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Columbus Blue Jackets slog through ugly 5-3 loss to Philadelphia Flyers
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- Columbus Blue Jackets slog through ugly 5-3 loss to Philadelphia Flyers
The Blue Jackets hit the ice Tuesday night at Nationwide Arena like a team coming off a long road trip with games in Chicago , Western Canada and Winnipeg .
They looked tired, listless and at least a step behind all night against John Tortorella's motivated Philadelphia Flyers , who ended a three-game winless skid with a commanding 5-3 victory the Blue Jackets would be wise to quickly erase from memory.
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"We're trying to figure it out," Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said. "We're cracking our heads in between periods, and tried to do what we could do, as far as trying to jumpstart us a bit. We had nothing, absolutely nothing, which is disappointing obviously. We should've had more in this game."
Travis Konecny scored two goals to lead the onslaught for the Flyers (13-12-4), whose other goals were scored by Noah Cates , Owen Tippett and Morgan Frost . Matvei Michkov added two assists to push his season scoring line to 11 goals, 16 assists and 27 points in his pursuit of the Calder Trophy as the NHL's top rookie.
Zach Werenski , Sean Monahan and Kent Johnson scored goals for the Blue Jackets (12-13-3), but their contributions weren't nearly enough. It was a particularly rough night for goalie Elvis Merzlikins , who allowed all five goals while struggling under siege. Samuel Ersson earned the win with 14 saves for the Flyers, who outshot the Blue Jackets 24-18.
"I think we just started slow and never really found ourselves," Werenski said. "Tough to come out like that after a good win (Sunday) in Winnipeg, so ... it is what it is. I felt fine, but didn't play great. The team didn't play great. So, I don't know what it was. We had an off day (Monday), so I felt like we'd have more energy tonight, but I guess not."
Philadelphia Flyers center Morgan Frost (48) smiles beside right wing Matvei Michkov (39) after scoring a goal during the third period of the NHL hockey game against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena in Columbus on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. The Blue Jackets lost 5-3.
Philadelphia led 2-0 after the first period on goals by Cates and Tippett.
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Konecny's first of the game to cap a power play pushed it to 3-0 early in the second and his second goal delivered the biggest gut punch. It was scored on a partial breakaway about two minutes after Werenski pulled the Jackets within 3-1 late in the second on a power play. Konecny flew the defensive zone early, received a stretch pass from Joel Farabee to get a clean rush at Merzlikins and slid the puck under the goalie's left pad for a 4-1 lead with 1:00 left in the period.
Philadelphia Flyers right wing Travis Konecny (11) scores past Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Elvis Merzlikins (90) during the second period of the NHL hockey game at Nationwide Arena in Columbus on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024.
Werenski called it a "dagger," while Evason had another one-word description of the play.
"Terrible," he said. "We had some life, and then we give them a semi-breakaway and it ends up in our net. That hurt us as much as the start did. We should've had 'life' from the start of the game, right? At the drop of the puck."
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Frost made it 5-1 just 1:55 into the third before Monahan and Johnson made the final score more respectable for Columbus on their goals at 11:42 and 19:23 of the period.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Philadelphia Flyers dominate listless Columbus Blue Jackets
