Gritty victory over Flyers helps Blue Jackets rebound from 'embarrassing' loss
Bjorkstrand, Laine score goals and Merzlikins makes 33 saves to keep Cam Atkinson's team at bay.
Brian Hedger
The Blue Jackets didn’t need a masterpiece Thursday night at Wells Fargo Center, which is good considering how they and the Philadelphia Flyers played.
Neither team was sharp, but nobody was measuring sharpness during a hard-fought 2-1 victory for the Jackets to open a set of back-to-back games that concludes Friday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
“I don’t know if it was the prettiest one for us tonight, but you find a way to get it done and that’s the name of the game,” said Blue Jackets center Sean Kuraly, who assisted on a goal by Oliver Bjorkstrand and helped Columbus grind out a victory five days after a 9-2 shellacking against the Florida Panthers. “(It’s) just finding a way to get it done and we did that tonight. You’re happy about it for a couple minutes and then we’ve got another one (Friday) against Pittsburgh.”
Oliver Bjorkstrand and Patrik Laine scored for the Blue Jackets (18-18-1), who helped goalie Elvis Merzlikins turn a 33-save performance into a big bounceback win.
Columbus went 4 for 4 killing penalties and blocked 17 shots while playing without Vladislav Gavrikov and Adam Boqvist — two top-six defensemen. Bjorkstrand scored off a turnover created by Kuraly with 8:07 left in the second period and Laine pushed it to 2-0 at 5:50 of the third for what turned out to be the winner.
Gerry Mayhew’s first goal of the season and third of his NHL career was all the offense the Flyers (13-19-8) got in their 10th straight winless game (0-7-3). Despite making a late push during 6-on-5, Cam Atkinson’s new team couldn’t get a shot past his former team’s goalie in his first meeting against the Blue Jackets since a stunning July trade sent him to Philly.
Jakub Voracek was the other half of the deal and the Jackets made sure his first trip back to Philly ended on a good note. They also made sure their effort level stayed up the entire game, which was an issue against the Panthers.
“It’s hard to win on the road,” coach Brad Larsen said. “They’ve lost a bunch in a row. They’re trying to get a win and we’re on the road. It’s not an easy league and we got a little bit jittery at the end … but we fought hard. Guys battled, competed and we got the win.”
Laine’s shot lifts Blue Jackets to victory
The most underrated aspect of Laine’s skills are his stickhandling and vision, which are elite tools the 6-foot-5, 216-pound forward utilizes quite a bit.
He often helps the Blue Jackets calm things down while they’re being pressured and gets the puck into good areas quite a bit just by surveying the ice and sending off passes. Larsen, however, wouldn’t mind if the towering winger sent more pucks into the net with his shot — which is even more impressive than his passing acumen.
Laine’s winner beat goalie Carter Hart inside the top left corner of the net on the far side, rewarding Blue Jackets captain Boone Jenner (two assists) for winning a nearby puck battle along the wall.
“I’d love to see him shoot more,” Larsen said. “It’s frustrating because his shot’s so lethal. I don’t know why you wouldn’t shoot more, at times. I shake my head because every time he shoots, it’s got a chance to go in. I think he ended up with five shots. I wish he had 10.”
Sean Kuraly celebrates birthday with Blue Jackets win
Atkinson and Voracek were on everybody’s tongues, but it was also a special day for Kuraly — who celebrated his 29th birthday with an impressive performance.
Along with forcing the turnover that led to Bjorkstrand’s goal, the hard-nosed center from Dublin won 9 of 17 draws (53%) and played 4:27 shorthanded to help the Jackets kill all four Flyers power plays. Kuraly also stapled Atkinson to the boards late in the second period, showing no brotherly love for the former Blue Jackets’ star.
“Kurls is an important player for me,” Larsen said. “He’s a guy that takes a lot of the hard minutes. He just quietly does his thing and he’s doing a good job. He’s built trust here in his first 30-plus games in what he can bring and his effort. He’s very consistent in that area.”
Blue Jackets’ Zach Werenski logs marathon night
Without having Gavrikov and Boqvist, the Blue Jackets had to get by without two key defensemen. They did it with help from Andrew Peeke's career-high 26:27 ice time plus Gavin Bayreuther and rookie Jake Christiansen handling more responsibilities than normal.
Zach Werenski provided the biggest boost from the back end, delivering despite being leaned upon heavily to soak up a ton of minutes. Werenski played a game-high 29:22 — almost five minutes longer than any of the Flyers — and finished with six shots on goal. He also played well around the net, utilizing his stick to break up plays and size to muscle opposing skaters away from rebounds.
Werenski’s ice time was his third-highest of the season and most in a game that didn’t go to overtime.
“He was really good back there for us,” Larsen said. “I think Zach understands the situation and we need him. He was very good for us tonight.”
Memorable game for Blue Jackets veteran Jakub Voracek
Voracek tried to play it cool in his return to Philadelphia, where he’s spent 10 years in a love-hate relationship with Flyers fans. It was all love during a stoppage in the first period, when the Flyers showed a montage of Voracek’s career in Philly on the video screen above the ice.
Fans gave him an ovation and Voracek acknowledge it with a raised hand, saluting them back with what appeared to be tears forming.
“That video was nice,” said Voracek, who played 727 games wearing the Flyers’ uniform. “I got (an) ovation from the fans. It was beautiful. Thank you for that.”
Voracek was questionable to even play after he missed practice Wednesday while still on the COVID-19 protocols list. He cleared around 11:30 p.m. that night and hopped on a redeye flight Thursday to Philadelphia. It gave the veteran winger a chance to catch up with his former teammates, who apparently didn’t razz him during the game with jokes and verbal jousts.
Voracek had a working theory on why there wasn’t more on-ice banter.
“They respect me, I would say,” he said, laughing.
Flyers’ skid has former Blue Jacket Cam Atkinson looking for positives
Atkinson did his part with three shots, four attempts and two takeaways, but the Flyers couldn’t pull off a victory for themselves or him during his first matchup against the Blue Jackets.
They dropped a 10th straight game, sinking even farther back in the Metropolitan Division behind fifth-place Columbus and a search continues for a winning formula.
“You have to believe,” Atkinson said. “Everyone has us written off and the only guys who are going to get us out of it are in the locker room. So, we have to stick together and hold each other accountable. At the end of the day, it’s going to be the guys in the room that are going to dig us out of this mess.”
Blue Jackets goalie Elvis Merzlikins rebounds after rough outing
Merzlikins’ net was under siege against the Panthers in Sunrise, Florida. He allowed four goals in just 13:28 and then had five days between games.
He bounced back strong in Philly, allowing just one goal on Mayhew’s shot through traffic in the third that cut it to 2-1. Merzlikins shut the door in the remaining 7:20 and was excellent in the first two periods too. He made nine saves in the first, 14 in the second and stopped 10 of 11 in the third.
“That’s what good players do,” Voracek said. “They just move on and prepare for another game. He did that. He’s done that a lot of times this year. That’s why he’s such a good goalie. That’s what you’ve got to do. You cannot be thinking about the past.”
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