PHILADELPHIA – Notching six points on their four-game road trip, the Philadelphia Flyers returned to Wells Fargo Center ice facing off against the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first game of a four game homestand.
Wrapping up the 2014-2015 series Tuesday night, the Flyers and Blue Jackets met for the second time in four days. When last facing off, the Flyers dropped to the Blue Jackets 4-3 in overtime Friday night in Columbus, Artem Anisimov with the overtime winning goal.
Getting his fourth consecutive start in between the pipes, Ray Emery stood tall. On the opposite end of the ice, Curtis McElhinney guarded the net.
Image by Lewis Bleiman
Guilty early in the period, Brayden Schenn was sent to the penalty box giving Columbus the first opportunity on the power play. Just 8 seconds later, Blue Jackets capitalized with a goal by James Wisniewski.
With Emery flustered in net, Blue Jackets took the advantage. Netting his 21st goal of the season, Ryan Johansen sent the puck to the back of the net increasing the lead by 2.
Outshooting the Blue Jackets 10-7 at the end of the first period, the Flyers remained goalless.
During the first period, the Flyers organization and fans of the Wells Fargo Center took a time out to honor former Flyer Scott Hartnell in playing his 1,000th NHL game last week. Hartnell wore a Flyers uniform for 7 years prior to being traded to Columbus last June.
Image by Lewis Bleiman
Coming out on the ice for the second period, the Flyers applied pressure early on.
Sending Sean Couturier into the boards, Fedor Tyutin was sent to the penalty box giving the Flyers their first man advantage of the game. Unable to produce, Blue Jackets were still ahead by two.
With another failed attempt on the power play, frustration set in for the Flyers.
Taking the puck to the net, Wayne Simmonds scored his 22nd goal of the season, getting the Flyers on board, 2-1.
With a burst of energy after Simmond’s goal, the Flyers gained control of the puck and applied pressure to Columbus.
Image by Lewis Bleiman
Lighting the lamp and tying the game with 51.5 to play in the period, Michael Del Zotto gave the fans of Wells Fargo Center something to cheer about.
As the period came to a close and game tied at 2, the Flyers outshot the Blue Jackets 30-13.
With high intensity as the third period began, each squad had chances.
Taking the lead midway through the period, Matt Calvert sent the puck past Emery giving Columbus 3-2 lead.
Skating into Philadelphia’s zone, Scott Hartnell found the puck on his stick, sending it to Brandon Dubinsky. Increasing the lead 4-2, Dubinsky scored for Columbus.
Image by Lewis Bleiman
Scoring his 2nd goal of the night into the empty Flyers net, Calvert notched his 9th of the season.
As the period came to a close, the Columbus Blue Jackets ended the Philadelphia Flyers five game point streak in 5-2 win.
“When you don’t score, you over work things,” said Jakub Voracek following the loss. “You try so hard and sometimes it’s even worse. We’ve helped the team find ways to win games but weren’t producing.” He continued, “We’ve got to start producing if we want to win games like this. If we score a goal tonight, we win the game.”
Ending the first period down by two left Flyers head coach Craig Berube less than pleased, “We didn’t recover from that goal in the first period, and the second period we dominated,” he said. “Tied the game up. Made two mistakes in the third period. The start of the game has an effect on the outcome…We lost this game in the first period.”
After skating for the first time by himself earlier last week, defenseman Kimmo Timonen continued making progress towards his return Tuesday as he participated in morning skate. Entering the ice with tapping sticks from his teammates, the vetern stated, “The way the guys did it on the ice, it was cool,” he continued. “The way I felt today, I felt 50 years old. It’s going to take a good 10 days in my mind if they ask me to play. I felt I am in decent skating shape, but the timing the guys skating by you and next to you, just to get that feeling back.”
Moving forward, Timonen is set to participate in full length practice and contact on the ice Wednesday. When will he play? He has set a personal goal for February 28th against the New York Rangers.
With the March 2nd trade deadline approaching, Flyers fans have become anxious as to what general manager Ron Hextall has instore for his club, “I believe we can make the playoffs with this team right now and quite frankly, to add a piece right now that’s gonna help us…gonna be better than what we have, is gonna be very costly. We’re not going there.”
As the clock clicks down to the March 2nd deadline, only time will tell what will happen to this Flyers team.
What’s up next? Flyers have three more games remaining in their four game homestand. Welcoming the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night in the series finale, Philadelphia took the 2-1 win in Buffalo on Sunday night.
Puck drop between the Buffalo Sabres and Philadelphia Flyers is set for 7 p.m
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