COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Flyers hoped the return of Dan Vladar would give them a jolt. His three huge highway robbery saves kept them in the game.
Unfortunately, much of the same issues they have been trying to avoid over the past few weeks costed them a chance at points.
Turnovers once again played a huge part in another Flyers loss. Their ninth loss in their last 11 games.
Two bad turnovers in their own zone resulted in the Blue Jackets opening goal and eventual game winner late in the third period.
Trevor Zegras had a clear chip opportunity to get the puck out of the zone to relief the opening pressure from the Blue Jackets. Instead, he tried to make a backhand pass to Christian Dvorak, which was intercepted by a Blue Jacket and in the back of the net seconds later.
Matvei Michkov tried to get out of the zone before Noah Cates had full possession of the puck. Cates chipped the puck to the middle of the ice where Michkov tried to get back to after blowing the zone. Again, seconds later the puck was in the back of the net.
Travis Konecny provided the only offense for the Flyers, scoring his 18th, 19th, and 20th goals of the season.
His third career hat trick tied the game at 3-3 with 4:46 left in the third period. Two of his goals coming in the third period after Dan Vladar stood on his head in the opening part of the period to keep the game at 3-1.
Vladar finished with 26 saves in his first action since January 14th.
The power-play once again struggled to provide any momentum, failing to score on five opportunities. Half of the Flyers shots tonight came on the power-play, none found the back of the net.
The Flyers complete their second half of their back to back tomorrow night in Boston at 7:00pm.
