Flyers Beat Blue Jackets in a Wild Comeback Style

The Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-4 tonight. 

The Flyers kept their winning streak at home alive in a wild night in Philadelphia. Down 3-0 and then 4-2 in the final period, the Flyers never gave up. Philadelphia scored 5 goals in the 3rd period, including 3 goals in the final 4:39 minutes to complete the amazing comeback. 

Earlier in the week, Philadelphia was the recipient of a 3 goal comeback, when they lost their lead against Washington, then lost the game. The Flyers learned from that game as they were put in the same situation the next game and won. Apparently what they also took away from that loss, in which they applied to tonight's game: if you work hard, you are never out of the game.  

Philadelphia showed great character in their 8th straight home win. Following a very ugly 2nd period that saw the Flyers give up a pair of goals, including one with 7 seconds left, they found themselves down 3-0 heading into the dressing room accompanied by all the booing fans disappointed by their team's effort. After the game, Claude Giroux said that it's embarrassing (being booed by your fans) and the team wanted to send a message after that. And that message was well received as every fan in the building was on his or her feet in jubilation by the end. 

It all started with Columbus' 2007 1st round draft pick, Jake Voracek, who has been red hot for the Flyers scoring 10 points in his last 6 games. Voracek got the Flyers on the board 4:20 minutes into the 3rd period with his 9th goal of the season. The Flyers felt alive. 

Just 62 seconds later, Braydon Coburn made it a 1 goal game. Coburn made a nice keep at the point and fired a shot on goal. The puck bounced off a stick, then took a strange bounce off the ice and over the shoulder of Blue Jackets goalie Curtis McElhinney. 

Columbus, however, wouldn't go down easily. 3 minutes after Coburn's goal, the Blue Jackets struck again. In an odd play, the puck appeared to hit the safety netting. Scott Hartnell pointed to the netting and proceeded to stop playing, assuming the play was over. The referee however, didn't blow it dead. Columbus kept playing and Blake Comeau made it a 2 goal lead once again. 

Just under 5 minutes remaining in the game, Columbus was called for an infraction and while on the delayed penalty, Philadelphia pulled within 1 again. With the extra man, the Flyers raced up the ice on a 4 on 3. Claude Giroux set up Wayne Simmonds, who's shot was stopped but Erik Gustafsson was there to bury the rebound. The Flyers and their fans were back into this contest. 

53 seconds later, captain Claude Giroux tied the game at 4. Voracek sent the puck to the net which hit the post, and Giroux finished the play completing the comeback, with 3:46 minutes remaining.

As new divisional opponents, every point is huge, so the Flyers wanted to end this game before overtime, to steal both points away from Columbus. 

The captain, who already had 3 points in the game, would finish off the Blue Jackets. Giroux, at the bottom of the circle, got the puck on his backhand and roofed it for the game winner with just 1:22 minutes left. The highly skilled goal was Giroux's 100th career tally and 9th of the season. 

Steve Mason, who was traded from Columbus to Philadelphia at the trade deadline last season, made 2 more saves to close out the game securing the win in his first game against his former team. Mason made 25 saves on 29 shots. 

Philadelphia's great comeback win puts them over the .500 mark for the first time this season at 16-15-4. 

Game Notes:

• Claude Giroux becomes the 31st player to score 100+ goals for the Flyers.
• Giroux scored 4 points tonight. It was the most he's score in a game since February 16th 2012 when he scored 5 points versus Buffalo. 
• It was the 6th time in Giroux's career that he has scored 4 points or more in a game. 
• Giroux extended his point streak to 5 games. He has 10 points during the streak. 
• Jake Voracek extended his point streak to 6 games, in which he has picked up 10 points. 
• Mark Streit now has a 4 game point streak tallying 6 points in that stretch. 
• After scoring only 1 point in his first 14 games, Michael Raffl has scored 8 points in his last 8 games. 
• Brayden Schenn, who left the previous game early after taking a brutal hit, played in tonight's game. Schenn took 5 shots in 16:49 minutes and won 53% of his face offs. 
• Giroux is plus 8 in his last 4 games.  

Drop The Puck:

The Flyers will continue their home and home versus the Blue Jackets in Columbus on Saturday.