Gaudreau, Werenski Sink Flyers in Columbus
By Scott Cole
Maybe the Flyers were looking past the Columbus Blue Jackets in what was a trap game. Maybe Carter Hart wasn’t healthy enough and ready to play after missing a game due to illness. Maybe the Jackets were pumped up about seeing their former coach for the first time at home. Whatever the case, Columbus came out ready to go and ripped off a 5-2 victory over the visiting Flyers, ending a brutal five game losing streak.
In what should’ve been a favorable matchup against one of the NHL’s worst teams. the Flyers stumbled and let the Blue Jackets build up a 3-0 lead to start the game. CBJ is rated at the bottom of almost every statistical category. But hey, it’s why the game is played on ice and not on paper. It also helped that the Flyers kept turning the puck over against against Columbus’s best line time and again.
The scoring started when Owen Tippett made a pass that was intercepted by Zach Werenski; one of the best blueliners in the league. Werenski turned around quickly and found Johnny Gaudreau, who was skating up the left side of the ice. With Justin Braun trailing him, Johnny G fired a shot over Hart’s shoulder for his sixth goal of the year.
With about eight minutes left in the first period, Gaudreau picked another pass by Tippett and sped down the left side of the ice again. He faked to Patrick Laine, who was covered, but found Werenski streaking up the center. Gaudreau passed it to Werenski who slid it past Hart.
Tippett almost redeemed himself for his two costly mistakes with the teams playing 4-on-4 hockey after Nick Blankenburg and Joel Farabee were both sent to the sin bin for roughing. Tippett took a pass right in front of Columbus goalie Joonas Korpisalo and fired a wicked backhand shot. The rebound came back to him and he fired again, this time banking off the post.
The Gaudreau line scored again to open up the second. This time, it was Tony DeAngelo who coughed up the puck. Gaudreau picked up the errant pass, passed onto Laine, who faked a shot. Laine sent the puck over to center Boone Jenner who fired it past a sliding Hart.
About a minute later, Rasmus Ristolainen fired off a pass to Lukas Sedlak, who had somehow snuck past all of the CBJ defenders. Sedlak was stymied by Korpisalo, who had to quickly recover and snag a rebound by Noah Cates, who had come in behind Sedlak in a great heads up play.
The Sedlak line would find the back of the net with 6:56 left to play in the second. After creating a lot of traffic in front of Korpisalo, DeAngelo found the puck after a series of rebounded shots had put Korpisalo on his back and sprawling to find the puck. DeAngelo found it right by the goalie’s arm and shoved over the line to put the Flyers on the board.
Almost halfway into the third, the Flyers struck again. Travis Konecny found Ivan Provorov for Provy’s first goal of the year. The Flyers were now down by one goal and that comeback magic that always seems to happen looked like it would. And with Werenski and Erik Gudbranson leaving the game early due to injuries, it looked as if the door would open for a Flyers miracle.
It was not to be. With time running out, the Flyers went to an empty net in an attempt to tie it up. Blakenburg and Jenner would find the empty net to put the game out of reach. Blakenburg’s came off of a faceoff draw from the other side of the ice. Jenner’s came after stealing a pass from Provy across the center of the ice and he fired it down into the net.
Korpisalo, in only his second start of the season, fought hard in front. He stopped 32 of the 34 shots faced and was a big part of the win for Columbus.
Hart lost his first regulation game this season after stopping 24 of 27 shots. All three goals he gave up came off of sloppy turnovers and mental mistakes by his teammates.
The Flyers better clean up their act. Claude Giroux returns home on Saturday. There will be a pregame tribute to the Flyers legend. They also have a Sunday afternoon game against the Dallas Stars before returning to Columbus on Tuesday at the start of a three game road trip.