Flyers Vs. Blue Jackets: OT Loss for John Tortorella's Club Extends Skid to 4

Flyers fall down 2-0 again, lose in OT before road trip turns up a major notch originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Despite erasing a pair of two-goal deficits, the Flyers couldn't complete their comeback effort Tuesday night in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

The defeat pushed the Flyers' losing streak to a season-worst four games (0-3-1). John Tortorella's club has allowed 4.75 goals per game during the skid.

Prior to the four consecutive losses, the Flyers (7-6-3) were surrendering only 2.42 goals per game through a 7-3-2 start.

In the bonus session, Kevin Hayes tried to find Travis Konecny backdoor but his pass was blocked. The play went the other way and Vladislav Gavrikov finished it to give Columbus the OT win.

Hayes, Konecny, Noah Cates and Nick Seeler provided the Flyers' goals. Hayes, Konecny and Cates finished with two-point performances.

During the opening four minutes of the third period, the Blue Jackets seized a 4-2 lead in just 13 seconds.

Seeler (even strength) and Konecny (power play) answered later in span of 4:16 minutes to tie the game.

In the last six days, the Flyers have lost twice to the Blue Jackets (5-9-1).

• The Flyers fell down 2-0 for the eighth time in 16 games. That's half their games, far too many.

Second-period goals from Hayes and Cates erased the initial two-goal deficit.

But constantly playing from behind is going to catch up to you. And it is catching up to the Flyers.

• Five days ago, the Flyers lost to Columbus in the same building. Johnny Gaudreau feasted on turnovers and delivered a three-point performance to hand the Flyers a 5-2 defeat, which started this four-game skid.

Gaudreau was very active again Tuesday night but the Flyers did a much better job keeping him in check. He finished with one assist in 20-plus minutes.

• Carter Hart dropped to 6-2-3 after making 28 saves on 33 shots.

The 24-year-old made a pair of huge stops in the final two minutes to keep the game tied.

Pretty much immediately after Hayes cut the Flyers' deficit to 2-1, Hart had to make four saves in a 38-second sequence.

But it's safe to say he hasn't been able to bail out the Flyers as much he was when he started 6-0-2.

A badly-timed line change led to the Blue Jackets' game-opening goal in the first period. Sean Kuraly's marker ended up going off of Justin Braun's stick in front.

Boone Jenner's first of two goals came on the power play to give Columbus its 2-0 cushion early in the second period. Jenner's second goal was on a breakaway just 3:22 minutes into the third period.

Eric Robinson scored 13 seconds later.

Blue Jackets netminder Elvis Merzlikins was forced to exit during the second period because of an injury after Cates tied the game at 2-2. He finished with 15 saves.

Joonas Korpisalo, who beat the Flyers last Thursday, stopped 18 of 20 shots in relief.

Defenseman Jake Bean was also knocked out of the game.

Similar to the Flyers, the Blue Jackets have dealt with a slew of injuries. Among the absences are Zach Werenski, Patrik Laine and Jakub Voracek.

• Wade Allison will miss approximately three weeks with an oblique strain and a hip pointer.

Up front, the Flyers are now without Allison, Cam Atkinson (upper body), James van Riemsdyk (broken finger) and Sean Couturier (back).

Max Willman made his season debut Tuesday night in the Flyers' bottom six. He was a plus-1 in 12:35 minutes.

• The Flyers' road trip stiffens Thursday as the club visits the Bruins (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP).

Boston is 14-2-0 and 9-0-0 at home.

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