Philadelphia Flyers at Columbus Blue Jackets

Flyers snap a 3-game skid with their 1st victory in December, beating the Blue Jackets 5-3

Noah Cates, Owen Tippett and Morgan Frost also scored for Philadelphia. Matvei Michkov had two assists and Samuel Ersson made 15 saves.

Sean Monahan finished with a goal and an assist, Zach Werenski scored with a man advantage, and Kent Johnson added a goal for Columbus, which has lost four of its last five games. Elvis Merzlikins made 19 saves for the Blue Jackets.

Takeaways Philadelphia: In his second game back after missing nearly a month with a lower-body injury, Ersson held firm against Columbus’ potent offense, conceding only two goals, including one on the power play.

Columbus: The Blue Jackets were flat from the jump, but found life in the second period with Werenksi’s power-play goal, the fourth given allowed by the Flyers in as many games. Despite third period goals from Monahan and Johnson, the Blue Jackets never seriously challenged.

Key Moment Columbus tried to find momentum in the second period, but Konecny stopped it when he scored at 6:11, marking the 14th consecutive game in which the Blue Jackets gave up a power-play goal. His goal with a minute left in the second, after Columbus closed to 3-1, pushed the Flyers lead back to three goals.

Key Stat Monahan’s assist on Werenski’s goal was his 13th point in the last 13 games (2-11-13), while Kirill Marchenko’s helper on the same goal gave him 11 points in the last 10 games (4-7-11).

Up Next The Flyers host the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday, while the Blue Jackets host the Washington Capitals on the same night.

PHI leads series 1-0