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Wrap: Flyers Shred Jackets, 6-0

March 6, 2016, 9:53 AM ET [111 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
WRAPUP: FLYERS SHRED BLUE JACKETS, 6-0

On the heels of a humiliating 4-0 loss on Thursday, the Philadelphia Flyers took out their frustrations on the Columbus Blue Jackets in a 6-0 romp at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday night. Philadelphia scored twice in each period en route to compiling a 36-19 shot advantage (17-6, 10-7, 9-6).

Radko Gudas, who entered the game with zero goals and six assists in his first 57 games as a Flyer, enjoyed a career night with two goals and two assists while registering seven shots on goal. The hard-hitting defenseman now has nine goals and 42 points in 184 NHL career games. More characteristically, he had five blocked shots and a roughing double minor to round out his night of work.

Gudas' first goal, scored at 11:45 of the first period was a 90-foot slap shot blast from the red line that found its way into the net. The second goal, recorded at 10:29 of the third period, was initially stopped the rebound bounced off Columbus defenseman Ryan Murray and trickled over the goal line before it could be covered by Blue Jackets goaltender Curtis McElhinney (30 saves on 36 shots).

The Flyers got single goals from Michael Raffl (ninth of the season), Sam Gagner (sixth), Claude Giroux (18th) and Nick Cousins (fourth). Brandon Manning chipped in a pair of assists, while Sean Couturier, Chris VandeVelde, Andrew MacDonald, Wayne Simmonds, Brayden Schenn, Matt Read and Raffl chipped in one helper apiece.

All Flyers scoring was done at even strength. The Flyers went 0-for-4 on the power play and were 2-for-2 on the penalty kill. Philadelphia is 0-for-11 on the man advantage over the last two games.

Making his first appearance since Feb. 20, Steve Mason earned a 19-save shutout. It was Mason's fourth shutout (fifth regulation shutout) of the season.

Mason, who has lacked goal support for much of the season, had two goals to work with within the first 11:45 of the game. Before Gudas' center-ice tally, Raffl got open at the bottom of the left circle and re-directed a Gudas pass into the net at 3:40 on the Flyers' first shot of the game.

The score held at 2-0 until the latter part of the second period. The Flyers broke the game open with Gagner and Giroux and goals at 17:13 and 17:23. The Gagner goal came off a counterttack that the goal scorer finished off high to the short side from the right circle. Ten seconds later, Giroux tallied off the line rush as he scored from the left side hash marks.

The lead grew to 5-0 at 10:03 of the third period. Cousins scored on a jam-in from near the right post. The play was initially called no-goal but the ruling was reversed on a replay that showed the puck under McElhinney's skate and the puck entirely over the goal line. Moments later, Gudas scored his second of the game.

The Flyers will practice at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday at the Skate Zone. On Monday night, they will host the Tampa Bay Lighting to wrap up the current six-game homestand. The Flyers are 4-1-0 on the homestand thus far.
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