Blue Jackets 6, Flyers 3
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Two nights after an epic failure in Philadelphia, the Columbus Blue Jackets held on to beat the Flyers. In fact, they pulled away with ease.
Center Ryan Johansen scored his second goal of the game with seven minutes remaining, and defenseman David Savard and right winger Boone Jenner each had third-period goals as the Blue Jackets won 6-3 at Nationwide Arena.
Right winger R.J. Umberger also scored twice for the Blue Jackets, while fourth goaltender Curtis McElhinney made 33 saves. Defenseman Nikita Nikitin and fourth line right winger Corey Tropp each contributed two assists.
It was a much-needed win for the Blue Jackets, who blew a 3-0 lead, allowed five third-period goals and lost 5-4 to the Flyers on Thursday at the Wells Fargo Center.
This time, they pulled away from a 2-2 tie after two periods by scoring three goals early in the third.
The Flyers got two goals from right winger Wayne Simmonds and one from center Sean Couturier, while goaltender Ray Emery made 23 saves in the loss.
After goals from Johansen and Umberger gave the Blue Jackets a 2-0 lead, they came just millimeters from taking a 3-0 lead at 17:31 of the second period.
Forwards Brandon Dubinsky and Artem Anisimov broke out of the Blue Jackets' zone for a 2-on-1 at the end of a penalty kill, and Dubinsky pulled up and fired from the right circle.
The puck hit the crossbar, shot down off the left post and fired away from the net.
It didn't stay that way long.
On the Flyers' ensuing trip down the ice -- only nine seconds after Dubinsky was denied -- Philadelphia pulled to 2-1 when Simmonds fired a puck through a web of legs and between the pads of McElhinney to make it 2-1.
Then, before Blue Jackets' fans had stopped groaning, the Flyers tied it. With 2:00 remaining in the second, only 20 seconds after Simmonds scored, Couturier finished a set-up in front of the net by right winger Matt Read to make it 2-2.
If the Blue Jackets were nervous, it didn't show in the third.
Savard scored from the right point only 3:36 into the period and Jenner redirected a Nikitin shot at 5:39 to make it 4-2.
Johansen's 14th goal of the season at 12:22 of the third made it 5-2.
Simmonds scored on the backhand with less than two minutes remaining, but Umberger's empty-netter closed out the scoring.
NOTES: Attendance was before 14,090. ... Blue Jackets RW Marian Gaborik returned to the lineup after missing 17 games with a left knee sprain. Then, on his fourth shift of the game, he was sandwiched between Philadelphia LW Zac Rinaldo and D Braydon Coburn and suffered a broken collarbone. The club did not immediately have a timeline for how long he would be out of the lineup. ... Shortly before game time, the Flyers announced that RW Steve Downie would miss six to 10 days with an upper-body injury. C Vinny Lecavalier, who wasn't expected to join the lineup until after Christmas, was activated from injured reserve. ... Blue Jackets D James Wisniewski, who missed seven games with an upper-body injury, returned to the lineup. ... RW Jack Skille suffered a badly bruised right hand/wrist when he blocked a shot in Thursday's game against the Flyers. He's day-to-day.
