The Philadelphia Flyers were defeated by the Columbus Blue Jackets. 3-2 (1-0), on Thursday evening at the Wells Fargo Center. Philadelphia held a 2-0 lead within the third period and seemed in total control before Columbus pushed back to force overtime.
Travis Konecny scored twice for the Flyers for his 19th and 20th goals of the season. Joel Farabee and Sean Couturier picked up two apples apiece. Defensemen Damon Severson (5th) and Jake Bean (3rd) scored for Columbus. In the first round of the shootout, Johnny Gaudreau tallied what proved to be the winning goal.
Daniil Tarasov (39 saves on 41 shots in regulation and overtime, 3-for-3 in the shootout) had answers for everyone by Konecny. In a losing cause, Samuel Ersson stopped 26 of 28 shots in regulation and OT before stopping one of two shootout attempts.
For a detailed period-by-period synopsis, analysis, stats and highlights, see the Postgame 5 on the Flyers' official website. Both Cam Atkinson and Morgan Frost were healthy scratches for the Flyers after both were among various Flyers who had a rough road trip. Rhett Gardner dressed for the Flyers for the first time since his recall from Lehigh Valley. The Flyers went with 11 forwards and seven defensemen.
Despite Thursday's game being the Flyers fifth game in eight nights across multiple time zones and four border crossings, Flyers head coach John Tortorella employed a very short bench. The struggling Nic Deslauriers returned to the lineup and skated just 7:10 across nine shifts. Gardner played 7:28 over 10 shifts. Seventh defenseman Marc Staal played 11:59. Bobby Brink skated 16 shifts (12:39 overall, 1:25 on the power play).