PHILADELPHIA — Slow starts can be costly in the high-speed world of the NHL, a fact which the Flyers were reminded of early on Tuesday night.
The Flyers came out of the gate at a snail’s pace against the Blue Jackets, falling behind by a 3-0 score in the first period.
It looked like they were cooked.
But they weren’t.
They scored a goal in the second period, scored again as time was running down in the third period, then got a tying goal from Jamie Drysdale with 9.6 seconds to play to send the game into overtime at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
The outcome was decided by a goal from Kent Johnson at 2:22 of overtime. Columbus won the game, 4-3.
Even though the Flyers skated away with an unexpected hard-earned point, the main topic for discussion in the post-game locker room was why the Flyers have started out so slow this season.
They’re now 1-6-1 when an opponent scores first.
Why the difficulty early in games?
“That’s what we’ve been chasing all year, trying to play it safe,” coach Rick Tocchet said. “We go into the gameplan first, decide to do it. Until we get it through our thick heads, we have to play a certain way.
“I think our second period we recovered, we were doing the right things. A good comeback. But they dominated the first period. We weren’t ready to play.”
The Jackets had a two-on-oh, 170-foot clean breakaway in overtime and that was the hockey game.
“The decision-making in overtime this year is mind-boggling,” Tocchet said. “We’ve got to fix it. . .quickly.”
Goalie Dan Vladar was not at his best in the first 20 minutes. He improved as the game went along and hung in there to earn the Flyers a point.
All the Flyers quoted in post-game sessions were fairly in agreement the Flyers couldn’t get their engines started fast enough.
“It wasn’t the style we were looking for,” Travis Sanheim said. “The energy. We’ll take the point but obviously the first has got to be better. Just wasn’t good enough.”
Cam York, just back from a stint on the injured list, had his own theory on the sluggish getaway.
“We were flat, no energy,” he said. “I think it took a kick in the butt to get us going. Second and third I thought we dominated the game. I thought we were on our toes and dictating the pace of play. But (we) just can’t come out like that.”
Trevor Zegras agreed with York.
“We didn’t get pucks in behind them,” he said. “That’s not how we play. Second period we regrouped, played our game.”
Zegras gave the impression the team heard it from the coach after that sloppy first period.
“We kind of looked at our leaders to get us going a little bit,” he said. “When everyone is reading off each other, it makes the game a lot easier to play. I think we did a better job of that in the second and third.”
The Blue Jackets concentrated on defense in the third period and didn’t take a shot until after 16 minutes of play.
The Flyers did get a goal from Zegras with 4:56 to play to get to within 3-2 before Drysdale’s goal tied it.
Down 3-0 after 20 minutes, the Flyers knew they had a tough mountain to climb. They had not overcome a three-goal deficit since a game at Buffalo on March 29, 2021.
They did make a comeback move at 9:59. Porter Martone’s initial shot was trapped in Talbot’s pads. But the puck trickled through and Noah Cates dove to push it across the goal line. It was Cates’ first goal of the season.
The first period might have been a low point for the Flyers this season.
They allowed what was the Metropolitan Division’s last-place team to score three goals on seven shots. Meanwhile, Philadelphia could only generate two shots of its own, a season low. They actually went 13:57 without a puck on net.
It didn’t take long for the Jackets to get their offense rolling.
Adam Fantilli got the puck moving for Columbus. He took a pass from linemate Johnson and, left unguarded, slipped a shot past Vladar at 10:58.
Just 1:56 later, Johnson tipped in Zach Werenski’s point shot to make it 2-0.
Less than a minute after that (50 seconds to be exact), Denton Mateychuk scored off a wrist shot.
The Flyers did earn a point so there was some consolation in that.
“I think we just have to be predictable for a full 60 (minutes),” Cates said. “When something bad happens, you have to be even-keeled. Look to generate something the next shift. The first period wasn’t good enough. Getting booed and all that stuff. I’m happy with how we responded but that first 20 can’t happen.”
>Original Flyer passes away
An original Flyer, Andre Lacroix, has passed away.
Lacroix joined the Flyers during their inaugural season in 1967 and remained with the club until 1971, appearing in 245 games in a Flyers uniform to add to his 325 total games in the NHL.
A naturally gifted offensive player and playmaker, Lacroix quickly established himself as one of the franchise’s early standouts, leading the Flyers in scoring in both 1968-69 and 1969-70.
>Short shots
The Flyers don’t have much time to rue this defeat. They head to Washington for a Wednesday night game against the Capitals. . .Ex-Flyer defenseman Ivan Provorov was a scratch for this game. The Columbus veteran has been sidelined nine games with a lower-body injury.
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