Kent Johnson made sure Columbus left Philadelphia with the two points, finishing off the Flyers 2:22 into overtime as the Blue Jackets survived a wild 4-3 escape on Tuesday night.
It was a game that flipped hard after Columbus burst out to a 3-0 lead in the opening period, then spent the rest of the night trying to hang on. Johnson played a role in all of the Blue Jackets’ early damage.
He fed Adam Fantilli for the first goal at 10:58 of the first, then redirected Zach Werenski’s shot past Flyers goalie Dan Vladar at 12:54. Fifty seconds later, Denton Mateychuk added another, turning a quick three-goal flurry into a 3-0 cushion after one.
Columbus didn’t get much breathing room after that. Philadelphia took over the shot count over the final two periods, outshooting the Blue Jackets 28-6 to force the game beyond regulation.
The Flyers got their push started when Noah Cates scored his first goal of the season, poking a loose puck past Cam Talbot. Then Trevor Zegras trimmed the margin to 3-2 with just under five minutes remaining, slipping a pass to Tyson Foerster before Jamie Drysdale tipped the shot in with 11 seconds left to tie it.
That set the stage for Johnson to finish the job in overtime. He and Fantilli broke in on a two-on-none and Johnson buried the winner, giving him his sixth goal of the season. Talbot finished with 28 saves for his third win.
Vladar stopped 11 shots for Philadelphia.
Even with the loss, the Flyers have picked up points in four of their last five games after opening the season with a franchise-record nine-game winless streak, though they have now dropped consecutive games. Columbus, meanwhile, won back-to-back games for the first time this season.
The Blue Jackets continue their road trip Thursday in Carolina. The Flyers head to Washington to face the Capitals on Wednesday.
In Other News...
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For Philadelphia, that creates a different kind of trade fight than the one teams were used to even a few years ago. Bigger cap ceilings give front offices more room to dream, but they also force sharper decisions on how to build a roster and how aggressive to be in negotiations, especially with a new collective bargaining agreement reshaping contract structure and team leverage. The Flyers are navigating not just a more expensive league, but one where the rules of the spending game are changing too. [Read more 🡒]
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Over the past six seasons, he has missed roughly one-third of the teams games, and that kind of availability track record naturally chips away at his trade value. What once might have been a straightforward conversation about a sturdy veteran defenseman has turned into a much murkier calculus for the Flyers, who now have to weigh the usefulness of his game when healthy against the reality that health has become the biggest part of the discussion. [Read more 🡒]
Flyers Get Cam York Back With A New Blue Line Problem
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The wrinkle is on defense, where the Flyers now have one more moving part to manage after placing Rasmus Ristolainen on injured reserve because of an upper-body injury. York is expected to slide back into a regular role, and that creates a fresh roster squeeze as the team decides how to fill out the back end for what could be a few difficult weeks ahead. [Read more 🡒]