POSTGAME 5: Blue Jackets Defeat Flyers, 2-1

For the second time in this season, the Philadelphia Flyers have gone winless in 10-straight games. On Thursday night at the Wells Fargo Center, the Flyers dropped a 2-1 decision to the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The Flyers are 0-7-3 in their last 10 games and remain winless in the 2022 calendar year. The team is a dismal 2-17-3 when trailing first in a game and 5-15-6 over the last 26 games.
The game was scoreless midway through regulation. Oliver Bjorkstrand (12th goal of the season) scored to put Columbus ahead, 1-0, at 11:53 of the second period, Patrik Laine (6th) made it 2-0 at 5:50 of the third period. Gerry Mayhew (1st goal as a Flyer) cut the gap to 2-1 at 12:40.
Ultimately, failed power play chances and a couple of plays where they were beaten in the defensive zone proved to be the Flyers undoing again.
Carter Hart stopped 27 of 29 shots in a losing cause. Elvis Merzlikins denied 33 of 34 Flyers shots to earn the win.
The Flyers went 0-for-4 on the power play. They were 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.
The game marked the first meeting between the Flyers' Cam Atkinson and the Blue Jackets' Jakub Voracek against their respective former clubs since the one-for-one trade that sent Atkinson to the Flyers and Voracek to Columbus during the 2021 offseason.
TURNING POINT
The Flyers had just killed off a Zack MacEwen penalty but never got the puck out of their own zone. Shortly thereafter, an ill-advised decision by Ivan Provorov resulted in a turnover and the Blue Jackets turned it into Bjorkstrand's goal. The Flyers never pulled even, going on to trail 2-0 on Laine's goal. A desperation push fell short after gettting back within 2-1 and the game turned into another one-goal loss.
MELTZER'S TAKE

1) The Flyers went on the power play just 22 seconds into the game. Alexandre Tessier went to the box for tripping Ivan Provorov along the side boards in the Philadelphia zone. The Flyers generated no pressure on the ensuing 5-on-4.
Shots were 3-2 in Columbus' favor through a largely uneventful opening 6:03. The game's first TV timeout. A video highlight package in Voracek's honor was played during the timeout. He received a nice ovation and both the Philadelphia and Columbus players tapped their sticks.
Provorov joined the attack and fired a deep center-slot shot on net at 10:36. At 12:10, Atkinson intercepted the puck at the red line to start a counterattack. He fired wide of the cage. Columbus hit the post at the other end.
After a bodycheck by Justin Braun, Max Domi escalated a scrum with Braun to the point of dropping the gloves. No punches were thrown. Domi received a double-roughing minor to a two-minute rough for Braun at 13:10. The Flyers got a couple shots from distance on net but nothing truly dangerous.
2) Shots on goal in the first period were 11-9 in the Blue Jackets' favor. There was little in the way of scoring chances, especially high-danger ones, in the opening period.The Flyers won nine of the 16 faceoffs. Claude Giroux won four of six. Overall, it was a rather sleepy opening 20 minutes.
3) Columbus had a would-be goal disallowed for goalie interference by Alexandre Tessier at 2:02 of the second period. Hart lost his stick -- as he is prone to doing -- at the start of the sequence. Scott Laughton handed his own stick to the goalie. Travis Sanheim swept a near-goal to safety from the crease. Philly was still unable to get a clear. Lindblom turned over the puck attempting a clearing pass up the boards. A moment later, Lindblom accidentally deflected a puck he was trying to block. The pick then trickled in the net. But the contact between Tessier and Hart prevented the goalie from getting set. After a short review upon challenge, the goal was overturned.
Braun was called for interference on Domi on a Columbus breakout at 3:43. The Flyers killed off the penalty.
Provorov had a one-on-one chance against Merzlikins. The goal made the save at 6:12.
Two shifts later, Hart erased a Cam York turnover in the defensive corner with a stop on Gustav Nyquist.
Zack MacEwen was called for tripping Voracek as their skates got tangled inside the Philadelphia blueline at 9:28. The Flyers got through the kill but never got out of their own zone. Provorov turned the puck over to Sean Kuraly. Boone Jenner then found Bjorkstrand, who had an open to take the puck to the net and elevate a backhander to the top part of the net at 11:53.
MacEwen carried the puck through traffic up ice and created a scoring chance. But neither he nor Connor Bunnaman could get to a loose puck with Merzlikins down.
Play got ornery in the Columbus end and continued that way up the ice other way.The Flyers ended up with a power play at 18:27, Laughton got a roughing minor and Gavin Beureuther received a roughing double-minor. The Flyers took 27 seconds of carryover power play time into the third period.
4) Shots on goal in the second period were 13-13 (25-23 Columbus through 40 minutes). The goalies were much busier -- and the difficulty of shots more dangerous -- in the second period than the first. The Flyers had 24 of the period's 43 shot attempts (55.8 percent all-situation Corsi). Scoring chances were 12-8 in Philly's favor (7-3 in high-danger chances). Columbus won 11 of 16 faceoffs in the period.
5) Giroux had a rebound opportunity from the doorstep just before the carryover power play expired at the start of the third period.
The Flyers went right back to the power play at 2:44 on a neutral zone high-stick by Patrik Laine on Giroux. The gift power play produced nothing of consequence for the Flyers, who struggled to get entries.
Columbus took a 2-0 lead at 5:50. The Flyers, with four skaters on the right side, were unable to work the puck out of the zone. With possession of the puck, Jenner fed cross ice to Laine who sniped a shot from the top of the right circle high to the blocker side over Hart. Dean Kukan got the secondary assist.
On the next shift, Cam York took a tripping penalty at 6:06. The Flyers killed it off.
The trio of Giroux, Konecny and Morgan Frost generated a flurry around the Columbus net but Merzlikins kept the puck out. Shots were 7-3 Flyers midway through the third period.
The Flyers had another wave of attack and, this time, scored to cut the gap to 2-1. Mayhew's long-range shot from the right point hrough layered traffic found the cage at 12:40. The assists went to Rasmus Ristolainen and Laughton.

With 2:18 left, the Flyers pulled Hart for a 6-on-5 attack. The Blue Jackets iced the puck with 2:02 on the clock and again with 1:55. The Flyers got set up but couldn't get a Grade A look. Columbus iced it again with 36 ticks remaining. The Flyers called timeout. The Flyers were unable to score in the remaining time. Giroux broke up a potential empty-net goal opportunity for Columbus but time ran out.