The Philadelphia Flyers recorded their second consecutive victory on the road for the first time in 2022 as they dumped the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-1. Both teams split the home-and-home with the road team coming out victorious each time. The Flyers played very well tonight, as they did on Tuesday, however they weren’t able to beat Elvis Merzlikins in Philadelphia. He looked very mortal tonight as the Flyers scored four consecutive goals, thanks to a three-goal second period, which started with a Kevin Connauton goal to tie things up. Martin Jones stopped 26 shots en route to his second straight victory after stopping 43 in his last start against the New York Rangers.
After playing pretty well for about 50 minutes on Tuesday night against the same Blue Jackets, the Flyers shuffled their lines yet again. Scott Laughton found himself centering the top line with Joel Farabee and the homecoming king Cam Atkinson. Kevin Hayes had the young kids in Owen Tippett and Noah Cates, Morgan Frost had the veterans in James van Riemsdyk and Travis Konecny, while the fourth line remained intact with Nate Thompson, Oskar Lindblom, and Patrick Brown. Keith Yandle was yanked out of the lineup again, this time for Kevin Connauton who was set to play with Ronnie Attard. Martin Jones was between the pipes for the Flyers and Elvis Merzlikins was tending the twine for Columbus again who remained unchanged from their victory on Tuesday night.
FIRST PERIOD
3:21 into the first period, the Flyers were caught with having too many men on the ice as they were about to transition from defense to offense. It was the Flyers’ 23rd-ranked penalty killed that had the last laugh against the 25th-ranked power play of the Blue Jackets as they weren’t able to create any chances and were barely set up in the offensive zone. The first period started off the same way the third period commenced in their last game. Very tentative, very even, very patient. Not much was happening in the first 10-plus minutes outside of a post that was hit by Zack Werenski.
Whistles were few and far in between as the first commercial break occurred five minutes later. The period was zooming along with very few shots or chances being created, which is saying something since both teams rank in the bottom-five in shots on goal allowed. With just a shade over five minutes remaining, Travis Sanheim was clipped with a high-stick, giving the Flyers their first power play of the game and a chance to add to their 12.8% success rate for the season.
It only took 19 seconds for a goal to come out of it, but unfortunately it was Columbus tallying a shorthanded marker. Cam York’s point shot was blocked by the Jackets and the loose puck was pushed out of the zone by Vladislav Gavrikov. He pushed it out on his own all the way to the centre-ice line before sending a perfect pass to Eric Robinson, who made no mistake on the breakaway scoring blocker-side.
The Flyers couldn’t do much with the rest of 1:41 outside of a post hit by Travis Konecny with the power play coming to an end. Scott Laughton was called for a cross-checking penalty with 2:15 remaining in the period but just like the first opportunity, nothing dangerous came out of it.
SECOND PERIOD
The second period was tilting towards the Columbus end as they were peppering the Flyers with shots, chances, and zone time but an opportunistic and aggressive Kevin Connauton stole a puck at the blue line and then ripped a snap shot glove side to get the Flyers on the board and tie the game at one. The goal represented Connauton’s first as a member of the Philadelphia Flyers.
Shortly after, the Flyers almost took the lead with Morgan Frost setting up Travis Konecny in the slot but as he was taking the shot he was impeded by Gavrikov. The power play looked a little better than their previous attempt but still produced a goose-egg.
The game-tying goal by Connauton seemed to spark the Flyers as they took the lead with an Owen Tippett marker after a Brendan Gaunce fumble. The Flyers dumped the puck into the zone, far out of Merzlikins’ reach. The puck then took a funny bounce over Gaunce for Owen Tippett to corral the loose puck and fired home a snap-shot.
The Flyers momentum train kept churning, especially the Hayes-Tippett-Cates line as they struck yet again. Ivan Provorov’s shot was blocked but the loose puck went straight to Noah Cates at the side of the net as he was able to lift it over Merzlikins for his second career NHL goal.
The Flyers drew another penalty with 28 seconds left in the period and would start the third with 1:28 of power play time.
THIRD PERIOD
Entering the third period up by two, the Flyers were 11-1-3 when entering the final period with a lead. The Flyers had three great scoring chances in the first few minutes, in large part due to the power play. Joel Farabee whiffed on one chance, Ivan Provorov hit the post, and then Provorov was robbed by the glove of Merzlikins. Having the Blue Jackets on the rope, Tippett almost delivered the kill-shot with a wrap-around attempt that Merzlikins just got a pad to. Just like in the first period, whistles were few and far in between as the game was clock was ticking away. The Blue Jackets’ comeback attempt looked middling and almost non-existent as the Flyers aggressive forecheck was on full display, outside of a shot from Jack Roslovic that hit the iron.
With 8:18 remaining in regulation, the Flyers found themselves on the power play for the fourth time in the game after James van Riemsdyk was hooked by Adam Boqvist. With a chance to put the game away, the Flyers’ power play couldn’t muster up any chances as the Blue Jackets almost clawed their way back in if it wasn’t for a huge glove save by Martin Jones.
With 3:05 left in regulation the Flyers seemingly took the game away after Travis Konecny’s shot looked to have crossed the line to give them a 4-1 lead. The referee behind the net quickly blew his whistle and said no goal but after a quick conference and review, Konecny was awarded the goal.
After the Blue Jackets iced the puck attempting an outlet pass, the Flyers won the ensuing draw with the initial point shot being blocked but Morgan Frost kept the play alive by swinging it towards the net. The puck was sitting near the face-off dot for Konecny to pick up as his shot eventually found a way into the net.
UP NEXT
Philadelphia returns home on Saturday against the Anaheim Ducks, where they will honor longtime public address announced Lou Nolan for his time with the organization in a pregame ceremony.
