Flyers Hang On to Defeat Blue Jackets in Opener

The "New Era of Orange" opened with some familiar faces providing the offense. The Flyers scored twice in the first period and held the lead the rest of the way.

The 2023-24 season opened with a Flyers win over the Columbus Blue Jackets by a score of 4-2 on Thursday night.

It didn't take long for the Flyers to get on the board. At 3:33, Joel Farabee scored on a 2-on-0, give-and-go with Sean Couturier, started after a defensive breakup by Egor Zamula.

The Blue Jackets tied the game at 8:24. Jake Bean was able to pick up a rebound for the tying goal. Adam Fantilli picked up an assist for his first NHL point.

Just over four minutes later, the Flyers regained the lead off another turnover. Scott Laughton delayed on entry into the zone, and eventually had Travis Konecny waiting to receive a pass. Konecny got space and fired a shot to the far post and in to make it 2-1 at 12:43.

Through 20 minutes, shots were 15-12 Columbus.

The Flyers had multiple scoring chances, especially early in the second period. Columbus also had two power plays in the second period, but could not score, keeping the margin at 2-1 after two periods.

Through two periods, shots were 27-24 Flyers.

The Flyers held the lead throughout the third period into the final two minutes of play. With the Columbus net empty, Carter Hart rimmed the puck around the wall and sent Cam Atkinson ahead for the goal to seemingly put the game away.

But with 43.3 seconds remaining the Blue Jackets got the score to within one as Patrik Laine scored to make it 3-2.

The Flyers held on from there, getting another empty-net goal from Konecny as the horn sounded to end the game.

Hart finished with 31 saves on 33 shots in the win. Elvis Merzlikins made 33 saves on 35 shots in the loss.

In addition to Konecny's two-goal game, Laughton had two assists. Kirill Marchenko has two assists for Columbus.

The Flyers are back on the ice on Saturday afternoon to face the Ottawa Senators at 1 p.m.

Box Score

	1	2	3	T
Flyers	2	0	2	4
Blue Jackets	1	0	1	2

Scoring Summary

1st Period

PHI Joel Farabee (1) (Sean Couturier, Egor Zamula) 3:33
CBJ Jake Bean (1) (Adam Fantilli, Kirill Marchenko) 8:24
PHI Travis Konecny (1) (Scott Laughton) 12:43

2nd Period

No Scoring

3rd Period

PHI Cam Atkinson (1) EN (Carter Hart) 18:31
CBJ Patrik Laine (1) (Marchenko) 19:16
PHI Konecny (2) EN (Laughton, Travis Sanheim) 19:59

Game Statistics

	Flyers	Blue Jackets
Shots	37	33
Power Play	0/3	0/4
Hits	9	15
Faceoff %	44%	56%
Giveaways	6	8
Takeaways	8	10
Blocked Shots	18	22
Penalty Minutes	10	8