Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards said Tuesday morning that there were several reasons for Tuesday night’s game to be a big one for both sides. The latest installment of Columbus vs. Philadelphia felt every bit like a game that carried a lot of weight.
Sitting six points back of the second wild card spot with time running out, the Flyers needed points to get keep pace in the playoff race. The Blue Jackets, further back than Philadelphia, are in a “just win, baby!” scenario in the season’s final push — and they got a big third-period performance to lock up a 4-2 victory over their Metropolitan Division rivals tonight at Wells Fargo Center.
Curtis McElhinney kept it glued together again, turning in a terrific performance between the pipes to back stop another Blue Jackets victory. He made 42 saves — 32 of those coming in the final two periods — to earn his eighth win in 11 tries (8-3-0), and in turn, keeping hope alive for a Columbus team that’s hanging around and scrapping out wins.
And unlike their last road outing (a 6-3 loss to the Islanders on Saturday), the Blue Jackets were much better out of the gate tonight and were rewarded for a solid first period. James Wisniewski needed only eight seconds of power play time to give the Jackets a 1-0 lead, firing a loose puck into a wide open net at 4:51 of the first period.
Less than two minutes later, Ryan Johansen got his 21st of the season by merely being in the right place at the right time. Cruising around the front of the net, he took the rebound of a David Savard shot off the right shoulder, caroming in behind Ray Emery for a 2-0 advantage at the 6:39 mark.
The Blue Jackets held on to that 2-0 lead into the intermission, but when the second period began, they had to weather a heavy storm from the Flyers.
“It was a busy one,” McElhinney said, understating the obvious.
Shot attempts in the second period alone were 35-7 in favor of the Flyers, who fired pucks from all angles and threw heavy screens at McElhinney in an attempt to get back in the game. Philadelphia finished the second period with 20 shots on goal, with two of those beating McElhinney in a span of 1:43 to turn a 2-0 lead into a 2-2 game with 20 minutes to go.
Shortly after McElhinney robbed Jake Voracek on the door step with what was undoubtedly the save of the night, Wayne Simmonds scored on a nifty deflection in the high slot to get the Flyers on the board at 17:25.
In the final minute of the second, Michael Del Zotto fired a rising slap shot through traffic, giving the Flyers all the momentum after a dominant period and renewed life headed to the third.
But the Blue Jackets, as they’ve done many times before, rediscovered their game in the final 20 and a monster period from Brandon Dubinsky helped seal the deal.
Dubinsky made a great play to pick off a pass high in the offensive zone midway through the third period, finding Cam Atkinson down low for a perfect centering pass to Matt Calvert, who had 24 square feet to give the Jackets a 3-2 lead.
Less than four minutes after setting up the go-ahead goal, Dubinsky buried a long rebound off a Scott Hartnell shot for a huge insurance marker at 13:28 — and McElhinney took it from there.
“Obviously we know the situation with where we’re at (in the standings),” McElhinney said. “They came out in the second period and put a good push on. We bent a little bit but certainly didn’t break, which was nice to see. We made some simple plays (in the third); they were rolling pretty good…it was simple hockey, and the guys were rewarded for it.”
Now, it’s on to Pittsburgh for a Thursday night showdown with the Penguins, marking the Blue Jackets’ first regular season visit to CONSOL Energy Center since Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs last spring.
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