Blue Jackets Give Up Four Third-Period Goals; Lose Another Game In Overtime

Going into the 3rd period, the Blue Jackets looked in control. Boy, did that change in a hurry.

In just under two minutes, the Flyers scored twice to tie it early in the third. From there, both teams would score two more times each to send the game into overtime. The back-breaker for the Jackets came with just over a minute left in the game. For the third time in two games, they gave up a 6-on-5 with the opposing goalie pulled. It didn’t hurt too much against New Jersey, but it eventually would cost them the game against Philly. This must be addressed and cleaned up ASAP if this team wants to win games.

The Jackets controlled most of the overtime period. Although they only had one shot, it seemed like the Jackets had the puck the entire time. But all it took was one mistake by the CBJ for the puck to end up the other way. And it did – in a hurry. Owen Tippett put a breakaway shot past Elvis Merzļikins for his 4th point of the night to send the Jackets home with a loss. The OT loss is their 3rd OT loss in six games. This team can’t seem to win in overtime.

This game had a scary moment when superstar Zach Werenski went down awkwardly and slammed his knee into the boards. He eventually would get helped off the ice and into the dressing room. He returned but was caught on video wincing and flexing the knee. Head Coach Dean Evason said in the postgame about Werenski, “Hoping he doesn’t seize up now because he was at the end in overtime. Obviously, he’s a massive part of our hockey club.”

Final Stats

Player Stats

• Mathieu Olivier scored his 9th goal of the season.

• Mikael Pyyhtiä scored his 3rd goal of the season.

• Kirill Marchenko scored his 12th goal of the campaign.

• Jake Christiansen scored his 1st goal of the season.

• Kent Johnson tallied his 10th assist on the season.

• Dmitri Voronkov recorded his 8th and 9th assists.

• Ivan Provorov got his 10th assist.

• Elvis Merzļikins stopped 25 of 30 Flyers shots.

Team Stats

• The CBJ went scoreless on 1 power play.

• The Jackets penalty kill stopped all three Flyers man advantages.

• The Blue Jackets won 52.5% of the faceoffs.

What’s Next – The Blue Jackets welcome the Montreal Canadiens into Nationwide Arena on Monday night.

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