Elliott, Flyers Hold On for Win Over Blue Jackets

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

Playing in Columbus has been no picnic for the Flyers. In the last 14 years, the Flyers have just one win at Nationwide Arena, an overtime win in February 2018. Until Wednesday night.

The Flyers entered the Thanksgiving holiday on a high note, securing a 3-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets behind stellar play from Brian Elliott in the third period.

Columbus came out strong to start the game and opened the scoring at 4:51. Off a lost face-off by the Flyers, the Blue Jackets got a shot on goal from Emil Bemstrom. Elliott made the save, but the rebound went right to Nick Foligno for the goal, just his second of the season. 

The Flyers slowly started getting more possession time late in the first and turned it into the goal to tie the game. Tyler Pitlick stayed with a chance and put home his own rebound for his second goal of the season to tie the game with 1:22 left in the first.

Just 46 seconds later, Columbus took the lead with 35.1 seconds remaining. Seth Jones took a pass from Gustav Nyquist and fired it past Elliott to make it 2-1.

Early in the second, the Flyers got the equalizer. Joel Farabee made a perfect cross-ice pass to Scott Laughton at the side of the net and he finished for his first goal of the season at 3:19 of the period.

In the final five minutes of the period, the Flyers went to the power play for the fifth time in the game, already 0-for-4 on the night. Captain Claude Giroux made sure the Flyers didn't let the fifth one get away. Giroux fired a shot that tipped in front and beat Joonas Korpisalo. 

The Flyers carried the one-goal lead to the third period, and that's where Elliott stole the show. The Blue Jackets doubled their shot total in the third, taking 15 shots in the final 20 minutes. Elliott stopped them all, securing the 3-2 victory for the Flyers.

Elliott finished the game with 28 saves. Korpisalo made 19 saves in the defeat.

The Flyers get back on the ice for the annual Black Friday game, facing the Detroit Red Wings on Friday afternoon at 4 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• CBJ Nick Foligno (2) (Emil Bemstrom, Sonny Milano) 4:51
• PHI Tyler Pitlick (2) (James van Riemsdyk, Michael Raffl) 18:38
• CBJ Seth Jones (3) (Gustav Nyquist, Oliver Bjorkstrand) 19:24

2nd Period

• PHI Scott Laughton (1) (Joel Farabee, Kevin Hayes) 3:19
• PHI Claude Giroux (8) PP (Ivan Provorov, Travis Konecny) 16:35

3rd Period

• No Scoring

Game Statistics