Postgame 5: Flyers Conquer Columbus, 5-3

The Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets, 5-3, at Nationwide Arena on Tuesday evening. For much of the game, the Flyers played smothering defense and outworked the Blue Jackets in all three zones. Philly surrendered two late-game goals but the Blue Jackets made the game seem closer than it actually was until the outcome was sealed.

Travis Konecny tallied power play and even strength goals for Philadelphia. Morgan Frost had a goal and an assist while linemates Matvei Michkov (two assists) and Owen Tippett (even strength goal), respectively, continued their recent hot streaks offensively.

With the win, the Flyers snapped a three-game winless stretch and improved to 13-12-4 through the first 29 games of the 2024-25 season.

The Flyers scored two goals in the opening period as they outshot Columbus by a 7-4 margin. Airtight checking enabled Philly to generate a 22-8 edge in shot attempts.

Noah Cates (2nd goal of the season) collected a loose Tyson Foerster rebound and put it in the net for a 1-0 lead at 4:33 of the first period. On the front end of the play, Foerster won a puck battle and snapped a shot on goaltender Elvis Merzlikins. The secondary assist went to Cam York.

Joined on the rush by Jamie Drysdale and Tippett, Frost carried the puck through the neutral zone and dished to Drysdale for the entry. From there, Drysdale passed to Tippett who scored (8th) from the right wing above the right circle and outside the dot. The assists went to Drysdale and Frost. The shot was one that Merzlikins would normally handle.

Philly went on the game's first power play at 14:55. Attempting to play an aerial puck, Cole Sillinger accidentally got his stick in York's face for a minor penalty. Philly got mild pressure from the second unit, including Tippett passing up an open shot to attempt to feed Frost, who was below the goal line.

In the second period, the Flyers dominated early. After Philly opened a three-goal lead, the Blue Jackets made a push and got a goal back before the Flyers restored a three-goal edge late in the frame. Second period shots on goal were 10-8 Flyers (17-12 Flyers through two periods) after it took nearly the first seven minutes for Columbus to put a shot on net.

At 4:44 of the middle frame, Kevin Labanc took a high-sticking minor as Bobby Brink skated past him. The Flyers second unit started the 5-on-4 and nearly cashed in as Tippett drew iron on a shot. At 6:11 the Flyers cashed in with the first unit on the ice.

On the goal sequence, Brink was taken off the puck along the wall but battled to get it back. Matvei Michkov then found an open Travis Konecny on the other side. Skating to near the hash marks, Konecny (PPG, 14th) wristed home a shot for a 3-0 lead with defenseman Emil Andrae screening in front. The assists went to Michkov and Brink.

Mathieu Olivier checked Andrae along the boards for an elbowing penalty at 8:19. Rasmus Ristolainen took exception to how Andrae's head went into the boards and went at Olivier. However, the situation did not escalate right away.

The Flyers did not score on the ensuing power play. At 10:51, Nick Seeler sought out Olivier and the two players dropped the gloves. Olivier got the better of the fight, but the important part was Seeler defending teammate Andrae.

Travis Sanheim was called for a hooking minor as he stick-checked Sillinger at 15:37. Columbus went to their first power play. At 16:55, after extensive Columbus possession, Werenski one-timed a low shot into the net (PPG, 9th) to cut the deficit to 3-1. The assists went to Kirill Marchenko and Sean Monahan.

The next two shifts saw Columbus apply pressure until the Flyers counterattacked for a goal that made it 4-1 On the play, Seeler made a first pass up the defensive wall to Joel Farabee. From there, Farabee made a perfect stretch pass that sprang Konecny on a breakaway from the blueline in on Merzlikins. Konency scored his second goal of the game (15th of the season) low to the glove side at 19:00. The assists went to Farabee and Seeler.

On the second shift of the third period, Merzlikins had to come up big as Tippett set up an initial chance for Michkov with Frost attempting a rebound shot.

As the shift resumed, the line struck for a goal as Frost ranged from high to low in the attack zone and got a payoff for a 5-1 lead at 1:54. Receiving a centering pass from Michkov, Frost scored (4th) on a second effort play.

At the 3:26 mark, Konency was penalized on a slashing minor. The Flyers killed off the 4-on-5.

Columbus scored a pair of garbage time goals in the latter half of the third period to reduce the Flyers' final margin of victory from four goals to two. At 11:42, Sean Monahan deflected a Dante Fabbro shot past Samuel Ersson. The second assist went to Kent Johnson.

In the game's final minute, at 19:23, Johnson (9th) tipped in a Damon Severson shot to cut the Flyers lead to 5-3. Former two-stint Flyers winger James van Riemsdyk earned the secondary assist.

Ersson finished with 14 saves on 17 shots. Columbus goalie Merzlikins stopped 19 of 24 shots.

Final shot attempts favored Philly, 58-44. The Flyers blocked 16 shots, led by four blocks apiece from York and Andrae.

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

86 Joel Farabee - 14 Sean Couturier - 11 Travis Konecny

74 Own Tippett - 48 Morgan Frost - 39 Matvei Michkov

71 Tyson Foerster - 27 Noah Cates- 10 Bobby Brink

21 Scott Laughton - 25 Ryan Poehling - 19 Garnet Hathaway

6 Travis Sanheim - 8 Cam York

36 Emil Andrae - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
24 Nick Seeler - 9 Jamie Drysdale

33 Samuel Ersson
[35 Aleksei Kolosov]

PP1: Andrae, Brink, Couturier, Konecny, Michkov
PP2: Drysdale, Tippett, Frost, Farabee, Foerster

Scratches:77 Erik Johnson (healthy), 44 Nicolas Deslauriers (IR), 5 Egor Zamula (healthy), 82 Ivan Fedotov (healthy)

TURNING POINT

The Tippett goal and the Konecny breakaway goal -- a quick response to the Werenski tally -- were instrumental in the Flyers building a commanding lead.

POSTGAME 5 ("5 Things" Revisited)

1. Tippett heating up: Tippett entered the game with four goals over his previous four games. On Tuesday, he quickly made it five goals in five games with his long-range goal at 10:56 of the first period. Overall, No. 74 had two shots on goal in 13:04 of ice time.

2. Redemption game for Frost? The second-line center responded as hoped to his late-game gaffe in Sunday's 4-2 loss to Utah. In 14:31 of ice time, Frost had a multi-point night (1g, 1a), showed good hustle and put four shots on net on five attempts. His missed shot nearly banked off the end boards to a teammate in the slot but caromed harmlessly away.

3. Building blocks for Drysdale: The Flyers defenseman jumped into the play several times in the first period, attempted two shots and feeding Tippett for the goal made it 2-0. With 5:42 left in the second period, Drysdale pinched in deep for a potential scoring chance. Overall, he played 18:28 and had a plus-three game with an assist to show for it.

4. Flyers special teams: The Flyers were 1-for-3 on the power play and 1-for-2 on the penalty kill. The special teams evened out on this night. Philly still has worked to do to their recently struggling PK back up to it usual standards.

5. Behind enemy lines -- Werenski and Provorov: Respectively, Zach Werenski logged 24:40 of ice time, while ex-Flyer Ivan Provorov played 22:05. Werenski, Columbus' leading scorer, had two shots on goal including his power play marker. He blocked three Philly shot attempts. Provorov had two shots on goal, two charged giveaways and a credited takeaway.