and Gaunce corralled it behind the net and jammed away before the puck finally rolled in.
Midway mark of the period brought about the Flyers first power play after Travis Sanheim was tripped up by Sean Kuraly. The 32nd-ranked power play went head-to-head with the 20th-ranked penalty kill of the Blue Jackets and even though the Flyers took 4 shots, none of them were real testers, outside of an Attard slap-shot from faceoff dot. Not too long after the penalty kill, the Blue Jackets’ Carson Meyer, who recorded his first NHL point on Gaunce’s goal, doubled the lead to make it 2-0.
Attard pinched for a body check on Robinson but he was able to outlet the puck to Zach Werenski before taking the hit. Keith Yandle was the last man standing trying to defend a 2 on 1 and Werenski made no mistake in feeding Meyer, whose one-timer found daylight underneath Hart’s pad. Hart went down a little too early and as he tried to get back up, his five-hole was left unattended. Meyer played just 3:10 last night in their game against Boston but he recorded his first career goal and assist in just 2:56 of ice time in the first period.
Owen Tippett drew a holding-the-stick penalty on Vladislav Gavrikov as the Flyers power play was brought back onto the ice, hoping to cut the deficit in half. Attard had a few chances yet again but the Flyers power play went for nought as Elvis Merzlikins was having himself a period with 16 saves at that point in time. With 2:25 left in the first period, Noah Cates scored his first career NHL goal after a great forechecking play by Patrick Brown to set him up. Brown’s initial point shot went wide and as Jake Christiansen tried to bank it off the boards to his teammates, but Brown hurried over and intercepted the puck and then fed a pass to an unmarked Cates, wide open in the slot.
Unlike their game on Sunday against the Rangers, when it took the Flyers until the third period to reach the 20 shot-mark, they entered the first intermission with a 20-8 shot edge. The Blue Jackets jumped on their opportunities that were few and far in between and scored some dirty-but-good goals to take a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes.
SECOND PERIOD
With the Flyers applying early pressure, 3:42 into the second period they were sent on their 3rd power play of the game after Eric Robinson was called for a slashing penalty on Morgan Frost. The Flyers had 2 or 3 great chances before the whistle was blown, including a few dekes by Travis Sanheim as he traversed his way towards the blue paint. They didn’t look dangerous for the first 110 seconds, but in the final 10 seconds Cam York hit the post and then Joel Farabee had a chance that went just wide.
10 minutes into the period and the Flyers had a 10-4 shot advantage as the Blue Jackets were being peppered shift after shift, but Merzlikins had all the answers. The Blue Jackets’ offensive opportunities were and far in between but whenever they did fire a shot towards Hart, it ended up becoming a scoring chance.
The two teams traded scoring chances with Werenski hitting the post and then Owen Tippett being stopped on a breakaway before James van Riemsdyk tied the game up after deflecting a Ronnie Attard slap-shot. van Riemsdyk created a turnover to keep the puck in the zone and then fed it to Kevin Hayes. His centering pass attempt missed but it bounced off the boards to an unmarked Attard, who unleashed a rocket from the point that was deflected home.
The Flyers had a few more dangerous scoring chances with only seconds left in the period but Merzlikins kept the Jackets in the game by robbing both Cam Atkinson and Kevin Hayes, as the Flyers threw 18 more shots his way in the period. They headed into the second intermission with a 38-16 shot advantage.
THIRD PERIOD
Both teams started the third period with scoring chances apiece as Brendan Gaunce had an abbreviated breakaway and tried jamming home another goal as he deked his way into the crease. Tippett, who has had a good run of late of creating scoring opportunities, had another chance to score but was stopped in the slot by the glove of Merzlikins. The scoring chances continued to come as the Blue Jackets hit the post before Hayes was robbed on a breakaway after Jakub Voracek turned the puck over in the offensive zone.
The game really started to open up and as the Flyers had done all game, their pressure was relentless and they drew another power play after Patrik Laine was called for a high-sticking penalty 7:17 into the period. Ten seconds into the power play, Hayes hit the cross-bar with the rebound going right to Cam Atkinson, whose shot was blocked with a maze of defenders blocking the empty net. The rest of the 110 seconds that followed produced very little as the Blue Jackets killed off their 4th penalty of the game. Heading into the second commercial break, the Flyers were called for their first penalty of the game as Joel Farabee was nabbed for a slashing minor.
The 25th-ranked Columbus power play went head to head with the 24th-ranked Philadelphia penalty kill and just like the previous Flyers’ man advantages, not much happened for Columbus’ power play outside of one decent chance. The Flyers did a very good job at restricting the Blue Jackets to the perimeter and the penalty kill came at an opportune time as the game remained tied at two with seven minutes to go in regulation. However, only 20 seconds after the penalty was killed, the Jackets took the lead with a little over six minutes to go. Jake Bean’s point shot was padded aside, but the rebound was had by Justin Danforth who broke through the Flyers defense and potted the rebound home through Hart’s five-hole.
The Flyers had about 100 seconds to work with an extra attacker after Carter Hart was pulled. Merzlikins came up big with a few saves before a Kevin Hayes blast bounced off the glass and fortuitously to a Blue Jackets stick, and it was Sean Kuraly who iced the game with a 2 on 0 empty net goal to make it 4-2, and that’s how the game would end.
UP NEXT
These two clubs will meet again on Thursday night in downtown Columbus as the Flyers visit the Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena in Cam Atkinson’s return to his former home.
