The Philadelphia Flyers came through on Tuesday with a really solid full-game effort as they defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets by a score of 5-3.
Noah Cates got the scoring started just 4:37 into the game before Owen Tippett doubled their lead heading into the first intermission. Travis Konecny scored twice in the second period while Morgan Frost added a tally in the third to keep the Blue Jackets at bay.
Zach Werenski cut the deficit to 2 in the second period with his power play blast, Sean Monahan’s goal made it 5-2 midway through the third, and Kent Johnson added a tally with just 39 seconds left to make the score look a lot closer than it actually was.
Konecny, Frost, and Matvei Michkov recorded multi-point games, Nick Seeler and Jamie Drysdale were each +3, and Samuel Ersson needed just 14 saves to earn his 6th win of the season.
Looking to snap their three-game skid, the Flyers visited Nationwide Arena to take on the Blue Jackets for the first time this season.
The Flyers’ last three games hadn’t been as bad as advertised but they blew two third period leads en route to disappointing defeats, especially after rattling off three straight wins and running 8-2-2 in their previous 12 games. The lineup remained the same, with Samuel Ersson receiving another start in goal.
As for the Blue Jackets, they entered Tuesday’s contest with a 12-12-3 record, which had them in last place in the Metropolitan Division but trailed both Philadelphia and Pittsburgh by 1 point while holding games in hand before the game.
Defenseman Zach Werenski was having a fantastic start to the season as he led the team with 28 points in 27 games, Kirill Marchenko paced the team in goals with 10 and was second with 26 points, while Sean Monahan rounded out the top-3 with 23 points.
Former Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov has taken on more of a defensive role with his new club as he sat with just 10 points, but averaged 23:18 of ice time. Elvis Merzļikins earned the start as he looked to improve on his 9-7-2 record, 2.95 GAA, and a .893 SV%.
FIRST PERIOD
4:37 into the game, the Flyers opened the scoring after a bang-bang play in front of the net by Noah Cates. Tyson Foerster’s initial shot was stopped by Elvis Merzļikins, but the puck popped up in the air before Cates was able to get a stick on it and it bounced into the net.
With 9:04 remaining in the period, Owen Tippett ripped a snap shot past Merzļikins’ blocker for his 9th of the season. The play started with Morgan Frost zipping through the defensive zone and into the neutral zone. Frost then left it off to Jamie Drysdale who entered the offensive zone with speed before he dropped it off to Tippett at the blueline. That allowed him time and space to fire a perfect shot.
The Flyers then jumped on their first power play of the night at the 14:55 mark of the period, however their slump continued with yet another ineffective attempt with the extra skater.
Nevertheless, the period came to a close with the Flyers ahead 2-0 on the scoreboard and 7-4 on the shot clock.
SECOND PERIOD
4:33 into the second period, Kevin Labanc was called for a high-sticking minor against Bobby Brink just mere moments after Sean Kuraly laid out Drysdale behind the Flyers net. With 23 seconds remaining on the penalty, Travis Konecny wired a hard shot blocker-side past Merzļikins for his 14th of the season.
It was a great shift all around as Brink did a fantastic job at keeping the puck in the zone, Matvei Michkov then did a terrific job at finding Konecny wide open in the slot, and Emil Andrae did his best Scott Hartnell/Wayne Simmonds interpretation by screening Merzļikins completely.
The Flyers jumped back onto the power play after Mathieu Olivier got the gate for a five-minute major originally after flattening Andrae along the boards with 11:41 remaining. However, after a review, the referees reduced it to a two-minute minor for elbowing.
Michkov rang one of off the post but it was a power play to forget with the first 80 seconds washed out by the Jackets either holding onto the puck or keeping the Flyers from entering the zone.
As expected after the Olivier hit, a fight ensued with Nick Seeler dropping the gloves, with the former dropping the latter to the delight of the home fans at the 10:51 mark.
Momentum was all on the side of the Orange and Black as they led on the scoreboard 3-0, shot clock 17-6, and shot attempts were 46-14 in their favour. However with 4:23 remaining, Travis Sanheim was sent to the sin bin for a hooking minor, sending the struggling Jackets power play onto the ice for the first time.
With 42 ticks remaining on the penalty and 3:04 in the period, Zach Werenski wired a one-timer past Samuel Ersson glove-side for his 9th of the season. Kirill Marchenko did a fantastic job with a reverse hit to get to a loose puck before setting up the Werenski blast.
With momentum slightly tipping towards Columbus’ favour, Konecny reclaimed the Flyers’ 3-goal lead after sliding the puck through Merzļikins’ five-hole. His breakaway was spurred by a great stretch pass from Joel Farabee before he froze the goaltender with a perfect slip through the five-hole for his second of the night and 15th on the season.
While the Blue Jackets had something building near the end of the period, Konecny’s second of the night quelled some fear of another late meltdown. After 40 minutes of play, the Flyers carried a 4-1 lead on the scoreboard and a 17-12 edge in shots.
THIRD PERIOD
1:55 into the final frame, Frost followed his own rebound to give the Flyers an unassailable four-goal lead. Michkov, who has done so well in tight, was able to register his second assist of the night after a gorgeous feed to Frost from below the goal-line. Although he was initially stopped, he followed his own rebound for his fourth of the season.
1:31 later, Konecny was sent to the box for a slashing minor but fortunately the suddenly leaky penalty killing unit was able to survive the kill despite some dangerous chances from Werenski and Marchenko.
With 8:18 remaining, Monahan cut the deficit back to three after deflecting a Dante Fabbro shot from the point. The Blue Jackets capitalized with the Flyers hemmed in their own zone after they failed to clear the zone a few times.
With the game winding down, Kent Johnson deflected a Damon Severson shot from the point that managed to get past Ersson with just 39 seconds remaining. It was certainly a backbreaking goal with how the period was zipping by and how well the Flyers had done otherwise.
Nevertheless, the Flyers came out with a bang and were able to separate themselves a little more from Pittsburgh and Columbus in the standings and found themselves in a Wild Card spot for the time being.
UP NEXT
The Flyers return to Wells Fargo Center to host the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night (7:00pm; NBCSP).
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