Road weary Blue Jackets can't get a save, get beaten by Flyers on home ice

The Blue Jackets played at Nationwide Arena last night, for the first time in 11 days. It was an important matchup as well, with the Metropolitan Division Philadelphia Flyers coming to town on a 3-game losing skid.

Coming into the game, the Flyers sat one point ahead of the Jackets in the standings. It was a rare opportunity for this team to pull itself out of the division cellar, but the Blue Jackets looked tired and listless; digging themselves deep into a 5-1 hole before a couple of late goals eased the pain.

The Flyers jumped out to a 3-0 lead before the Blue Jackets even showed any push back. First period goals by Noah Cates and Owen Tippet, followed up by a Travis Konecny power-play goal 6:11 into the second, had pretty much sealed this game's fate.

The Blue Jackets got one back on a Zach Werenski power-play goal at 16:56, which got the crowd into the game. But it was short lived. Konecny scored his second of the night on a breakaway just over two minutes later, and early in the third, Morgan Frost made it 5-1. Sean Monahan and Kent Johnson closed the gap to 5-3, but it was too little, too late on this night.

No energy, little structure, and leaky goaltending are a bad combination...

Put bluntly, they stunk. Right from the opening faceoff, the Flyers clearly had more energy. They were winning puck battles all over the ice, and their own structure made it very difficult for the Blue Jackets to generate anything in the offensive zone. We know from years of experience watching John Tortorella coached teams: when they're on their game, the only way you're going to beat them is by working harder than they do. That did not happen for the Jackets.

Also from experience, we know that Tortorella-led teams can struggle to score goals. While you don't see them get out-worked often, they usually revert to their defensive structure, even in the offensive zone. This is part of the reason you see his teams run into "hot goaltending" so frequently. But last night, the Blue Jackets didn't get hot goaltending.

In fact, it was quite the opposite. On a night where they could have used a save here and there, they got leaky goaltending. The second goal in the first period saw Elvis beaten clean on a long-range wrist shot (albeit with a partial screen early in the play). I thought he should have made that save. The fourth Flyers goal was one that, well, he should have:

Take away those two soft goals and it's a 3-3 hockey game. And, to be honest, while their first goal of the night was a fluky play, it was because he lost awareness of the puck after the first shot. The fifth goal was defended lazily, but you can't let a guy score from the bottom of the circle.

For a team that has generated so much offense this season, it would be great to see their goaltending win them a game here and there. Or, at least, keep them in a game like this until they get moving. Instead, last night, when the team came out slow; they were torched because they couldn't get a save. It cost them an important game.