Call it the game that got away.

by Dave Seaman, Columbus Wired

The Columbus Blue Jackets led early, but allowed two goals on break-a-ways to give the Philadelphia Flyers a 3-1 win in front of 16,262 at Nationwide Arena Tuesday.

“It was a close game for the distance and we were just on the short end of the stick this time,” Jackets captain Adam Foote said. “We got a quick one early, but we didn’t keep momentum. We had a lot of good shots, and maybe with a little more traffic in front of the net, we could have put one in the back of the net.”

Peter Forsberg, Jeff Carter and Sami Kapanen scored for the Flyers, while Robert Esche had 23 saves.

Jan Hrdina scored the Jackets lone goal and Marc Denis stopped 28 Flyers shots. Duvie Westcott and Ron Hainsey assisted on the goal.

“We played a pretty solid game tonight,” Jackets coach Gerard Gallant said.
“We had lots of chances so it’s very disappointing to come away with a loss.
Philly is a good systematic team. They get a lead and then they shut you down.
It’s tough to get to the net against that team.”

The Jackets are now 2-2 against Eastern Conference foes with wins over New Jersey and the New York Islanders. Columbus travels to Carolina Thursday to end the five game block against the East.

Hrdina gave the Jackets an early lead on the power play when he hit a wrister from just outside the left faceoff circle that went cross the body of Esche and went top shelf at 5:42. Hrdina has a six-game point streak with five assists and a goal.

“I have more confidence now,” Hrdina said. “We’ve won a couple of games and I feel that I’ve contributed a little more than I did in the beginning. That has helped with the confidence a lot.”

Forsberg tied the game less than a minute later when he tapped his second effort past Denis on the stick side. The Flyers took the lead two minutes into the second period when Jeff Carter tapped in a loose rebound past Denis who was down on his side.

The Flyers withstood the Jackets inability to score with a two-man advantage in the second period. The Jackets had three opportunities, including two with over a minute of the two-man advantage.

Columbus managed only three shots on goal in the third period and Philadelphia capitalized late with the empty net goal by Kapanen with 7.5 seconds left in the game. Denis kept the game close, including a stop on a Carter slap shot from between the rings on a break-a-way.

“We did exactly what we wanted in all areas, we just didn’t put the puck in the net when we had the opportunity,” Denis said. “We had out chances to tie that game; we had chances to put that game away. I thought our defensive effort was outstanding. Those breakdowns are still hurting us. We gave two goals on rebounds on mini break-a-ways off turnovers. It’s a little frustrating, but a lot of good things happened as well.”

The Jackets embark on a three-game road trip beginning Thursday with a game in Carolina. The team then returns to Western Conference play with games in Nashville (Saturday) and Detroit (Dec. 20) before returning to Nationwide to host Dallas Dec. 21.