Barkey's Pair Sends Columbus Home Empty-Handed
The Blue Jackets carried the night at Nationwide, but Philadelphia's finishers made their fewer looks count in a 4-3 Flyers win.
Columbus was the better team for most of this game and still lost it. The Blue Jackets put 31 shots on goal to Philadelphia's 21 and took about six of every ten shot attempts, but the Flyers left Nationwide Arena with a 4-3 win.
The gap shows up in chance quality. By expected goals, a measure of how many goals a team's chances were worth, Columbus generated 5.66 to Philadelphia's 2.77. Roughly double the danger, one fewer goal.
Two things flipped it. Joseph Woll stopped 28 of 31 and turned aside all six of Columbus's most dangerous looks. At the other end, Jet Greaves allowed four goals on 21 shots. Denver Barkey scored twice on three shots, on a line with Noel Acciari and Sean Couturier, and Matvei Michkov and Trevor Zegras added one each. Tyson Foerster had Philadelphia's best chances without scoring.
No shots hit the post or crossbar for either side. Columbus didn't lose to bad luck off the iron. Woll's saves and the Flyers' finishing beat them. Matthew Knies, Adam Fantilli and Dmitri Voronkov scored for the Blue Jackets, who have now dropped four straight.
