Blue Jackets Blow 2-0 Lead, Fall 4-3 to Flyers for Fourth Straight Loss

The Columbus Blue Jackets scored twice in the first five minutes Saturday night, then watched the Philadelphia Flyers score the next three goals and the last one, too, in a 4-3 loss at Nationwide Arena that ran Columbus’s losing streak to four games. Denver Barkey scored twice for Philadelphia, including the go-ahead goal at 11:54 of the third period, his first multigoal game in the NHL, according to NHL.com’s game recap.

Dmitri Voronkov put Columbus ahead 1-0 at 3:19 of the first period, burying a rebound off the end boards for his first goal of the season, and Matthew Knies made it 2-0 just a minute later with a wrist shot from the top of the right circle, NHL.com reported. Trevor Zegras cut the deficit to 2-1 late in the first, and the Flyers took over early in the second.

Matvei Michkov tied the game 2-2 at 1:19 of the second period, stealing the puck from Adam Fantilli at the Philadelphia blue line and finishing a breakaway, and Barkey gave the Flyers a 3-2 lead on the power play 62 seconds later, according to NHL.com. Fantilli tied it again at 5:44 of the second, scoring high to the blocker side from the high slot, but Columbus never led again.

The winner came off a Columbus mistake. Noel Acciari knocked down an attempted pass from Damon Severson at the Columbus blue line and fed Barkey, who beat goaltender Jet Greaves from the slot, NHL.com reported. Greaves finished with 17 saves for the Blue Jackets (7-11-0), while Joseph Woll made 28 saves for Philadelphia (6-10-6), which finished its five-game road trip at 2-1-2.

“We come out with nothing to show for it, so it’s definitely frustrating,” Columbus defenseman Zach Werenski told NHL.com. “I thought we played one of our better games tonight in terms of chances; playing with speed, playing fast. We’re behind the eight ball. I think everyone knows that.” Fantilli was just as direct about the turnovers, telling NHL.com: “They capitalized on our turnovers. Starts with mine. Like, I just gave them a free breakaway.”

Head coach Rick Bowness missed his second straight game because of a health issue, and assistant coach Don Granato ran the bench, NHL.com reported. Forward Sean Monahan also did not play after suffering an upper-body injury in Thursday’s 3-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Reuters, in its account of the game, also had Barkey scoring twice and the Blue Jackets losing their fourth straight.

Columbus now heads out on the road still looking to stop the slide. The Blue Jackets’ next game is Tuesday against the New York Islanders, and Granato’s postgame message, as reported by NHL.com, was that the mistakes, not the effort, are what have to change: “We didn’t outscore those mistakes.”

Photo: Eric, CC BY-SA