[Recap] - [Game Page] - [Columbus Reaction] - [Game Thread: 1, 2, 3]

[Box Score] - [Event Summary] - [PBP Log] - [TOI Log] - [Faceoff Report]

[Shift Charts] - [Head-to-Head TOI] - [Corsi and Fenwick] - [Zone Starts]

PHILADELPHIA -- Generally speaking, things don't live up to the hype. When two heavyweight players are put in the lineup of a hockey game, they usually fail to fight. When you expect your favorite baseball team to easily run away with a World Series title, they usually wind up losing to an inferior, yet suddenly red hot opponent. When you hear about how bad the Flyers goaltending has been over the years, it's really not as bad as you've perceived.

When you hear about how bad a professional ice hockey team is, they usually aren't that bad a team. I mean, they might be bad, but usually not as bad as the hype. But tonight at the Wells Fargo Center, we saw just what happens when a team lives up to the hype. The absolutely horrible Columbus Blue Jackets were absolutely horrible tonight, and that's in every sense of the word.

Defensively, they looked like they weren't even in the same league. Offensively? Well, we wouldn't know because their defense was so bad they couldn't successfully get the puck out of their own end. As Blue Jackets coach Scott Arniel, who appeared to be somewhat of a dead man walking after the game, said: "Every mistake we made wound up in our net."

I'm going to go out on a limb and say the Blue Jackets made more than nine mistakes tonight, but hey, we don't need to hang that on Arniel. He might not have a job come Monday. If he gets that far. Hopefully the Blue Jackets don't pull a "Mets fire Willie Randolph" and do it at three in the morning.

The Flyers absolutely cruised over the worst team in the league. Eight different Flyers scored goals, and in the third period they sat back and let Columbus get a little bit of respect back. A little bit. It's hard to have any respect when you lose by seven goals, but you know.

In the end, this is just two points for the Flyers, albeit two very nice points. You think Buffalo Sabres fans remember the huge victory that pushed Ken Hitchcock out as Flyers head coach, or do you think Canucks fans remember the victory that pushed John Stevens out? Yeah, the Flyers might have just pushed the Blue Jackets into Fire Everybody mode.

Some notes, some audio from post-game, questions with answers and the comment of the night after the jump.

The Flyers began sitting back pretty early in this one. At one point in the second period, Max Talbot, Eric Wellwood and Braydon Coburn were out on the ice on the power play.

Five different Flyers scoring a goal in a single game ties a franchise record. This is the fifth occasion. The last time was October 23, 1983 vs. Toronto in an 8-5 win.

Eric Gustafsson was plus-6 tonight... the last time a Flyers rookie was plus-6 or better in a game was March 30, 1984 when Rich and Ron Sutter were each plus-6 and Thomas Ericsson was plus-8.

The last time the Flyers led a game 5-0 after one period was April 3, 2009 when they led Toronto 5-0 in an eventual 8-5 win. The last time the Flyers led by 8 goals after the second period was October 18, 1984 vs. Vancouver , when they led 9-1 and won 13-2.

Peter Laviolette Post-Game Audio

Scott Arniel Post-Game Audio

Questions with Answers

Are the Blue Jackets really as bad as everything we've been told? You know those SPCA commercials with the sad dogs? Tonight's game was like that. Lots of AHL players in for the Flyers tonight. How do they all look, and how does Peter Laviolette work his roster? They all looked great. The turnovers were pitiful on Thursday night. Can the Flyers, especially the defensemen, get any better in that regard? Three from the defense. Muuuuuuch better. Again, not much pressure from the Blue Jackets though. Any sort of tribute for Jeff Carter, even though he's not playing? Not a word about him.

Comment of the Night