FlyerFlies.com – The Buzzer Blog » Blog Archive » Flyers Blanked By Blue Jackets

Flyers Blanked By Blue Jackets

Posted on December 27th, 2008 by The FlyerFly

12/27/08

3-0 Loss

SCORING	1st	2nd	3rd	OT	SO	Total
PHI	0	0	0	-	-	0
CBJ	2	1	0	-	-	3

_______________________________

SHOTS	1st	2nd	3rd	OT	SO	Total
PHI	5	11	4	-	-	20
CBJ	13	11	9	-	-	33

*** PostGame Interviews & Coach’s Press Conference ***

_______________________________________________________________________________

Columbus, OH (Sports Network) – Steve Mason stopped all 20 shots he faced for his third career shutout as the Columbus Blue Jackets downed the Philadelphia Flyers, 3-0, at Nationwide Arena.

Jan Hejda, Andrew Murray and Manny Malhotra each had a goal for the Blue Jackets, who snapped a three-game skid.

“If we get a lead on teams, we’re really difficult to play against and teams don’t come back on us,” said Columbus coach Ken Hitchcock. “We’re a frustrating team to play against because every player on this team knows how to check and how to check properly and when we do it, we’re pretty effective.”

Antero Niittymaki stopped 30 shots in the loss for the Flyers, who have dropped the first two contests of a six-game road trip.

“We just have to start working hard, doing the little things and the smart things,” said Flyers forward Arron Asham. “These last two games we haven’t been doing that. We need to start playing better defense. We just need to be smart and play some smart hockey and we’ll work our way out of it, we aren’t too worried about it.”

This was the first time Philadelphia lost to Columbus. The team was 4-0-3 (three ties) against Columbus coming into the game.

The Blue Jackets scored early and late in the first period to take a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes of play.

Columbus nearly had a goal during a scrum in front as several whacks resulted in the puck sitting on the goal line, but Ossi Vaananen was able to clear the puck away from danger. However, it went right to the left point where Hejda fired it home at the 3:22 mark.

Later on the power play, R.J. Umberger threw a pass from the low right side to the front of the net where Murray tapped it home with just 1:52 left in the first.

Mason needed to make just five saves in the opening frame to keep Philadelphia off the board.

The Blue Jackets took a 3-0 lead at the 7:39 mark of the second period. Rick Nash found himself with the puck along the left boards in the Philadelphia end and sent a pass to the right circle where Malhotra took the puck from the backhand to the forehand and went top shelf over Niittymaki.

Philadelphia put 11 shots on net in the second period, but Mason made several nice saves and kept the puck out of the net.

Columbus stymied the Philadelphia offense in the third period as the Blue Jackets limited the Flyers to just four shots on net.

Game Notes

The first goal Columbus had snapped a scoreless streak of 129 minutes and eight seconds…Philadelphia plays in Vancouver on Tuesday…Columbus begins a six-game road trip in Los Angeles on Monday…The Blue Jackets went 1-for-6 on the power play while the Flyers were stopped on their three chances…Columbus won its first game after the Christmas break for the fifth straight year…Mason has allowed two or fewer goals in 10 of his past 13 starts…It snapped a 24-game goalless skid and nine-game pointless skid for Hejda.

Content Copyright 2008, The Sports Network. Distributed by XML Team Solutions.
_______________________________________________________________________________

Scoring

Philadelphia Flyers:
No Goals Scored

Columbus Blue Jackets:
1. J. Hejda (2) 3:22 1st Pd
2. A. Murray (5) (R. Umberger (9), K. Russell (6)) 18:08 1st Pd
3. M. Malhotra (4) (R. Nash (15), K. Huselius (12)) 7:39 2nd Pd

Penalties

Philadelphia Flyers:
S. Hartnell (Stick Holding) 5:08 1st Pd
J. Lupul (Fighting) 16:51 1st Pd
M. Knuble (Interference) 17:30 1st Pd
M. Knuble (Slashing) 2:29 2nd Pd
O. Vaananen (Roughing) 8:56 2nd Pd
D. Powe (Charging) 8:11 3rd Pd
R. Cote (Roughing) 8:11 3rd Pd
J. Carter (Tripping) 15:09 3rd Pd
S. Hartnell (Slashing) 18:58 3rd Pd

Columbus Blue Jackets:
R. Klesla (Fighting) 16:51 1st Pd
F. Tyutin (Boarding) 0:09 2nd Pd
A. Picard (Roughing) 8:56 2nd Pd
J. Hejda (Holding) 10:35 2nd Pd
J. Boll (Diving) 8:11 3rd Pd
M. Malhotra (Holding) 12:10 3rd Pd

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 27th, 2008 at 10:34 PM and is filed under Antero Niittymaki, Arron Asham, Columbus Blue Jackets, Flyers, Game Recaps, Ossi Vaananen, Regular Season. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.