Zach Werenski and Mason Marchment each delivered a goal and an assist as the Columbus Blue Jackets rebounded from a rare regulation defeat to post a 3-2 road win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday.
Columbus had been 8-0-4 in its previous 12 games before falling to the New York Islanders 1-0 on Sunday. With Tuesday’s bounce-back victory, the Blue Jackets (38-22-11, 87 points) jumped over the Pittsburgh Penguins for second place in the Metropolitan Division while the Flyers (34-24-12, 80 points) missed a key opportunity to gain ground in the wild-card race.
Mathieu Olivier also scored for Columbus while Jet Greaves turned aside 24 shots. Sean Couturier and Jamie Drysdale tallied for the Flyers, while Dan Vladar finished with 16 saves.
Greaves denied Owen Tippett on a first-period breakaway and, later in the opening session, stopped Noah Cates on a penalty shot.
Shortly thereafter, Couturier manufactured the first goal of the game — his eighth of the season. The Flyers’ captain hit Marchment along the boards, helped dig the puck free and then deposited a rebound past Greaves for a 1-0 lead.
The Blue Jackets tied it less than a minute into the second period. Werenski led an offensive rush and found a streaking Olivier, who snapped one past Vladar for his 15th of the season.
Less than two minutes later, Werenski punctuated a nice passing sequence to give the visitors a 2-1 lead. Marchment found Damon Severson, whose touch pass to Werenski set up the Columbus defenseman with a wide-open look from the slot for his 21st of the season.
Early in the third period, Marchment’s blast from the left circle — originally ruled no goal — was determined to have snuck under the crossbar to give the Blue Jackets a 3-1 lead.
Drysdale made things interesting with a 6-on-5 goal with 2:04 remaining. Despite some additional pressure down the stretch, Philadelphia was unable to get the equalizer past Greaves.
–Field Level Media
