5 THINGS: Flyers @ Blue Jackets

In the return match of a home-and-home set, interim head coach Mike Yeo's Philadelphia Flyers (22-37-11) will visit Brad Larsen's Columbus Blue Jackets (33-32-6) at Nationwide Arena on Thursday evening. Game time is 7:00 p.m. EDT (NBCSP+, 93.3 WMMR).

This is the third and final meeting of the season series between the teams and the lone game in Columbus. The Flyers are 0-2-0 in the first game. On Jan. 21, the Flyers absorbed a 2-1 home loss. On Tuesday of this week, the Flyers took the play to the Blue Jackets for two periods despite an early 2-0 deficit. The game went to the third period tied at 2-2 before the Blue Jackets scored twice to prevail, 4-2.
The Blue Jackets scored the game's first goal at 2:38 of the first period on a tally by Brendan Gaunce (5th goal of the season). At 15:21, Carson Meyer (1st) made it 2-0. Noah Cates scored his first NHL goal at 17:35 to narrow the deficit to 2-1.
At 13:16 of the second period, the Flyers forged a 2-2 tie as James van Riemsdyk (18th goal of the season) deflected home a Ronnie Attard (first NHL assist and point) shot into the net.
The Blue Jackets re-took the lead at 13:16 of the third period as Justin Danforth (8th) potted what seemed like a controllable rebound. Sean Kuraly (12th) added an empty netter in the final minute.
Carter Hart stopped 26 of 29 shots. He was outplayed by Elvis Merzlikins, who authored 47 saves on 49 shots.
The Flyers went 0-for-4 on the power play. The Blue Jackets went 0-for-1.
Here are five things to watch in Thursday's rematch:
1.Atkinson's Homecoming
The Jan. 21 game marked the first trip back to Philadelphia for longtime Flyer Jakub Voracek since he was traded to the Blue Jackets straight up for Cam Atkinson on July 24, 2021. Now it's Atkinson's turn to take his first trip back to play in Columbus, where he still owns a home with wife Natalie and young sons Declan and Caden.
A major fan favorite during his decade with the Blue Jackets, Atkinson's 627 games played, 213 goals and 402 points rank second to Columbus's franchise history behind only Rick Nash. Atkinson's 16 shorthanded goals during his Blue Jackets career were the most in team history. His upbeat, can-do personality also made him very popular with fans and teammates alike.
"I'm sure it'll be emotional," Atkinson said of his impending return to Columbus. "I'm going to have a lot of friends and family that will be attending that game: my dad, my wife, one of my boys."
Entering this game, Atkinson leads the Flyers with 23 goals and 50 points while dressing in all 70 games. On a day-in and day-out basis, the 32-year-old plays with gusto and passion.
"The way he approaches and plays the game is contagious," Yeo said. "He leads by example for everyone in our room."
The 5-foot-8 right winger is playing through being especially banged-up of late, A few times recently, Atkinson has hobbled back to the bench but stayed in the game. No NHL player is 100 percent healthy by this time of year but Atkinson, who took a maintenance day off from Wednesday's practice that followed the annual team photo, is particularly bruised and battered. He will never use it as an excuse but the accumulated wear-and-tear of the season seems to be a factor.
Points have been noticeably harder for Atkinson to come by of late: zero goals, three assists and a traditional minus-seven over his last nine games. Apart from the wear-down effect of the season, the team's loss of Claude Giroux via trade to Florida is another potential factor in Atkinson's recent struggles to score. However, Atkinson has continued to hustle up scoring chances and compete all over the ice.
Atkinson has frequently played with Joel Farabee (16g, 33 points in 52 games) on his line this season. In Tuesday's game, they were centered by highly skilled rookie center Morgan Frost. The trio was buzzing in the first two periods and had multiple scoring chances over the game but was unable to generate a goal.
2. Jones vs. Merzlikins
Elvis Merzlikins stole the show in Tuesday's game with his 47-save performance against the Flyers. He denied a pair of breakaways (Owen Tippett and Kevin Hayes) among 16 high-danger chances he faced in the game. The Columbus netminder was beaten on Tuesday only by an uncontested slot shot by Cates and JVR's deflection goal.
Merzlikins' performance on Tuesday was made even more impressive by the fact that he'd just started against the Boston Bruins the previous night and was starting his fifth game in 10 nights. After Tuesday's game, Larsen indicated that he hadn't even given any consideration to resting Merzlikins and starting journeyman former Lehigh Valley Phantoms goalie J-F Berube: it's Merzlikins' net.
Hart has had back-to-back starts against the Toronto Maple Leafs and Blue Jackets in which he has been in less-than-peak form. Meanwhile, in Sunday's game against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden, Martin Jones dialed up a brilliant 43-save performance during the hockey game and 3-for-3 showing in the shootout. Jones will get the start in Columbus.
The Blue Jackets dressed the same lineup in Philadelphia on Tuesday as they did the previous night against the Bruins. The Blue Jackets had an off-day on Wednesday, while the Flyers had a light and short-duration practice at the Wells Fargo Center. Yeo indicated that Oskar Lindblom (maintenance day) should be OK to play on Thursday, along with Atkinson. Zack MacEwen (head) skated with the team on Wednesday but is not ready to play. He'll miss his third straight game.
Based on Tuesday's line combinations and subject to change, Thursday's lineups could look like this:
FLYERS
25 James van Riemsdyk - 13 Kevin Hayes - 74 Owen Tippett
86 Joel Farabee - 48 Morgan Frost - 89 Cam Atkinson
49 Noah Cates - 21 Scott Laughton - 11 Travis Konecny
23 Oskar Lindblom - 44 Nate Thompson - 38 Patrick Brown
9 Ivan Provorov - 45 Cam York
6 Travis Sanheim - 70 Rasmus Ristolainen
8 Kevin Connauton or 3 Keith Yandle - 47 Ronnie Attard
35 Martin Jones
[79 Carter Hart]
BLUE JACKETS
93 Jakub Voracek - 96 Jack Roslovic - 29 Patrik Laine
14 Gustav Nyquist - 34 Cole Sillinger - 52 Emil Bemström
17 Justin Danforth - 7 Sean Kuraly - 28 Oliver Bjorkstrand
50 Eric Robinson - 23 Brendan Gaunce - 55 Carson Meyer
8 Zach Werenski - 2 Andrew Peeke
44 Vladislav Gavrikov - 22 Jake Bean
32 Jake Christiansen - 27 Adam Boqvist
90 Elvis Merzlikins
[30 Jean-Francois Berube]
3. Inside the Numbers
From an underlying numbers standpoint, the Flyers were the better team in Tuesday's game against Columbus, establishing superior puck possession, shot attempt quantity and shot quality while also creating four power play opportunities and only taking one penalty.
However, thanks to Merzlikins and the Blue Jackets being more offensively opportunistic, Tuesday's game went to the third period tied at 2-2. The game play was much more even in the final stanza -but it was the Flyers who cracked first. The game winning goal was scored off a preventable rebound and then the Blue Jackets tacked on an empty netter to skate off with a 4-2 win. Kuraly's empty net goal was the 20th the Flyers have given up this season (they've only scored twice at 6-on-5).

The Flyers have played 22 games this season in which the third period started with the game tied. Of those 22 matches, Philly has only come away with a win in nine (9-9-4).
When yielding the first goal of a game, as the Flyers did on Tuesday and have done in 39 of the 70 games played to date, Philadelphia has a dismal 4-31-4 record. In the 31 games when the Flyers have scored first, they've wound up with an 18-6-7 record.
The Flyers showed improved puck movement on the power play on Tuesday but only had an 0-for-4 to show for it. The team's special teams index number (power play success percentage plus penalty killing success rate) dropped to 88.8; lowest In today's NHL, teams need to be above 102 or better to get in the top one-third of the league in combined special teams. The Flyers were 95.6 in 2018-19, 102.6 in 2019-20, 92.3 in 2020-21 and, as noted, are at 88.8 this year.
4. Behind Enemy Lines: Columbus Blue Jackets
Columbus enters this game with an 18-4-4 home record (the Flyers are 9-20-5 on the road). Laine leads the team with 25 goals and 52 points. Voracek leads with 46 assists and is second with 51 points. Werenski tops the blueliners offensively with 11 goals and 44 points.
Danforth's game-winning goal on Tuesday was his third tally in the team's last five games. Former Canucks and Bruins forward Gaunce ended a stretch of one point in 13 games when he scored early in the first period on Tuesday. It was just his second goal since Feb 22 after posting three goals and five points in his first seven games with the Blue Jackets this season.
Playing his second career NHL game, Meyer's goal and assist in the opening period of Tuesday's game were his first two points in the league. Bellmawr, New Jersey native Erik Robinson (8g, 16a in 56 games this season) collected apples on the Gaunce and Meyers goals.
5. Players to Watch: Tippett, Frost and Sillinger
Since coming over to the Flyers from the Florida Panthers in the Giroux trade, Owen Tippett has fired 22 shots on the net in nine games. He's had three breakaways over his last two games. The 23-year-old only has posted one goal (in New York on Sunday) and one assist so far, but the chances are coming in bunches. He's also hit the post three times.
Frost has had a similar run of late, creating numerous chances and/or getting scoring opportunities of his own but he has no points to show for his last three games since posting a goal and an assist in the final two games of the Flyers' recent five-game road trip. Against Toronto, he was robbed on a diving save by Jack Campbell in the first period; the play looked like a baseball infielder sprawling to come up with the ball. In New York, Igor Sheshterkin denied Frost point-blank in overtime after the center turned defenseman Adam Fox inside-out. Against Columbus on Tuesday, Frost had five shots on goal and set up at least three quality chances for linemates but none found the net.
On the Columbus side, keep an eye on rookie forward Cole Sillinger. The son of Flyers and Blue Jackets (plus 10 other teams) alumnus Mike Sillinger, Cole is one of only two players selected in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft who has stuck in the NHL for the full season (and one of only four to appear at all in the NHL this year). Chosen by the Blue Jackets with the 12th overall selection of the first round, Sillinger has contributed 11 goals and 23 points in 68 games.
Sillinger, who will turn 19 on May 16, chipped in an assist and one shot on goal over 19 shifts (13:43 TOI) against the Flyers on Tuesday. He notched the first hat trick of his young career back on March 13 against the Vegas Golden Knights but has not scored a goal since then.