5 THINGS: Flyers @ Blue Jackets

Looking to snap a three-game losing streak, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (7-6-2) are in Ohio on Tuesday to take on Brad Larsen's Columbus Blue Jackets (4-9-1). Game time at Nationwide Arena is 7:30 p.m. ET.

GAME NOTES
The game will be streamed on ESPN+/Hulu. The radio broadcast is on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
This is the second of four meetings this season between the teams and the second and final game in Columbus. The scene will shift to the Wells Fargo Center for games on Dev. 20 and April 11.
Last Thursday (Nov. 10), the Flyers had won back-to-back games and had points in four of their previous five matches (2-1-2) heading into Columbus. They exited with a 5-2 loss and have since lost back-to-back regulation decisions over the weekend to the Ottawa Senators (4-1) and Dallas Stars (5-1). Tonight's game in Columbus will be Philly's fourth match in six nights. The team had an off-day on Monday in order to get a little rest before traveling to Columbus..
Here are five things to watch in this game.
1. Puck management decisions
From a puck possession and shot quality standpoint, the Flyers had one of their better games of the 2022-23 season to date in last Thursday's game in Columbus. So why, apart from strong goaltending from Columbus netminder Joonas Korpisalo and two empty net goals by Columbus late in the game, was last Thursday's game a disheartening loss on the heels of encouraging back-to-back wins? Poor puck management in that game was the biggest culprit.
The Blue Jackets built a 2-0 lead in the first period and 3-0 edge by the time the game was a minute into the second period. All three goals were the direct results of turnovers by the Flyers -- two by Owen Tippett and one by Travis Konecny -- in dangerous areas of the ice. One was an in--advised stretch pass attempt up the middle that was picked off at the red line. The second was a cross-ice pass attempt above the circles in the attack zone. The third was another lateral pass play just inside the attacking blueline with a defender poised to dart into the passing lane. Carter Hart was a bit off-angle on the first goal (scored by Johnny Gaudreau) but there was nothing the goalie could do on ensuing goals by Zach Werenski off a friendly bounce on a broken 2-on-1 or by Boone Jenner on an ensuing 2-on-1.
The Flyers were able to erase two-thirds of the deficit but the hole proved deep from which to entirely climb out. A pair of long-distance empty net goals by the Blue Jackets sealed the final outcome.
2. Special teams swoon must end
The Flyers' puck management was better in Saturday's game against Ottawa and Sunday's match with Dallas. In both of these games, the Flyers again at least held pretty even (Dallas game) or were arguably the better team (vs. Ottawa) in terms of 5-on-5 possession and generating looks at the net. Once again, some credit goes to the opposing goaltenders -- Cam Talbot over Hart and Jake Oettinger over Felix Sandström -- for bettering their Flyers' counterparts. Additionally, Dallas in particular did a better job at getting traffic to the net and deflecting pucks than the Flyers.
Above all, however, the Flyers lost their last two games by being crushed on special teams.
In the Ottawa game, the Flyers had the game's first three power plays but came away empty. Subsequently, the Flyers took three straight penalties -- all three avoidable and undisciplined -- and got burned twice. Suddenly, a 1-1 game in the final minute of the second period turned into a 3-1 deficit by the time the second period was seven minutes old. Tack on Senators' empty-net goal and the eminently winnable game became a three-goal margin of defeat.
On Sunday against Dallas, the Flyers power play went 0-for-6 including a failed 59-second opportunity on a 5-on-3. Even worse, the team gave up a backbreaking shorthanded goal early in the third period that severely took the wind of the Flyers' sails after the game had been quite competitive on the ice up to tha point. The reason why the game was decidedly in the Stars' favor on the scoreboard? The Flyers penalty kill let them down for a second straight game. The Stars went 2-for-2 on their power plays. Before the special teams meltdowns, it had been a 2-1 game with the Flyers making a push to draw even. Three special teams goals against later, the outcome was sealed.
Earlier this season, special teams were helping to buoy the Flyers offensively. They are a team that struggles to score at 5-on-5 beyond the top line. But solid power play results (20-plus percent), the top line and just enough secondary scoring from role-player sources were enough goal support in front of otherworldly play from Carter Hart. Additionally, the penalty kill entered the weekend ranked in the top six of the NHL. With the power play going cold this past week and the PK springing a leak in the last two games -- and with the goaltending being decent but not stellar -- the club has been finding ways to lose despite improvements in the 5-on-5 processes.
Note: Special teams were a non-factor last Thursday in Columbus. The Flyers did not get a single power play in that game. They were 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.
3 Tracking and traffic
On of the other reasons why the Flyers goals against average over the past three games has gone the wrong way has been sporadic lapses in defensive tracking and some costly plays where was no backchecking support; the result being a couple of back-door goals or attackers with open space below and between the dots (the "home plate" area). Two of Dallas' goals on Sunday -- their first and their shorthanded fourth -- could directly be tied to an absence of back checking support by Flyers forwards. The Philadelphia top line has been a culprit of late. Getting defensemen caught up ice has popped up recently, too.
At the other end of the ice, in the St. Louis game, the Flyers did an exceptionally strong job of not only getting players going to the net but also stopping there rather than skating right on past. Thomas Greiss had a tough night because he had Flyers setting up shop on his doorstep. While the Flyers have had a decent number of high-grade chances in the three games since then, they haven't done as good of a job in "taking the goalie's eyes away". That was especially true against Oettinger, who is a big and athletic goalie and usually gets to everything he can see. The Flyers' lone goal was a tic-tac-toe sequence in which Oettinger had to move quickly to his left and had no opportunity to push off and get all the way back to his right. The Flyers' attackers (Tippett, Kevin Hayes and goal-scorer Konecny) outnumbered the defenders.
4. Willman returns
The Flyers placed Wade Allison (lower-body injury) on injured reserve on Monday and sent the still waiver-exempt Tanner Laczynski (who dressed in 12 of the team's first 15 games but received rather limited ice time after the first couple games) to the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The Flyers recalled speedy 27-year-old role player Max Willman from the Phantoms. Last season, Willman dressed in 41 games for the Flyers (4 goals, six points). His 2022-23 season for the Phantoms was off to a pretty good start although the team as a whole struggled until winning each of its last three games.
The Flyers also announced that checking forward Patrick Brown (offseason back surgery) has been cleared to go on a rehabilitation assignment to play for the Phantoms before returning to the Flyers. He had missed all of the training camp and the regular season to date.
With Willman's recall, the Flyers have 12 available forwards. It is possible that defenseman Egor Zamula (9 GP) could return to the lineup with one of Justin Braun, Rasmus Ristolainen or Nick Seeler being scratched. The Flyers will hold a morning skate at Nationwide Arena.
Potential Flyers lineup (based on Sunday's starting lines, subject to change)
74 Owen Tippett - 13 Kevin Hayes - 11 Travis Konecny
21 Scot Laughton - 49 Noah Cates - 17 Zack MacEwen
20 Kieffer Bellows - 48 Morgan Frost - 86 Joel Farabee
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 23 Lukas Sedlak - 71 Max Willman
9 Ivan Provorov - 77 Tony DeAngelo
6 Travis Sanheim - 61 Justin Braun
24 Nick Seeler -55 Rasmus Ristolainen
79 Carter Hart
[32 Felix Sandström]
5. Behind Enemy Lines: Columbus Blue Jackets
The Blue Jackets' win over the Flyers last Thursday was a costly one. The club spent much of the game with only four available defensemen. Most notably, the team lost its No. 1 defenseman, Zach Werenski (who notched a goal and an assist in the first period), for the rest of the 2022-23 after he suffered a torn labrum and separated shoulder. Erik Gudbranson also exited the game with an upper-body injury. The team was already without veteran playmaking forward Jakub Voracek (suspected concussion) along with Sean Kuraly, Justin Danforth (shoulder surgery) and Adam Boqvist.
Columbus suffered another major blow on Saturday in a 4-3 overtime road loss to the New York Islanders. Sniping winger Patrik Laine suffered an ankle sprain during the closing moments of OT that could sideline the Finnish winger for three to four weeks. The team is also now without Nick Blankenburg, who scored one of the Blue Jackets' empty-netters against the Flyers. He will miss six to eight weeks with a high ankle sprain.
Kuraly and Gudbranson both practiced with the team on Monday and may be available to return. The others are still unable to play. : Jack Roslovic, who dressed against the Flyers last Thursday and has six points (1g, 5a) in 14 games is a potential healthy scratch for this game per Blue Jackets Insider Jeff Svoboda.
Potential starting lineup (per Blue Jackets' website, subject to change)
13 Johnny Gaudreau - 38 Boone Jenner - 52 Emil Bemström
59 Yegor Chinakhov - 34 Cole Sillinger - 14 Gustav Nyquist
19 Liam Foudy - 16 Brendan Gaunce - 91 Kent Johnson
50 Eric Robinson - 7 Sean Kuraly - 24 Mathieu Oliver
4 Vladislav Gavrikov - 2 Andrew Peeke
22 Jake Bean - 47 Marcus Björk
23 Jake Christiansen - 44 Erik Gudbranson
70 Joonas Korpisalo
90 Elvis Merzlikins