Blue Jackets Strike Often as Flyers Fall in Columbus

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

It's no secret that the Columbus Blue Jackets have a cannon that sounds every time they score a goal. It got quite the workout on Thursday. It shouldn't be a surprise, given the Flyers defensive performances this season.

Columbus struck for three goals in the second and two more late in the third in a 6-3 win over the Flyers at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, dropping the Flyers to 3-4-0 on the season.

For the first time this season, the Flyers actually opened the scoring as Travis Konecny finally got his first goal of the season on a deflection in front off a Robert Hagg shot.

Columbus answered off a Flyers turnover in the neutral zone, as Anthony Duclair caught the Flyers in a line change and used a great individual effort to get a shot off and score to tie the game.

The Flyers had a quick answer as Sean Couturier floated a shot past Sergei Bobrovsky, who whiffed on the save attempt, to give the Flyers the lead in the final minute of the first period, 2-1.

Shots after the first period were 15-12 Flyers.

Much like the Flyers did after a sloppy first period on Tuesday, Columbus emerged in the second period as a completely different team, using transitional speed to catch the Flyers in all sorts of mistakes.

Cam Atkinson scored to tie the game at 1:34 off a cross-ice feed from Artemi Panarin and gave Columbus the lead at 4:42 by blowing around Hagg and putting a toe-drag move on Cal Pickard.

Less than four minutes later, Nick Foligno beat Pickard through a screen to make it 4-2 Columbus.

The Flyers could not solve Bobrovsky in the second, despite outshooting Columbus, 12-10.

Early in the third, the Flyers cut the lead to one with a nice wraparound goal by Oskar Lindblom, catching Bobrovsky off-guard at the side of the net. For the next few minutes, the Flyers had momentum, outshooting Columbus, 6-2, early and getting a power play. The power play struggles continued, though, as the Flyers never really got set up and squandered the chance to tie the game.

Jordan Weal went to the box for tripping with 7:41 remaining in the period in a spot where the net goal would be a dagger to the Flyers chances. They killed off the penalty before an untimely mistake took them out of the game for good.

Christian Folin lost his footing and fell trying to exit the zone. That allowed Josh Anderson to take control, move in on a brief two-on-one and shoot, beating Pickard short side to make it 5-3. For good measure, Sonny Milano added a late goal off another turnover to cap the scoring.

Pickard made 22 saves in the defeat. Bobrovsky again got the last laugh against his former team, making 32 saves in the win.

Claude Giroux had two assists and Konecny had a goal and an assist for a two-point night. Columbus had only two players with multi-point games, Atkinson with two goals and Panarin with two assists, but 11 different players registered points in the win.

The Flyers head back home for their next game on Saturday afternoon against the New Jersey Devils. Game time is at 1 p.m. 

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• PHI Travis Konecny (1) (Robert Hagg, Claude Giroux) 10:06
• CBJ Anthony Duclair (2) (Ryan Murray, Markus Nutivaara) 17:53
• PHI Sean Couturier (3) (Ivan Provorov, Giroux) 19:10

2nd Period

• CBJ Cam Atkinson (3) (Artemi Panarin) 1:34
• CBJ Atkinson (4) (Panarin) 4:42
• CBJ Nick Foligno (3) (David Savard, Zach Werenski) 8:34

3rd Period

• PHI Oskar Lindblom (2) (Konecny) 1:07
• CBJ Josh Anderson (4) (Unassisted) 15:12
• CBJ Sonny Milano (1) (Oliver Bjorkstrand) 17:48

Game Statistics