The Blue Jackets' Stars Shine Bright, Beat Flyers 5-2 in John Tortorella's Return to Columbus

By Coby Maeir on November 10, 2022 at 9:55 pm
Boone Jenner
Gaelen Morse-USA TODAY Sports
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Back in the win column.

The Blue Jackets snapped their five-game losing streak behind 1-2--3 from Johnny Gaudreau and two goals from Boone Jenner, defeating the Flyers 5-2 in John Tortorella's return to Columbus. The Jackets held on to a one-goal lead for most of the third period and played nearly half the game with just four defensemen. With the win, they improve to 4-9-0.

1st Period

The Jackets gifted two turnovers to the Flyers, one by Patrik Laine less than 30 seconds into the game, and one later on by Andrew Peeke, but Philadelphia couldn't convert on either chance.

With 13:07 left in the first period, Gaudreau opened the scoring, beating Carter Hart to the glove side with a left-circle wrist shot. 

  1 2 3 F
BLUE JACKETS 2 1 2 5
FLYERS 0 1 1 2

Just over two minutes later, Philadelphia's Nick Deslauriers and Columbus' Mathieu Olivier dropped the gloves right off the face-off.

The Flyers had a chance to tie the game as Ivan Provorov was left wide open from the right dot but his one-timer was stopped by Joonas Korpisalo. 

Jack Roslovic had a pair of high-danger chances from the slot in the first period but failed to hit the net on either one. 

At the second media timeout, the Jackets played a welcome-back video for Flyers head coach John Tortorella.

The Jackets doubled their lead with 7:57 left in the period when Zach Werenski fired a wrist shot from the slot past Hart after Gaudreau's pass to Patrik Laine on a three-on-one chance. 

Just 31 seconds later, a scrum formed in front of Korpisalo's crease, and Nick Blankenburg and Joel Farabee threw punches at each other and were each given a minor penalty for roughing.

Zach Werenski left the game later in the period and did not return.

Columbus took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission.

2nd period

The Jackets picked up right where they left off, scoring just 37 seconds into the period when the top line of Gaudreau-Jenner-Laine came down and Gaudreau found Laine at the high slot who found Jenner who beat Hart with a wrist shot from the right goal line. 

Later in the period, Erik Gudbranson left the game after falling awkwardly into the boards and being kneed by Deslauriers while falling down. Gudbranson did not return and the Jackets were down to four defensemen for nearly half of the game.

The Flyers got on the board with 6:56 to go in the period when Tony DeAngelo took a couple of backhand whacks at the puck in the blue paint and eventually put it past Korpisalo.

The Jackets took a 3-1 lead into the third period.

3rd period

The Flyers cut the lead in half with 11:19 to go in regulation after Ivan Provorov tapped in a perfect cross-ice feed from Travis Konecny. 

Despite many Flyers bids to tie the game, including several with a 6-on-5 advantage, Philadelphia couldn't tie the game. Instead, the Jackets found the empty net twice, first when Nick Blankenburg scored from the right corner of his own zone just in front of the goal line with 1:37 left and when Jenner made it 5-2 with 18 seconds left.

The Jackets won 5-2 and snapped their five-game losing streak.

Stats

  • Shots on Goal: PHI 34-29 CBJ
  • Faceoff %: PHI 47.6-52.4 CBJ
  • Power play: PHI 0/0-0/2 CBJ
  • Takeaways: PHI 6-9 CBJ
  • Giveaways: PHI 6-5 CBJ
  • Blocked shots: PHI 12-18 CBJ
  • Hits: PHI 15-12 CBJ
  • 5-on-5 stats (via naturalstattrick.com):
    • Expected Goals (xG): PHI 2.86-1.58 CBJ
    • Chances (CF): PHI 55-41 CBJ
    • Shots (SF): PHI 28-23 CBJ
    • Scoring Chances (SCF): PHI 23-16 CBJ
    • High-Danger Chances (HDCF): PHI 11-4 CBJ

Injury Update

Zach Werenski left the game in the first period and did not return with an upper-body injury.

Erik Gudbranson left the game in the second period with an upper-body injury and did not return.

Jakub Voracek and Sean Kuraly missed tonight's game with upper-body injuries and Kent Johnson didn't play as a precautionary measure. 

Next Up

The Blue Jackets travel to Long Island to take on the Islanders on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET on Bally Sports Ohio and 105.7 FM.

The Jackets return home to face the Flyers on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and Hulu and on 105.7 FM.

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