Image courtesy of Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
On a night where each team faced a former goaltender of the club, it was Sergei Bobrovsky and the Columbus Blue Jackets who had the last laugh, as Bob stopped 37 shots in a 2-0 win over the Philadelphia Flyers at the Wells Fargo Center. In a game that only produced a pair of goals, how much were the goals due to the Blue Jackets’ ability to produce offensively and how much was it the Flyers playing poor defense or being unlucky?
Columbus Blue Jackets score, 1-0 lead with 2:53 remaining in the second period. James Wisniewski power-play goal, assists from Mark Letestu and Fedor Tyutin.
MOST IMPACT ON PLAY
1. Steve Mason – At Fault
2. Mark Letestu – Credit
3. Sean Couturier – At Fault
4. Andrew MacDonald – At Fault
5. James Wisniewski – Credit
6. Fedor Tyutin – Credit
As the Blue Jackets are on the power play due to an uncharacteristically undisciplined penalty from Couturier, Tyutin and Ryan Johansen pass the puck back and forth just inside the blue line in the latter stage of the man advantage. After Tyutin catches a pass along the blue line between the circles, he moves the puck over to Letestu, who is a few feet above the top of the circle to Mason’s right. With a subtle no-look pass to the bottom of the circle, Letestu finds an open Wisniewski. Wasting no time at all, Wisniewski slams home his seventh of the season between Mason’s legs.
Mason is most at fault here, as the save on Wisniewski’s attempt was fairly easy. The Blue Jackets’ blue liner made it obvious where he was going and didn’t take the best shot, yet Mason couldn’t prevent the disc from going between his legs. Letestu deserves the most credit from the Columbus perspective, as his pass put MacDonald slightly out of position and froze Mason momentarily (and I mean momentarily). Couturier receives some blame, as he was the player that put the Flyers’ on the penalty kill which led to the game-winning goal. As for MacDonald, he was deeper in the box formation than he should have been before Letestu received the pass from Tyutin, and then he proceeded to move into no-man's land when Letestu received the pass failing to cover Letestu or go over to cover Wisniewski. After credit goes to Wisniewski for scoring the goal, Tyutin gets credit for having the secondary assist on the play.
Columbus Blue Jackets score, 2-0 lead with 16:40 left in regulation. Brandon Dubinsky goal, assists from Cam Atkinson and James Wisniewski.
MOST IMPACT ON PLAY
1. Brayden Schenn – At Fault
2. James Wisniewski – Credit
3. Tye McGinn – At Fault
4. Cam Atkinson – Credit
5. Brandon Dubinsky – Credit
After a turnover from Schenn in the defensive zone, Wisniewski slides a cross-ice pass to Atkinson, who releases a shot from the point to Mason’s right. As the shot attempt made its way through traffic, the puck hit Dubinsky’s skate and found its way between Mason’s legs for the Blue Jackets’ second and final goal of the game.
It was an unfortunate goal for the Flyers and you can’t really blame anybody on Philly for the goal taking place once Atkinson took the shot. However, Atkinson would have never had a chance to release his shot if the younger Schenn didn’t fail a clear attempt right to Wisniewski earlier in the play. Wisniewski deserves the most credit for the Blue Jackets on the play, as he caught Schenn’s clear attempt and quickly moved it across the ice to Atkinson. As Wisniewski catches the puck, McGinn, who looked as though to be responsible for the third of the ice to Mason’s right, takes a straight line to Wisniewski, which opens up Atkinson on the side of the ice where McGinn started the play. Atkinson, acknowledging the fact there was a lot of traffic in front of Mason and that he was open, just threw the puck on net. Technically, Dubinsky has to get some sort of credit since he scored the goal, but really he just had the puck accidentally hit his skate in front of the net.
It was a frustrating loss for the Orange and Black, as they watched a former netminder shut them out in a pivotal game in the season. Hopefully there are some Flyers’ goals to analyze after their game on Saturday against the Boston Bruins.
