The Philadelphia Flyers (31-23-12) picked up one point but left the second one on the table as the Columbus Blue Jackets (34-21-11) skated into Xfinity Mobile Arena and defeated the Flyers, 2-1, in a shootout on Saturday night.
Alex Bump picked up his second career NHL goal since being recalled and Dan Vladař made 27 saves through regulation and overtime, but it wasn’t enough for the offense-starved Flyers.
“Sluggish group tonight. We didn’t obviously have our A-game,” said Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet postgame. “It was sluggish… a lot of hockey lately. Late nights, I don’t know. But getting a point with our B-game, gotta take a positive out of it.”
The Flyers are now six points out of the final Wild Card spot in the East, occupied by the Detroit Red Wings, and seven points behind the New York Islanders for third in the Metropolitan Division.
The Flyers almost capitalized about a minute and a half into the game on a Travis Sanheim shot that was deflected and just stayed out. Columbus came back down the ice and rang the post a minute later on a rebound opportunity from Kent Johnson. Travis Konecny then fed Christian Dvorak for a scoring opportunity that Jet Greaves erased with a sliding right pad save about 1:25 after that.
Columbus soon found the back of the net first as a Mason Marchment shot was stopped and led to a mad scramble around the crease. Vladař made a few save and Konecny blocked a shot with his head, but the puck found its way to Kirill Marchenko for a 1-0 Jackets lead with 15:39 left.
Philadelphia would respond with 9:36 to play as Bump tipped an Emil Andrae point shot that went off the back bar of the goal and popped back out, but it was initially waived off. After review, it was evident the puck crossed the goal line for a tie game.
The Blue Jackets stormed back with pressure immediately afterwards but Vladař was able to keep things level with some big saves.
A scary moment occurred inside six minutes to go as Denver Barkey was boarded by Marchenko while chasing a puck in the left corner. Barkey was crunched awkwardly and lost his helmet, but luckily he was okay and returned to the game later in the second period. Marchenko was initially given a major penalty on the play but it was bumped down to a minor after review.
The first period was probably Philadelphia’s best of the game, and it was also the most exciting of the game. Despite just 6 shots on goal, they did score once and had some quality chances. Just 5 shots on goal would be had in the second period followed by 7 more in the third. There was an overall timidity to their shot selection and the power play once again didn’t come through when they needed to. The Flyers went 0/4 on the man advantage, including a four-minute power play late in the second period that carried over into the third.
At the very least, there was some snarl to this game between the two divisional foes. Carl Grundström laid a big hit on Damon Severson and Adam Fantilli stepped in to defend his teammate with a fight with just over eight minutes left in the middle frame.
Barkey also took a run at Severson late in the second period and chaos ensued as the Blue Jackets were not pleased about the hit.
Cooler heads prevailed throughout the rest of the game and as we reached the shootout, only Marchenko could find the back of the net as he beat Vladař blocker-side on the backhand to send Columbus home with the extra point in the standings.
3 STARS OF THE GAME: 1) Kirill Marchenko – CBJ, 2) Trevor Zegras – PHI, 3) Denver Barkey – PHI
UP NEXT
The Flyers begin their three-game California road trip on Wednesday night when they take on the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center. Puck drop is scheduled for 10:00pm ET.
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