Columbus Blue Jackets @ Philidelphia Flyers: 2-24-25 NHL Game 34

After a lovely ceremonial puck drop by the Gaudreau family prior to the Jackets and Flyers game tonight, a competitive game ensued. Period one would hold just one goal, becoming the ninth this season for Mathieu Olivier. The goal would come at 15:47 and give Kent Johnson his tenth assist this season. Elvis Merzlikins would continue his incredible coverage of the Jackets' net, and this game would be a 1-0 after the first twenty-minute period. 

The second period would again only see one goal, and it would go to a young Jacket with a lot of promise. Mikael Pyyhtia would score his third goal this season at 7:05. This was an awesome pop-the-puck into-the-net kind of moment as the Jacket' play convinced Flyers' goaltender, S. Ersson, to slide down on the ice, leaving a wide not for Pyyhtia to shoot into. This goal would have just one assist like the first, and it would belong to Kurally, becoming his fifth this season. Elvis Merzlikins would continue saving, and the Jackets would lead 2-0 after forty minutes of play in Philly. 

Period three would make up for the lack of goals by the Flyers. After one goal was removed after a Jackets' challenge earlier in the game, the Flyers would score two goals back-to-back to start the third period. First, M. Frost would add his fifth goal of the season at 6:53 into the final regulation period. The lone assist would go to O. Tippett, who was pushing to score all evening. This was his ninth assist of the season. This goal was followed quickly with one from N. Cates at 8:48, becoming his fifth of the season. T. Foerster would add his seventh assist of the season and C. York would have his third assist this season and the first secondary assist of the night. Kirill Marchenko would break the 2-2 tie and give the Jackets the go-ahead goal at 10:01. This would become Marchenko's twelfth goal of the year, and he now leads the goals-scored category for the Jackets with this one. Dimitri Voronkov would add his eighth assist of the year on this goal while Ivan Proverov would add his tenth with the secondary. But, at 11;50, the Flyers would again match the Jackets with M. Frost's second goal of the game and sixth this season. O. Tippett would add his second assist of the night and tenth this season with the primary assist while T. Konecny would add his twenty-second with the secondary. Hold on, 5th Line, we're not done yet, though! With his first goal of the season coming at the perfect time, Jack Christiansen would take a chance and shoot the puck at 15:49. That goal of his would become the new go-ahead goal of the game, giving the Jackets back their one-goal lead. Dimitri Voronkov would add his second assist of the night and ninth this season with the primary assist. Then, before I could even finish typing about the goal Jake Christiansen scored, T. Foerster would score his ninth goal of the season at 18:15, tying the game yet again! Ugh. T. Konecny would add his second assist tonight and twenty-third this season with the primary assist while O. Tippett would add his third assist assist tonight and his eleventh this season with the secondary. I'm sure it comes as no surprise that the game would conclude regulation with a tie at 4-4 after that third period and head into overtime! 

The Jackets and Flyers would battle as if the third period never ended, but eventually, one team had to break through, and it would be the Flyers O. Tippett who was hot all third period. Tus goal would be his eleventh of the season and give him a 1-3-4 night. N. Cates would add his sixth assist this season with the primary assist on this goal, and that's all she wrote for this game. The Jackets take a point, but lose the second with a 5-4 loss in overtime to the Flyers. The drive of the Jackets this season is rarely absent from the game, they just couldn't get the last goal tonight and sometimes games go that way. The main thing is we didn't leave empty-handed. 

With his 0-2-2 night, Dimitri would leave the city of Philadelphia with the Third Star of the Game tonight, too. 

Note: I'll be keeping an eye on Zach Werenski after his fall in period three. He cleanly hit a Flyers player but lost his footing after and ended up crashing into the boards, slamming a knee fairly hard. It took him some time to get up, crawling on the ice for what seemed like a century to a blogger who's seen him take his fair share of injuries. He went into the locker room but, thankfully, did return to close out the game. Still, it's a concern going forward as adrenaline could cover an injury in the moment. Here's hoping not, but something to watch before Monday night for sure.     

We'll do this one more time before the holiday break, but this time at home as the Canadians will travel to Columbus from Montreal for a game on Monday. The puck will drop at 7:00 p.m.  

Go CBJ!