February 20, 2020: Flyers: 4 / Blue Jackets: 3 (OT)
The Philadelphia Flyers came into Columbus on Thursday night looking to win back-to-back games against the Blue Jackets and a series-sweep. In what may have been the most important home-and-home series of the season, the Flyers and Blue Jackets are neck-and-neck in the standings. Brian Elliott would get the start between the pipes for the Flyers on Thursday, while Elvis Merzlikins started for Columbus in hopes of making up for his loss to the Flyers earlier this week. Personnel-wise, the Flyers called up defenseman Mark Friedman while Justin Braun is out with the flu.
In the first period, the Jackets scored just 44 seconds into the game when Oliver Bjorkstrand put the puck top shelf for a 1-0 lead. Ten minutes later, Nick Foligno doubled the lead, making it 2-0. The Flyers needed to answer back, and only 23 seconds later Travis Konecny deflected the puck into the net with his skate to put the Flyers on the board. The Flyers also went 1/1 in the first period on Penalty Kills, going into the first intermission down by a score of 2-1.
Three and a half minutes into the second period, the Blue Jackets regained their two-goal lead when Stefan Matteau score his first NHL goal in over four years to make it 3-1. Later on in the period, Nicolas Aube-Kubel scored off the rush to put the Flyers within one goal again. With four minutes left in the second, the Flyers went to the Power Play, where Claude Giroux wasted no time snapping the puck bar-down to tie the game at 3. After Elliott robbed Pierre-Luc Dubois with his best glove save of the game, Nathan Gerbe and Travis Sanheim were called for roughing, and Sanheim was given an extra minor for crosschecking. With 13 seconds left, Kevin Hayes went to the box for slashing, and the Blue Jackets would start the third with over one minute of a 5-on-3 Power Play.
The Flyers were able to kill the remaining time of the Blue Jackets’ two-man advantage, making them 100% for Penalty Kill on the game. There was no scoring in the third period, and with the game knotted at 3, the Flyers and Blue Jackets headed to 3-on-3 overtime.
With possession time going back and forth in overtime, the Flyers missed several opportunities on turnovers or mishandled passes from some of their top players. However, with just over a minute left in the overtime period, Kevin Hayes was able to score on Merzlikins’ glove side to give the Flyers the 4-3 win. The Flyers outshot the Blue Jackets 33-31.
The Flyers are back in action on Saturday, February 22nd at 1:00p.m. when the Winnipeg Jets make a visit to the Wells Fargo Center.
Cage Cleaning
- Flyers’ defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere was sent down to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms for a conditioning stint after he felt some lingering pain from his knee surgery in January. Ghost made a brief return against the New Jersey Devils, however then missed the last seven games due to remaining discomfort.
- With Kevin Hayes’ game-winning goal against Columbus, the forward scored his 19th goal on the year, giving him 34 points this season (19 G, 15 A). Hayes also leads the NHL in shorthanded goals (4).
- With a second win against the Blue Jackets this week, the Flyers are currently in third place of the Metropolitan Division, with 75 points and a record of 34-20-7. Columbus is behind them in the Wild Card spot with 73 points, and the Carolina Hurricanes trailing them by just 1 point. The race for the Stanley Cup Playoffs is in full swing, and the Metro will be the hardest division to win.
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