Philly Sports Jabronis
Report By Philadelphia Flyers
* Jakub Voracek recorded two assists to push his league-leading points total to 29 and his league-leading assists total to 22 – It was his 10th multi-point game out of 19 games this season… Voracek has scored a point in every game in which the Flyers have not been shut out.
* Voracek has also recorded a point in every home game this season, recording 18 points (5g-13a) in 11 home games… His home streak also dates back to last season, recording a point in all three playoff home games and the final two regular season games, bringing his streak to 16 consecutive games with points on home ice.
* Claude Giroux went 23-for-28 (82%) in the faceoff circle – Per the Elias Sports Bureau, the last time a Flyer won 23 or more faceoffs in a game was November 29, 2005 when Michal Handzus went 23-for-31 (74%) in a 4-3 win at the New York Islanders.
* Giroux also posted his eighth multi-point game of the season with two assists.
* Brayden Schenn posted a goal tonight to give him points in 10 of his last 12 games, recording six goals and six assists for 12 points in that stretch.
* Braydon Coburn recorded a goal and an assist – It’s his 19th career multi-point game, but just the sixth that involved at least one goal.
* Only three players on the Flyers roster recorded over 20 minutes of ice-time (Giroux: 23:00, Coburn: 20:13, Streit: 20:01).
* Michael Del Zotto returned from a lower-body injury that caused him to miss one game and recorded 16:28 of ice-time, one shot on goal, two hits and two blocked shots.
* Tonight was the first time all season that the Flyers have dressed seven defensemen.
GAME RECAP
PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Flyers snapped a four-game losing streak with a 4-2 win Saturday against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Brayden Schenn, Mark Streit, Wayne Simmonds and Braydon Coburn scored the goals, and Jakub Voracek had two assists to add to his NHL-leading point total. Goaltender Steve Mason stopped 20 of 22 shots.
Boone Jenner and Matt Calvert scored for the Blue Jackets, who were playing the second game of a back-to-back; they lost 4-3 in a shootout to the Boston Bruins at home on Friday. Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky allowed four goals on 37 shots.
The win allows the Flyers to go into a tough stretch of the season feeling good. After playing 11 of their first 19 games at home, they’ll play seven of their next eight and 15 of the next 20 on the road.
The Blue Jackets got within one early in the third period on Calvert’s second goal, set up by a great end-to-end rush by Jack Skille along the wall on the right side. Skille raced into the Philadelphia zone and centered a pass for Calvert, who had positioning on Flyers defenseman Luke Schenn and tipped the puck past Mason at 2:06 of the third to make it 3-2.
Philadelphia wasted little time getting the two-goal lead back on Coburn’s first goal since March 8 to end a 24-game goal drought. Nick Schultz dumped the puck to Matt Read below the goal line on the left side of the Columbus zone. He found Coburn open between the circles, and he one-timed a shot past Bobrovsky at 3:18 of the period.
The Flyers took a 2-1 lead after one period on Streit’s goal with 5:05 remaining. Claude Giroux led the rush into the Blue Jackets end and stopped above the circles. He centered it for Streit. Bobrovsky stopped his first chance, but Streit banged in the rebound for his fourth goal.
“I think [Giroux] got the puck in the offensive zone and delayed,” Streit said. “I came late. He saw me and passed it to me, and I took a shot and was able to finish with the rebound. It was a great play by [Giroux].”
Simmonds extended Philadelphia’s lead to 3-1 with a power-play goal at 15:17 of the second. The Blue Jackets had killed off 16 seconds of 5-on-3 power-play time for the Flyers, but couldn’t clear the zone. Voracek got an open look from the right side, but Jack Johnson blocked his shot from in front. The puck popped in the air, and Simmonds gloved it next to the left post. He quickly dropped it on his stick and banked a shot off Bobrovsky’s right skate and into the net before the goaltender could set himself.
“These guys did a good job of moving the puck around,” Simmonds said. “[Voracek] tried to thread the needle as he usually does. The puck deflected, and I don’t think anyone saw it but me. So I stuck with it, found it on the ice and shot it as quick as possible.”
It was the only goal of a dominant period for the Flyers, who outshot the Blue Jackets 18-4.
Jenner tied the game 1-1 with a power-play goal at 4:46 of the first. James Wisniewski made a nice pass through the circles to Jenner, who loaded up a wrist shot that beat Mason high and came right out of the net. Referees immediately waved off the goal, but video review showed the puck hit the back bar, and the goal counted.
The Flyers opened the scoring on Brayden Schenn‘s sixth goal after a pair of fortuitous bounces. Giroux beat Adam Cracknell on a faceoff on the right side of the Blue Jackets zone. Voracek played a give-and-go with Coburn and sent a shot on net that Schenn tipped in the slot. The puck bounced off the left post, rolled across the goal line, bounced off the right post and went over the line 2:37 into the game.
“It was a faceoff play,” Brayden Schenn said. “The [defenseman] bumped the puck to Jake, who was on the half wall, and I think the shot it through Johnson’s legs. I was just standing there and the puck hit my skates, went post to post and went in.”
