Instant Replay: Blue Jackets 2, Flyers 0

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Flyers coach Craig Berube and his players talked about the need to put a little more distance between themselves and the Columbus Blue Jackets in this playoff chase.

A win Thursday night at Wells Fargo Center would have given the Flyers a fat, six-point bulge on the Jackets in the Metro Division with six games left for Columbus.

Didn’t happen.

Not only were the Flyers outworked five-on-five and special teams, their passing was sloppy and they lost far too many individual puck battles during a 2-0 loss.

It was the Blue Jackets' first win here. They had never won in Philly in six previous games.

Former Flyer Sergei Bobrovsky got the shutout. It marked the first time the Flyers have been blanked in back-to-back games since the final two contests of John Stevens' tenure during 2009.

Columbus got a power-play goal in the second period and scored off a double-deflection goal early in the third period.

Brandon Dubinsky had the second deflection at the net with his skate, giving the Blue Jackets a 2-0 lead.

The victory was far more important for Columbus, which came into the game occupying a wild-card spot right now while the Flyers were in second place.

The Flyers' magic number for clinching a playoff berth remained at six points.

Deadly dozen
The Flyers are 6-3-2 with 14 points during this tough run of games. They close out this stretch, which began on March 15 against playoff opponents, this Saturday in Boston against the Bruins.

Not-so-sweet home
The Flyers are just 7 for 50 on the power play over the last 12 games on home ice.

Power play
The Flyers went 0 for 3 in the opening period. The first one wasn’t very memorable save for Wayne Simmonds losing his balance on a hard pass in the low slot or Artem Anisimov getting a shorthanded chance on Mason. His shot bounced up in the air off Mason and Scott Hartnell knocked it down to start a regroup up ice.

The Flyers' second one was just as bad. There was nothing clean on shots, passes or the setup. Columbus had a half-dozen clears and three shorthanded rushes.

String
The Flyers' power play is now 0 for 11 over three games. It seemed very discombobulated against the Blue Jackets.

Love that Bob
Bobrovsky, a former Vezina winner, was stellar through two periods. The Flyers came out with far more jump in the second period and “Bob” stoned them, denying Michael Raffl, Vinny Lecavalier, Sean Couturier and Hartnell in the opening minutes.

Bobrovsky finished with 37 saves.

No penalty shot
It was hard to figure out why Couturier was not awarded a penalty shot on a clean, shorthanded breakaway in the second period in which he was hooked from behind by Ryan Johansen.

The Flyers' three captains all asked for an explanation and didn’t get one. Instead, they got their fourth power play.

Penalty kill
The Flyers came into the game having killed off 40 of the opposition’s previous 42 power plays. Columbus broke the scoreless deadlock at 17:07 of the middle period on Mike Wisniewski’s power-play goal. He had three good scoring chances on that power play, too.

Shutout streak
Wisniewski’s goal ended a Flyers’ shutout streak at 136:02.

Milestone
This was Lecavalier’s 1,100th game.

Faceoffs
Through two periods, Flyers had won 64 percent of the draws.

Scratches
Defensemen Erik Gustafsson and Hal Gill. Forwards Jay Rosehill and Steve Downie (concussion/whiplash). All but Downie were healthy.

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