Philadelphia Flyers can’t Complete Comeback in OT Loss to Columbus

The Philadelphia Flyers kicked off a three game road trip in taking on the Columbus Blue Jackets at the Nationwide Arena.

Hoping to keep their playoff dreams alive, the Philadelphia Flyers looked to extend their winning streak to three as they hit the road to take on the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Brian Elliott once again received the start in-net, opposing former Flyer goalie Sergei Bobrovsky. Bobrovsky entered this contest with a 2.07 Goals-Against Average and a .907 save percentage in 46 games played thus far. He did struggle in his last start against the Pittsburgh Penguins, making it that much more important for the Flyers to bring an offensive punch to keep the veteran goaltender’s confidence low.

Philadelphia did just that to kick off the first, scoring the game’s first goal on an early power-play opportunity to take a 1-0 advantage. Jakub Voracek netted the tally, sniping the puck passed Bob from the low slot, which was his 18th of the season.

Columbus would go on to tie things up on a power-play goal from Oliver Bjorkstrand, nabbing the equalizer with just one second left on the man advantage because lol, Flyers. Travis Sanheim got the lead back for Philadelphia with less than two minutes to go in the period, coming down from the point to shoot home a rebound attempt and put his team ahead 2-1 after 20.

Elliott and Bobrovsky stood tall through the starting stages of the second, not allowing either team to put a puck in the net though some solid chances were created. Artemi Panarin eventually solved the Philadelphia net-minder about halfway through the period, finding a small seem short-side on Elliott to tie the game back up for Columbus. The man they call “Moose” definitely wanted that goal back, as he should’ve sealed the post with his body. Everything stayed tied as the middle period came to a close, with the Blue Jackets leading in shots-on-goal 24-16.

The Blue Jackets pulled ahead within five minutes of the third period beginning in the form of Scott Harrington’s second goal of the year to make it a 3-2 game. Elliott was slightly screened in front of the net, preventing him from making the save on the point blast. While still getting heavily out-shot, the Flyers were able to find a way to tie things up yet again thanks to a sweet feed from Voracek to set-up Sanheim for his second goal of the evening. This was his eighth tally on the season and now leads all Flyers defenseman in that category. Neither team could find the game-winner, though, and this contest needed extra time to decide a victor.

Seth Jones scored the game-winning goal with just 32.3 seconds left in overtime to defeat Philadelphia, 4-3. I can’t say too much other than the Blue Jackets were just the better team. Sure, the Flyers could’ve brought more energy and sense of urgency early in the third, but Columbus really pressed offensively and got the win because of it.

The Flyers are now 30-27-7 on the 2018-19 campaign. Next game is Friday against another Metropolitan Division opponent in the New Jersey Devils.