COLUMBUS, Ohio — Claude Giroux scored on the Philadelphia’s fifth power play and the Flyers beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2 Wednesday night.
Scott Laughton had his first goal after a 13-game absence due to a broken finger, and Tyler Pitlick also scored to help Philadelphia win its second straight and beat Columbus on the road for just the second time in 15 visits. Brian Elliott stopped 27 shots.
Nick Foligno and Seth Jones scored for Columbus, which lost for the second time in three games. Joonas Korpisalo had 20 saves.
Philadelphia was shut down on its first four power plays before Sony Milano’s interference penalty gave the Flyers another chance with 4:45 left in the second. Giroux made the most of this one, taking a pass from Ivan Provorov, and skating in fast from the blue line to beat Korpisalo through the five-hole 1:20 later. It was Giroux’s eighth of the season and third on a power play, and gave Provorov a team-high 10 power-play points (four goals, six assists).
Laughton, in just his third game back from injury, had tied the score for the Flyers at 3:19 of the second.
Foligno got the Jackets on the board first, burying the rebound of Emil Bemstrom’s shot from the right circle at 4:51 of the first for his second of the season and first since Oct. 7, a span of 17 games.
Pitlick tied it with 1:29 left in the first, burying his own rebound past a sprawling Korpisalo for his second.
Columbus regained the lead back with 35 seconds left in the period with Jones’ one-timer off tic-tac-toe passing from Oliver Bjorkstrand along the right wall and Gustav Nyquist behind the net.
NOTES
Philadelphia’s James van Riemsdyk played in his 700th NHL game. … Sean Couturier is the 21st player in Flyers history to appear in 600 games for the club. … Columbus has scored first in nine straight games. … Bjorkstrand extended his point streak to five games.
UP NEXT
Flyers: Host Detroit on Friday.
Blue Jackets: Host Pittsburgh on Friday.
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Nicole Kraft, The Associated Press