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Flyers Fan Reaction (FFR4) Gm 70: CBJ 4, PHI 2 – Firsts Are The Worst

The Flyers ran the show, but Justin Danforth’s late third-period goal lifted the Blue Jackets to their first win in eight tries. (Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)

Flyers Fan Reaction (FFR4) Gm 70: CBJ 4, PHI 2 – Firsts Are The Worst

So much for beginner’s luck. The Philadelphia Flyers lose, 4-2, to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Despite a couple of milestones for their newest players, and a massive edge on the shot clock, the Flyers fell on the front half of a home-and-home to Columbus.

If you’re looking for actual, tangible proof that this Flyers season is cursed, tonight is about as good as you’re gonna get. The Flyers came within one shot on goal of hitting fifty in a game for just the eighth time since the 2004-05 lockout. They utterly dominated the Blue Jackets through forty minutes. For the fourth straight game, they got off to a fast start, outshooting Columbus 20-8 in the opening stanza. They cracked the 60% expected goals mark for just the second time since Feb. 22. It’s hard to draw up a better game than the Flyers played.

And some good things did come out of it. Noah Cates and Ronnie Attard both picked up their first NHL points; Cates actually scored his first NHL goal on a slot shot off a nice feed from noted offensive weapon *checks notes* Patrick Brown, while Attard picked up an assist on a blast from the point that James van Riemsdyk tipped in. And if you’ve moved on to only watching the Flyers to see how good their lottery odds can get, well tonight’s game was a rousing success.

As for the players and coaches… not as much. Philadelphia found themselves down 2-0 in the first period. And the goals were scored by not exactly top-notch snipers in Brendan Gaunce and Carson Meyer. At least the latter has a cool local angle to play, even if that hardly made the Flyers feel any better about the early deficit.

The Cates and van Riemsdyk goals at least gave the Flyers some hope for a happy outcome. But as is almost a rite of passage at this point, the Flyers let a winnable game slip away. Tonight, it came off a weird play in front of the net that eventually ended in Justin Danforth punching home a loose puck with just 6:42 to go. A Sean Kuraly empty-netter five and a half minutes later officially put the game on ice. All in all, it’s actually probably hard to draw up a better game for the April 2022 Flyers, at least from a fan’s perspective. They played really well, the kids stood out, and they lost to maintain their lottery standing. And the reason they lost — some weird bounces and a not great game from a rarely tested Carter Hart — aren’t long-term concerns.

Of course, the whole “losing lots of hockey games” thing is very much a long-term concern. But that hardly matters in the short term. Whether you’re fully on team tank or still get excited at the thought of some positivity coming from the end of this nightmare season, tonight gave you reasons to be happy. That’s probably all you can ask for out of the Flyers for these next twelve games.

Lindies

This is the second straight season where they’ve been slated to play each other the Flyers and Blue Jackets have had a Tuesday-Thursday home-and-home beginning in Philadelphia and ending in Columbus. The exact same thing happened on Feb. 18 and 20, 2020. In stark contrast to Tuesday, the Flyers won that first game 5-1 despite tallying just 16 shots on goal. The second game featured a Flyers come back from 3-1 down and Kevin Hayes’ memorable “championship belt” celebration after scoring the OT winner. Oh, and the Flyers also won the next seven games after those two, too.

Speaking of Kevin Hayes, two points on him. First, it was awesome to see him turn back the clock to 2019-20 with some vintage short-handed puck protection work. Hayes’ first signature moment as a Flyer was his third period, game-winning shortie against Columbus in Oct. 2019, and it was nice to be reminded that version of Hayes is still in there, even if he didn’t score on the PK tonight. He did have an assist on van Riemsdyk’s goal at 5-on-5, though.

Even more important, though: we finally got the threequel of Hayes Mic’d Up videos, and it delivered. Bonus points if you can point out which lines Hayes brought back from his second Mic’d Up video back in Jan. 2020.

Of the 13 players to record at least a point Tuesday, just two of them have scored more than thirty this season. Those being Columbus’ Gustav Nyquist (41) and Zach Werenski (44), who both had one assist.

Scott Laughton returned to the Flyers lineup after missing twelve games due to injury. The Flyers sent Hayden Hodgson back to the Phantoms prior to Tuesday’s game as a result.

Forgot to update the POG Starter Jacket standings after Sunday’s win, so here you go.

Starter, Joner – 3

Unknown, Honey Badger, G, Hollywood – 2

Sander/Sanner/Sandra/Sanny, Gobs, Risto, Coots, Mayhewooligans, Sergeant, Big Mac, Hodgeson – 1

If you’re looking for some actual meaningful hockey to be invested, well, we’ve sort of got you covered.

3 Stars

3rd: Noah Cates (PHI) – Goal (1)

2nd: Justin Danforth (CBJ) – Goal (8)

1st: Elvis Merzlikins (CBJ) – .959 SV% (47 Saves/49 Shots), 2 GA on 3.86 Expected Goals Against (All Situations)

Next

3/7, 7 PM: PHI (22-37-11) vs. CBJ (33-32-6)

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