Game Preview: Beat-Up Blue Jackets Seek Second Straight Home Victory Against Flyers

PHILADELPHIA FLYERS

7–6–2 (16 points)

7:30 P.M. – TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15 NATIONWIDE ARENA COLUMBUS, OH

ESPN+ / Hulu

Would it be a jinx to ask how much worse it can get for the Columbus Blue Jackets?

They are tied for both the fewest points and fewest wins in the NHL. A well-below average defense last season is significantly worse this season. The injury bug has taken a large toll — and we're only one month into the season. It's fair to feel like the season is over, and it's not even Thanksgiving.

Nevertheless, Columbus will persist — beginning with a visit from John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers for the second time in six nights. The Blue Jackets defeated the Flyers on Thursday night by a 5-2 score (it came at a significant cost) and at Nationwide Arena and now go for a second straight win over the Flyers on home ice.

Here's what to keep in mind for the ESPN+/Hulu game of the night (yikes) between the Metro division rivals: 

TALKING POINTS: PHI

• When the Blue Jackets lost 6-3 to the Pittsburgh Penguins a few weeks back, it was their final win before losing seven in a row. Did Columbus do that to another Pennsylvania hockey team? The Flyers went home after Columbus' 5-2 Thursday and prompted lost by a combined score of 9-2 to the Ottawa Senators and Dallas Stars. 
   
• The Flyers went 0-for-9 on the power play in those two games and just 2-for-6 on the penalty kill. A strong suit early in the opening week or two of the season, special teams has become a November nightmare for Philadelphia.
   
• Flyers goalie Carter Hart had an .889 save percentage against the Blue Jackets last week — his worst of the season. (That would have been Elvis Merzlikins' second-best start of the year.) While he remains an early Vezina candidate, it was Columbus, off all teams, to make him look human.  
   
• The team that Columbus played Thursday looked like a Tortorella-coached group (and for good reason). Philadelphia won't make much noise in the division this year and there odds seem minimal for even a Stanley Cup Playoff berth — but they will be tough to play against and hard-nosed through and through, like any good Torts team is.