Five days off on the schedule helped end a five-game home winning streak for the Flyers. But the break was hardly a reason for the Flyers sluggish effort against a reeling Blue Jackets team.
Columbus entered Friday night's game on a nine-game losing streak – 0-8-1 in their last nine games – and stunned the Flyers with a 4-3 win.
It was a game the Flyers could have won, but didn't deserve to win. In the end, Columbus dealt the Flyers the result they earned, no points against a division foe that couldn't find a way to win.
"We couldn’t keep up. That’s how it looked to me," head coach Craig Berube said. "Their speed got to us. Couldn’t break the puck out properly. There were times we had good shifts offensively or got offensive time and didn’t shoot the puck enough. We looked like we were a step behind."
The Flyers were out-shot in all three periods, but did start to find a rhythm in the second. It was the four times the Flyers were short-handed that proved to be the difference.
In their first eight games at home, the Flyers allowed one power play goal. On Friday, they allowed three.
"They took advantage of just having patience and out-waiting us a couple times to make plays," Steve Mason said. "Games like this is where the penalty kill has to step up and, as a unit, we didn’t do a very good job and it could have been a turning point in the game for us."
On Nick Foligno's second goal, the only goal not scored on the power play for Columbus, the Flyers defensemen on ice at the time – Nick Schultz and Michael Del Zotto – both went down in attempts to block a potential shot. There was no aggressiveness on the puck carriers as there had been in the previous three games.
Berube's defense had succeeded most when keeping the puck to the outside, especially on the penalty kill. Friday night, the Flyers looked unprepared for a Columbus team that had no business competing with them.
But, as is the case with all underdogs, don't take them lightly. The Flyers were handed the perfect opponent following a five-day layoff. And they played down to that opponent.
"We weren’t sharp at all," Wayne Simmonds said. "We didn’t come out good and that set the tone for the rest of the game."
The Flyers struggles did not get to the red-hot top line, which continued to produce on Friday. Claude Giroux scored the first goal of the game for the Flyers and Jake Voracek scored the second. Giroux and Voracek each had two points, extending each of their points streaks. Giroux is on a four-game points streak and Voracek is on a nine-game points streak – tying a career high.
But that was the only line to find production. The Flyers other lines failed to put anything together.
It was a rough night for the third line – Sean Couturier, Matt Read and Brayden Schenn – who had been succeeding prior to the break. The second line – R.J. Umberger, Vincent Lecavalier and Jason Akeson – continued a season-long slump that is starting to get to Berube.
"They need to work harder and compete harder. Win battles, that’s the bottom line," Berube said. "You can’t go out there and play in this league if you don’t want to compete and you don’t want to skate. As a line, they need to do that."
Lucky for the Flyers, there's a chance to collectively right the ship on Saturday in Montreal. It is a game where the Flyers won't be able to play down to the competition. Montreal has a 12-4-1 record and 25 points in the standings, tied for the most in the NHL and leading the Eastern Conference.
A win in Montreal would certainly be a step back in the right direction. A loss like that to close out a homestand where so much had gone right was a move backwards.
Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @KDursoPhilsNet.
