(Photo: Kate Frese)
By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 
The Flyers have played three different types of games on home ice in their last four games overall — a lopsided defeat, a gut-wrenching loss late in regulation and a high-scoring shootout. They hit the road briefly, stopping to face the Columbus Blue Jackets, looking to find more consistency.
Columbus started off the season pretty strong with three wins in their first four games before falling last Saturday in a lopsided game of their own, an 8-2 loss to Tampa Bay. Having four full days to sit on that result, Columbus should be coming in ready to put that behind them.
Game time is set for 7 p.m.
Team Leaders
| Philadelphia Flyers | GP | G | A | P | Columbus Blue Jackets | GP | G | A | P |
| Claude Giroux | 6 | 3 | 5 | 8 | Artemi Panarin | 5 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| Jake Voracek | 6 | 2 | 6 | 8 | Nick Foligno | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Wayne Simmonds | 6 | 5 | 1 | 6 | Cam Atkinson | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Radko Gudas | 5 | 0 | 5 | 5 | Josh Anderson | 5 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Scott Laughton | 6 | 3 | 1 | 4 | Anthony Duclair | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Player to Watch | |
| 21 Scott Laughton | 9 Artemi Panarin |
| Last 5 Games: 2 G, 1 A, 3 P, +1 | Last 5 Games: 3 G, 4 A, 7 P, +1 |
| Goalie Matchup | |
| 33 Cal Pickard | 72 Sergei Bobrovsky |
| 2-0-0, 3.80 GAA, .868 SV% | 1-2-0, 4.38 GAA, .860 SV% |
One day after Dave Hakstol proclaimed that Brian Elliott was the No. 1 goalie despite pulling him in the third period of Tuesday's shootout win. Despite that, Cal Pickard will get the start on Thursday after emerging with the victory on Tuesday. Hakstol said this is a scheduled start for Pickard and has nothing to do with the result on Tuesday.
You probably weren't expecting to see numbers like that associated with Sergei Bobrovsky, but he has struggled early in the season. The numbers are a bit inflated over three starts. He allowed three goals to Carolina in a loss in his first game of the season and two to Colorado in a win, but stayed in for the duration of last Saturday's 8-2 loss. Bobrovsky does have excellent numbers against his former team, posting a 10-3-1 record with a 1.91 GAA against the Flyers in 14 career starts.
Flyers Projected Lineup
Injuries: Nolan Patrick, James van Riemsdyk, Michal Neuvirth
Scratches: Mikhail Vorobyev, Andrew MacDonald
| Left Wing | Center | Right Wing |
| 28 Claude Giroux | 14 Sean Couturier | 93 Jake Voracek |
| 23 Oskar Lindblom | 40 Jordan Weal | 11 Travis Konecny |
| 12 Michael Raffl | 21 Scott Laughton | 17 Wayne Simmonds |
| 22 Dale Weise | 15 Jori Lehtera | 10 Corban Knight |
| Defense | ||
| 9 Ivan Provorov | 53 Shayne Gostisbehere | |
| 8 Robert Hagg | 26 Christian Folin | |
| 6 Travis Sanheim | 3 Radko Gudas | |
| Goalie | ||
| 33 Cal Pickard |
Lineup Notes
The Flyers made an in-game line adjustment on Tuesday that they will stick with on Thursday, moving Michael Raffl to the third line left wing slot and Scott Laughton to third-line center. Mikhail Vorobyev was dropped to the fourth line on Tuesday and will come out of the lineup for Corban Knight, who makes his season debut.
Blue Jackets Projected Lineup
Injuries: Seth Jones, Brandon Dubinsky
Scratches: Markus Hannikainen, Dean Kukan
| Left Wing | Center | Right Wing |
| 9 Artemi Panarin | 18 Pierre-Luc Dubois | 13 Cam Atkinson |
| 71 Nick Foligno | 10 Alexander Wennberg | 91 Anthony Duclair |
| 38 Boone Jenner | 20 Riley Nash | 77 Josh Anderson |
| 22 Sonny Milano | 45 Lukas Sedlak | 28 Oliver Bjorkstrand |
| Defense | ||
| 8 Zach Werenski | 58 David Savard | |
| 27 Ryan Murray | 65 Markus Nutivaara | |
| 4 Scott Harrington | 6 Adam Clendening | |
| Goalie | ||
| 72 Sergei Bobrovsky |
Game Notes
- Power Play: Flyers (16th, T-12th on road), Blue Jackets (19th, T-21st at home)
- Penalty Kill: Flyers (25th, 19th on road), Blue Jackets (T-28th, T-15th at home)
- Recent History vs. Blue Jackets
- Dec. 23, 2017 – Blue Jackets 2, Flyers 1 F/SO (at CBJ)
- Feb. 16, 2018 – Flyers 2, Blue Jackets 1 F/OT (at CBJ)
- Feb. 22, 2018 – Flyers 2, Blue Jackets 1 (at PHI)
- March 15, 2018 – Blue Jackets 5, Flyers 3 (at PHI)
- Flyers Leaders vs. Blue Jackets
- Claude Giroux – 25 GP, 8 G, 14 A, 22 P
- Travis Konecny – 7 GP, 2 G, 3 A, 5 P
- Jake Voracek – 21 GP, 5 G, 10 A, 15 P
- Cal Pickard – 1 GP, 0-1-0, 2.03 GAA, .905 SV%
- Milestone Watch
- Jake Voracek needs two assists to pass John LeClair for 12th all-time in Flyers history.
- Jordan Weal will play in his 100th game as a Flyer tonight.
Where to Watch
TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio: 93.3 WMMR
