In Columbus, Kevin Hayes 3)51 into extra time to send the Philadelphia Flyers to a 4-3 win over the Blue Jackets on Thursday night.
The strike capped a three-goal rally for the Flyers.
Claude Giroux had a goal for the Flyers 0 file photo by Lewis Bleiman
Philadelphia is two points clear in the race for third in the Metropolitan Division.
“It’s going to be a fun run if we play the right way,” Hayes said. “I thought we played the right way the last two games. Four points against a division opponent that was above us and now is beneath us.
“Two or three weeks ago, we were battling just to get in the wild card, and now we’re battling for home ice.”
Brian Elliott made 28 saves in the win.
Nick Foligno and Oliver Bjorkstrand scored for the Blue Jackets; Stefan Matteau also scored for Columbus after being called up from the Cleveland Monsters of the American Hockey League.
“I tried to play with confidence, play with energy. I did the best I could,” Matteau said.
The loss was the seventh straight for the Jackets.
“I thought we hung in there,” Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella said. “We played hard. Found a way to lose it at the end.”
Travis Konecny, Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Claude Giroux scored for the Flyers in regulation.
“We were patient in how we wanted to play,” Giroux said. “Even if you’re down a few goals, you have to trust your system is going to get you back in the game. That’s what happened. When we had chances to score, we did.”
[WATCH: All Flyers vs. Blue Jackets highlights]
Elvis Merzlikins made 29 saves in the loss.
“We did a lot of good things throughout the game, but we had that lull there at the end of the second period. We’ve got to stay on them.” the Blue Jackets’ Boone Jenner said.
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