Flyers Unable to Come Back Against Blue Jackets

(Photo: Kate Frese)

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

The Flyers gave plenty of support to Carter Hart in his first two games in the NHL. In Saturday's game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, not so much. 

Hart faced just 19 shots in the game, but allowed four goals as the Flyers struggled and were unable to find a rally in a 4-3 loss to the Blue Jackets at Wells Fargo Center.

There wasn't much action early in a quick moving first period. A big hit by Radko Gudas on Markus Hannikainen fired things up a bit, as Brandon Dubinsky came in and dropped the gloves with Gudas.

Shots were limited early, but one did find the net at 15:05. Off a turnover by Ivan Provorov, Columbus gained control, made a few quick passes and the puck got to Zach Werenski in the high slot. He got off a quick release and beat Hart to the glove side to make it 1-0 Blue Jackets.

The Flyers got a power play with 2:20 remaining in the period and were on their way to another missed opportunity. The power play entered Saturday's game in a 1-for-31 slump, including going 0-for-15 in the last four games, which had it ranked last in the NHL. There were no shots on the power play until Sean Couturier got a backhander off with two seconds left in the man advantage and scored to tie the game with 22.7 seconds left in the period.

Shots after the first period were 7-5 Flyers.

The Flyers grabbed the lead at 7:40 of the second period. Phil Varone tried to center the puck and it his a Columbus player and bounced to James van Riemsdyk in the slot. JVR was stopped by Sergei Bobrovsky with the pad, but the rebound went right to Varone at the side of the net and he scored his first goal as a Flyer to make it 2-1.

Columbus responded with three goals before the end of the period.

Off a bad line change, Columbus charged up on a rush. Pierre-Luc Dubois made a move around a defender and centered for Ryan Murray who made a one-touch pass to Cam Atkinson. Hart made an incredible skate save on Atkinson, but Atkinson got his own rebound to score to make it 2-2 at 9:30.

Just under five minutes later, Atkinson was at it again, getting his second goal of the game. After a turnover by Jake Voracek at his own blue line, Columbus used another quick passing play to get the puck to the front of the net where Atkinson was waiting for the redirection to put Columbus on top.

Just like the first period, the Flyers got a late power play with a chance to tie the game. After the power play expired, the Flyers had to take a defensive zone face-off. Dubois won it to Artemi Panarin, who quickly let go a one-timer that beat Hart to make it 4-2 with 36 seconds left in the period.

After two periods, shots were 22-15 Flyers.

Columbus locked down the defensive zone in the third period, while Bobrovsky made some big saves to keep the margin at two. The Flyers failed to score on a power play with 9:19 remaining in the period and again on a power play with 4:05 remaining.

The Flyers did finally cut into the lead with 1:10 remaining as van Riemsdyk was able to poke in a loose puck to cut the lead to one. But the Flyers never got a quality shot on Bobrovsky in the final 70 seconds, falling short in their bid to rally.

Bobrovsky finished the game with 34 saves on 37 shots. Hart made 15 saves on 19 shots in the loss, the first of his career.

The Flyers have one more game before the holiday break, traveling to face the New York Rangers on Sunday night at 7 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• CBJ Zach Werenski (6) (Pierre-Luc Dubois, Artemi Panarin) 15:05
• PHI Sean Couturier (14) PP (Claude Giroux) 19:37

2nd Period

• PHI Phil Varone (1) (James van Riemsdyk, Dale Weise) 7:40
• CBJ Cam Atkinson (21) (Ryan Murray, Dubois) 9:30
• CBJ Atkinson (22) (Scott Harrington, Panarin) 13:23
• CBJ Panarin (10) (Dubois) 19:24

3rd Period

• PHI van Riemsdyk (5) (Jake Voracek, Wayne Simmonds) 18:50

Game Statistics