FLYERS SPUTTER IN 4-1 CLUNKER AGAINST COLUMBUS

The Philadelphia Flyers' four-game winning streak came to a crashing end on Saturday night at the Wells Fargo Center, as they got thoroughly outplayed in a 4-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Columbus has won five of their last six meetings with the Flyers. Philadelphia has also now lost its last seven games against teams with losing records.

Both the Flyers and Blue Jackets were playing the second game of respective back-to-back sets. As such, fatigue was not a valid excuse. The Blue Jackets just outskated and outwork Philadelphia.

The Blue Jackets won the vast majority of puck battles throughout the game. The Flyers were not very good in handling the Columbus forecheck on attempted breakouts. Philly lost most of the 50-50 pucks on the boards. They couldn't carry the puck in on more than a sporadic basis, nor could they chip-and-chase effectively. In their own zone, the Flyers covered poorly on two of the Columbus goals. To top it off, the Blue Jackets won the goaltending battle.

“That wasn’t good hockey," Brayden Schenn said. "There was not enough fight, we weren't winning battles, weren’t winning the races to the puck. Therefore, we spent a ton of time in our end and let Mase [Mason] hang out to dry and didn’t play well enough in front of him tonight.”

Added Michael Raffl, "I think they were quicker around pucks in all three zones today, and it’s tough especially when your down two goals with back to back games. You kind of feel like you chase the puck all over the ice and it gets tough physically and mentally. They played better than us tonight and they deserved to win.”

Nick Foligno roofed a pair of goals and added an assist for a three-point game. One game after being a healthy scratch, ex-Flyers forward Scott Hartnell bounced back for a power play goal and two assists. The Blue Jackets also got a fortunate deflection by Philadelphia's Scott Laughton on an otherwise harmless shot by Jack Johnson that turned into their second goal of the game. Alexander Wennberg finished with two assists.

Philadelphia made a brief push in the second period. After failing to convert an early period breakaway, Michael Raffl collected a line rush goal to cut the deficit to 2-1. Shayne Gostisbehere, who was one of the team's few bright spots throughout the game started the play with a rush that backed off the defense and then Brayden Schenn made a perfect pass to Raffl. Shortly thereafter, however, the push was short-circuited as Columbus went back ahead by two goals.

Steve Mason had a so-so game for the Flyers, stopping 30 of 34 shots in a losing effort. The real problem wasn't so much the goals themselves -- although the third Columbus goal was one that could have been stopped -- but rather the failure to make momentum saves on the second and third Columbus goals.

“In the first period, we look at the goals and we kind of gave it to them. The first one obviously, we have to find a way to get out. The second was an unfortunate deflection off the wrong guy, that kind of set the tone right off the back. But coming off the road and having a big win last night, we didn’t bring the energy back here and we paid for it," Mason said.

On the third Blue Jackets' goal, Mason did not see the puck until it was too late to react to Foligno's shot.

"He used our defenseman as a little bit of a screen there but it was a great shot, too," Mason said.

Ex-Columbus goaltender Mason was simply outplayed by former Flyers netminder Sergei Bobrovsky. Making back-to-back starts, Bobrovsky was not tested all that much until the third period but stoned Raffl on the second period breakaway and then made a 10-bell save in the third period on a point-blank chance for Matt Read that was a big momentum save when Philly needed a goal to get back in the game. Bobrovsky finished with 27 saves on 28 shots.

The Blue Jackets won the special teams battle, going 1-for-3 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill. Columbus won 52 percent of the faceoffs in the game. Last but not least, the Blue Jackets out-possessed Philly for most of the game. The final shot attempt differential was 64-60 in Columbus' favor, but the narrow final differential was a product of a three-goal lead after two periods. Through 40 minutes, the Blue Jackets held a whopping 54-30 edge in shot attempts.

"We were second on pucks, certainly, in both zones," Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol said. "Both teams played last night so we’re not looking for any excuse there. Bottom line we didn’t have it tonight right from the start. We had spurts where we found some energy but that’s all it was tonight was spurts.”

Right from the get-go the Blue Jackets pressed the attack heavily in the game's opening shift, including a pair of shots by Foligno and Alexander Wennberg. Midway through the shift, Scott Hartnell got away with a cross-check on Sean Couturier along the half-boards that seemed like a penalty.

During a Columbus off-side stoppage at 5:57, shots were 4-1 in the Blue Jackets' favor. It was an accurate reflection of the early play as the Blue Jackets were winning most of the puck battles up to that point. The Flyers pushed back a bit through a TV timeout stoppage at 8:01.

The Blue Kacekts took a 1-0 lead at 8:55. The Flyers ' Brayden Schenn lost a battle on left side half-boards. Moments later, Foligno blasted a right circle one-timer off a cross-ice pass from Wennberg high to the short side. Hartnell go the secondary assist on Foligno's third goal of the season. On the play, the Flyers ended up with all five skaters on the left side of the ice.

Columbus made it 2-0 at 13:33 as Johnson's point shot was deflected by Scott Laughton's airborn stick and re-directed pass Mason. The unassisted goal, scored after a Nick Schultz clearing attempt was held in at the point, was Johnson's third of the season.

The Flyers took an icing with 3:21 left in the period. Shots were 11-4 Columbus. They took another icing with 1:57 remaining. Shots for the period ended at 13-4 Columbus. Attempts were 23-9 Columbus. The Flyers had three attempts blocked and missed the net twice. The Blue Jackets had seven tries blocked and missed the net on four.

In the opening minute of the second period, Raffl received a stretch pass and had a clean breakaway but could not finish it off.

"I was trying to go five hole but it seems like he didn’t even move. Kind of easy for him, I guess,” Raffl said.

Raffl didn't miss the next time, however. Starting from the defensive zone, Gostisbehere carried the puck rapidly up the ice, passed to Brayden Schenn on the right wing and Raffl made a beeline for the left post to tip-in Schenn's perfect feed. Raffl's second goal of the year came at the 4:19 mark.

The goal woke up the Flyers' crowd and the team. Philadelphia pressured on its next two shifts.

Columbus then settled things down. Shots for the period were 6-5 Flyers at a Philadelphia icing with 12:15 left in the period. Caught in their own end of the ice for an extended time, the Flyers called timeout.

The Blue Jackets restored their two goal lead with a goal off the rush at 8:46. Foligno used Del Zotto as a screen and snapped a shot high to the stick side. Mason should have had that one. Assists went to Hartnell and goaltender Bobrovsky.

Luke Schenn took a holding penalty at 9:43. The Flyers killed it off. Columbus went back to the powerplay at 14:25 as Schultz high-sticked Brandon Saad as Saad went to the net. This time, the Flyers ddn't kill it.

Hartnell went to the net untouched near the left post and re-directed the puck off his skate into the net. The play was briefly reviewed for a kicking motion but upheld as Hartnell's 10th goal of the season. Assists on the power play goal went to Wennberg and Foligno at 15:17.

At the 17:45 mark of the period, Bobrovsky boxed a shot by Del Zotto and the rebound sat loose behind him in the crease. With a yawning net in front of him Laughton tucked the puck wide.

Shots in the second period were 15-13 Columbus (28-17 Blue Jackets overall). Shot attempts were 34-21 Columbus (54-30 through 40 minutes). The Flters had six attempts blocked (nine ooverall) and missed the net three times (five overall). The Blue Jackets got blocked eight times (15 overall) and missed the net seven times (11 overall).

The first four minutes of the third period could best be described as "sleepy." There was no flow to the play. At the 5:41 mark, however, Bobrovsky made by far his best save of the game, kicking out his left pad to deny Read's stuff-in attempt from the doorstep on a Del Zotto rebound.

Gostisbehere drews some oohs and aahs from the crowd with some fancy skating and stickhandling up the ice as time moved past the eight minute mark. Eventually, Columbus took an icing.

The Flyers finally got their first power play of the game at 10:19. Cam Atkinson got the gate for tripping Gostisbehere in the Flyers' zone. The Flyers second unit fared better at the end of the advantage than the first did earlier but could not capitalize, either. At the end of the penalty, a scrum ensued after a whistle and David Savard took a roughing penalty for a shot at Claude Giroux. Philly did not score on the second power play, either.

With 4:05 left, Michael Chaput hit Luke Schenn behind the Flyers net. Schenn's skate got caught under him and his foot twisted awkwardly as he fell. He tried to hobble off the ice but eventually needed help to go off. Shortly thereafter, Brandon Manning took a roughing penalty going after Chaput. With 1:21 left, Brayden Schenn fought Chaput at center ice on behalf of his brother.

Shots in the third period were 11-6 Flyers, but 34-28 in the Blue Jackets' favor for the game. The Flyers had seven third-period shot attempts blocked (15 overall) and missed the net twice (seven times overall). Columbus got eight attempts blocked (15 overall) and missed the net seven times (11 overall).

Flyers general manager Ron Hextall said after the team that Luke Schenn would be re-evaluated on Sunday, and the team would provide an update at that time. For the rest of the club, Sunday is an off-day. The Flyers will practice on Monday and then host the New York Islanders the following evening.

POST-GAME NOTES

* Prior to the game, the Flyers made two roster moves: Nick Cousins and Colin McDonald were returned to the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms as R.J. Umberger and Ryan White were activated from the injured reserve list. Umberger skated 7:47 of ice time (four credited hits, minus-two at even strength, zero shot attempts) while White played 11:48 (seven credited hits, two shots on goal on three attempts, minus-one).

* Hartnell was asked after the game about being a healthy scratch on Friday and his performance against his long-time club the next night. He said, "I definitely wanted to have a positive impact on the game, and send a positive message that we didn’t want to be embarrassed like that again. The boys played hard. It’s a tough building to play in, and tonight was a big effort and win. They are a team that we need to catch in order to get where want to go."

* The Lehigh Valley Phantoms wasted a spectacular goaltending performance by red-hot second year goaltender Anthony Stolarz in a 2-1 road loss to the Hershey Bears on Saturday. Stolarz almost singlehandedly stole the game for the Phantoms, who nursed a 1-0 lead until midway through the third period despite a 38-13 shot disadvantage before the Bears finally put a puck past the Phantoms goalie. Stolarz finished with 42 saves on 44 shots as Chris Bourque scored the game-winner for the Bears with 21 seconds left in regulation. The Phantoms, who were held to 15 shots for the game -- five per period -- got a first period goal by Cousins.

* According the analytics data on BehindtheNet.ca, during Cousins' four-game callup stint with the Flyers, he skated 46 shifts (all at even strength). One hundred percent of the shifts were offensive zone starts, and he averaged 7:51 of ice time per game. Cousins generated some quality shifts in each game, so he made the most of his very heavily sheltered use.

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STREIT UPDATE

The Flyers held an optional morning skate on Saturday. Mark Streit (surgery to repair detached pubic plate) skated for nearly an hour.

"I feel pretty good. It definitely feels good to get back out there on the ice. It’s been a rough two and a half weeks. It’s fun to be back in here and around the guys. The skating is going well. I’m a little surprised. It’s going awesome under the circumstances," Streit said.

Currently, Streit's original projected six-week timetable to return to the lineup remains a realistic possibility.

"The doctors are happy and the medical staff here is pretty happy and optimistic. But it’s one step at a time. I do whatever doesn’t hurt. don’t want to push it too much, get it sore or inflamed or anything like that. As of now, I skate every second day. I will probably increase it next week. I skated for the first time on Thursday. Today is the second time. There’s an off-day tomorrow and then I’ll be back on the ice on Monday," Streit said.

The player said that he's experiencing the expected soreness in his groin near the surgical site when he skates but he already feels better than he did before the surgery. Streit said that his condition had gotten to the point where it did not make sense to try to tough it out.

"At the beginning of the season, I think everybody goes through some tightness in the groin. But this time, it never went away. It just got worse and worse. It’s tough mentally to play, because it gets in the back of your head. I decided to get it fixed and get 100 percent healthy instead of trying to go another 65 games like that," Streit said.

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