Alright, back to back for the boys tonight. After a 6-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Friday, the Blue Jackets turned around to take on the Philadelphia Flyers.
Brandon Saad missed the game and did not travel with the club. Rene Bourque drew in. David Clarkson, 3rd liner was a thing. Curtis McElhinney was in net.
I apologize if this is more brief than usual. At 8:00 Saturday night, The University of Dayton Flyers played VCU for the Atlantic 10 title, and I wanted to catch as much of my alma mater playing as I could, so I flipped a lot.
To the highlights!
FIRST PERIOD HIGHLIGHTS
Your CBJ starters: Boone Jenner, Brandon Dubinsky, Cam Atkinson, Ryan Murray, Seth Jones, Curtis McElhinney
Steve Mason started against Columbus. Jakub Voracek was out with an injury.
Save from Mason at 0:45, but the rebound went to Dubinsky, who wasn’t able to get a stick on it.
Nick Foligno blocked a shot at 3:00.
Flyers goal. Michael Raffl scored on a deflection as he was left alone on a broken play from Ryan Murray and Seth Jones. He scored at 3:40. Assists to Radko Gudas and Sean Couturier.
It was all Flyers possession-wise early. Columbus looked disorganized and had trouble getting the puck out of their zone.
End to end action, but a whole lot of nothing going on. No real chances for either team through 8:30. Neither goalie looked really comfortable.
Chance for Philadelphia turned aside at 8:45.
Columbus has 2 lines tonight. The 3rd and 4th line have done nothing through the first half of the first period. The Blue Jackets looked slow on the ice.
Michael Raffl had an attempt denied at 10:00.
Flyers goal. Radko Gudas drilled a shot from center ice and it went in at 11:45. My word, the Blue Jackets look bad tonight. Assists to Brandon Manning and Chris VandeVelde.
14 shots for Philadelphia. 3 for Columbus.
Flyers power play. Scott Hartnell went to the box for roughing at 13:20.
McElhinney save at 14:00.
Matt Read hit the goalpost for Philadelphia at 15:00.
The Blue Jackets killed the penalty.
At the 16 minute mark, shots were 17 for Philadelphia, 3 for Columbus.
Flyers power play. Dalton Prout went off for cross checking at 19:00. Not exactly the smartest penalty to take.
At the end of the first period, Philadelphia led Columbus 2-0 and outshot Columbus 17-6.
That was a terrible period for Columbus. Absolutely horrid. Slow, sloppy, horrid, [insert adjective here]. Unacceptable.
SECOND PERIOD HIGHLIGHTS
The Blue Jackets killed the penalty to open the second period.
Lots of end to end action, but no shots for Columbus through 4 minutes of the second period.
20 shots for Philadelphia. 6 for Columbus. 14:13 to go in the second period. Just…. I got nothing.
Jared Boll half breakaway after blocking a shot and leading a rush up ice. So that’s a thing that happened. It didn’t amount to a shot on goal (still none through 9 minutes for Columbus).
Save by McElhinney at 9:20.
A SHOT ON GOAL! Cam Atkinson got one for Columbus at 11:46.
Scott Hartnell saw a backhand denied at 12:00.
Fedor Tyutin saw a shot denied at 13:00 following a neutral zone turnover by Philadelphia.
Scrum. Jared Boll and Brandon Manning at 13:19.
Flyers power play. Boll went off for roughing at 13:19. Completely unnecessary.
Seth Jones and Cam Atkinson had shorthanded chances.
The Blue Jackets killed the penalty.
William Karlsson, Atkinson, and Gregory Campbell played well on the penalty kill.
Flyers goal. Sam Gagner let a slapper go at 17:13 and it beat McElhinney after David Savard completely misplayed it in the neutral zone.
Flyers goal. Immediately off the faceoff, Claude Giroux let a soft wrist shot go that completely fooled McElhinney, and that was horrific, even worse than the center ice goal. Assists to Brayden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds.
At the end of the second period, Philadelphia led 4-0, outshooting Columbus 25-12.
THIRD PERIOD HIGHLIGHTS
Columbus managed a shot on goal in the first minute of the period, so yay.
Nick Foligno missed a redirection at 1:00.
End to end action to open the third period.
McElhinney made a great save on VandeVelde.
Flyers goal. Nick Cousins made it 5-0 as the puck went off the post and under McElhinney before going into the net. It went to review and was upheld as a goal. Assist to Matt Read. Apparently Toronto has angles that television cannot see, and that is why the goal was upheld at 10:03.
Flyers goal. Sam Gagner screen McElhinney as Radko Gudas let it go, and the shot beat McElhinney at 10:29. It deflected in off of Ryan Murray.
Apparently Mythbusters should do one more episode. The myth? “The Blue Jackets can play consistently half-decently.”
David Clarkson was sent to the room with a 10 minute misconduct, as was Brandon Manning.
Blue Jackets power play. Alexander Wennberg had a high stick to the face, and had a tooth knocked out. Nick Schultz went off for a double minor at 11:57.
Foligno hit the goalpost at 12:30.
35 shots to 16 at the 13 minute mark of the third period.
LITERALLY 4 BLUE JACKETS STANDING AT THE LINE ON THE POWER PLAY AS SETH JONES TRIED TO BRING THE PUCK INTO THE ZONE. I don’t care what it takes this offseason; that absolutely has to get fixed. It is a complete mess.
The Flyers killed the double minor, because of course they did.
Nick Cousins was drilled by Fedor Tyutin into the boards, and Tyutin went off for boarding at 16:22.
McElhinney makes a save at 16:50.
Nick Cousins hit the post.
Scrum. Nick Foligno and Radko Gudas. Both went off with double minors for roughing, and that’ll be that for the captain.
This game mercifully ended.
FINAL: Philadelphia Flyers 6 Columbus Blue Jackets 0
Bonus, final shots tally: Flyers 36 Blue Jackets 19
THREE STARS
*** The beer vendors in Columbus
** Your local liquor store
* Anyone who had a remote with functioning batteries so they could change the channel
QUICK THOUGHTS
That was an ugly, awful, slow, terrible display of hockey.
This is not a good hockey team.
Boneheaded move by David Clarkson, swinging his stick at Manning. Emotions might be high, but come on.
Seriously, this hockey team just absolutely goons it up when things are not going their way. It’s kind of disgraceful to watch, actually. I can’t support that.
What a complete joke of a hockey game. I don’t have anything else to say.
UP NEXT
The Blue Jackets return to Nationwide Arena to take on the Red Wings on Tuesday night. Faceoff is at 7:00 EST.