Tuesday, April 5, 2022 – 7:00 EDT
Wells Fargo Center – Philadelphia, Pa.
TV: Bally Sports Ohio; Radio: 97.1 FM
Opponent’s Blog: Broad Street Hockey

Columbus Blue Jackets (32-32-6, 70 points, 6th Metro, 10th East)

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Philadelphia Flyers (22-36-11, 55 points, 7th Metro, 14th East)

The Columbus Blue Jackets enter their third home and home series in a row tonight when they travel to the city of brotherly love to take on the lowly Philadelphia Flyers. I realize the irony in calling another team “lowly” when our own Jackets are stumbling into town on a seven game losing streak. However, they haven’t matched the futility of Philly this year (yet), as they have two separate losing streaks of ten games this year, and have a total of 22 wins. Although they are directly beneath the Jackets in the Metro standings, the gap between the teams is a whopping 15 points. It’s safe to say this was NOT the way the season was supposed to go for the Flyers considering the veteran talent they added this offseason.

Player to Watch

Jake Voracek

Voracek notched two more assists last night, to go along with his 12 penalty minutes. Jake was fired up last night in an intense game, and showed some fire that we rarely see. It’s always a rush to play in your old barn, and I expect Jake to keep up the pace he played with tonight in front of his old fans.

Jackets Notes

The Jackets look to avoid stretching their losing streak to eight games after dropping a very hard fought battle last night. For being in such an extended skid, I have to give these guys credit for playing as hard as they are when they have been clearly outmatched by better teams.

I’d expect the lineups to mostly remain intact after a strong performance last night. Emil Bemstrom got a chance in the top six and found the back of the net early on. Hopefully he can finish the season strong and make a case for an increased role next year (or a job at all). Carson Meyer played just under three-and-a-half minutes last night, more than only Brendan Gaunce, who played just under two-and-a-half minutes. I wonder if the Blue Jackets try to give someone else a look on the fourth line if those two are going to play a combined five minutes.

The Other Bench

The Flyers probably cannot wait for the season to end. I don’t even follow the team and it feels like a loooong season for them. Its not often a team strings together a ten game losing streak twice in the same season. Their season was over very early on, and this year will mark the first time Philadelphia has missed the playoffs in back to back seasons since 1994.

The Flyers will look a little different this time around, missing their long-time Captain Claude Giroux who is in Florida chasing a Stanley Cup with the Panthers. Like the Jackets, they are already looking towards next season and are playing some younger players. The NHL’s ironman, Keith Yandle, was a victim of this recently and saw his incredible streak of consecutive games played come to an end this week.

It should be an entertaining game between two division rivals who are playing for nothing more than pride.

Season Series

1/20/22 CBJ 2 @ PHI 1
4/5/22 CBJ @ PHI
4/7/22 PHI @ CBJ

Stats

Projected Lineups

Columbus Blue Jackets

Philadelphia Flyers

Let’s go Jackets!