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Flyers Squander Chances, Lose 5-3 to Columbus

March 14, 2017, 9:34 AM ET [564 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
FLYERS SQUANDER CHANCES, FALL 5-3 TO COLUMBUS

Continued special teams woes were at the forefront as the Philadelphia Flyers dropped a 5-3 decision to the Columbus Blue Jackets at the Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday night. The Flyers went just 1-for-8 on the power play and 1-for-2 on the penalty kill.

Columbus scored the game's first two and final three goals. In between, the Flyers tallied three in a row to take a short-lived lead.

Cam Atkinson (31st and 32nd) notched even strength and power play goals for the Blue Jackets. Sam Gagner (18th), Zach Werenski (10th) and Brandon Dubinsky (power play, 10th) also tallied for the Blue Jackets.

Travis Konecny tallied his 9th and 10th goals the season in a losing cause, while Brayden Schenn reached the 20-goal mark for the third time in his NHL career as he scored a second period power play goal.

Despite the 8-2 disparity in power plays, the Flyers got outshot, 29-26, for the game. Goaltending was basically a non-factor. Both Sergei Bobrovsky (23 saves) and Steve Mason (25 saves) made some good saves but both yielded a couple of potentially stoppable -- although not outright soft -- goals along the way.

Gagner's goal was a scorcher high to the short side from the top of the left circle. Atkinson scored on a 2-on-0 opportunity for the Blue Jackets. Konecny's first goal was a fairly routine-looking wrister from the left circle that eluded Bobrovsky's glove.

Schenn's power play tally was scored from his favorite power play shooting spot near the left hash marks. Konecny's second tally capped a strong individual effort as he worked his way around the offensive zone from the left half wall to the bottom of the right circle and beat Bobrovsky high to the short side. Werenski tied the game at 3-3 with a wrister through a maze of traffic (including both Flyers defensemen simultaneously screening Mason) after a clean faceoff loss by Sean Couturier.

With Konecny in the penalty box for a needless (but rather borderline) roughing infraction, Dubinsky's power play game-winner in the third period saw Scott Hartnell set up a screen directly in front of Mason. As the Flyers goalie peered around the screen, Dubinsky shot from the left circle and beat Mason high to the short side. After the game, Mason accepted blame for the goal, saying he picked up on the shot in time but didn't make the save.

The Flyers pulled Mason for an extra attacker with about 2:30 left in the game. When playing 6-on-5 this season, opposition empty netters have been almost inevitable and game-tying Philly goals quite few and far between. At 19:39, Atkinson tacked on the ENG.

The Flyers host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night.
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