By Jenny Masters
Boone Jenner scored twice, Johnny Gaudreau had a goal and two assists, and the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Flyers 5-2.
Columbus (4-9-0) hadn’t won since beating the New York Rangers 5-1 on Oct. 23.
Ivan Provorov had a goal and an assist, and Tony DeAngelo also scored for the Flyers. Carter Hart stopped 24 shots after missing a game to illness.
Gaudreau put Columbus up at 3:53 of the first, shooting a feed from Werenski past Hart for his team-leading sixth goal of the season and Columbus’ first lead in six games.
The two paired up again when Werenski buried a deflected shot by Gaudreau to put Columbus up 2-0 at 12:03.
“You score early and you start feeling good about your game,” Blue Jackets coach Brad Larsen said. “You’re not chasing it. I thought the guys battled hard.
“Korpi was outstanding. He made some big saves when we needed it. It was a great team effort.”
Jenner made it 3-0 37 seconds into the second period, roofing a feed from Patrik Laine.
“Ultimately, I thought we did a great job protecting the lead and being smart with the puck,” Gaudreau said. “It’s a big win for us.”
The Flyers got on the board at 13:04 of the second after a scramble in front of the net left the puck loose behind Korpisalo and DeAngelo bumped it in.
Philadelphia pulled within one when Provorov buried Travis Konecny’s feed in front of Korpisalo at 8:41, but late empty-netters from Blankenburg and Jenner sealed it for Columbus.
“I thought our checking was pretty good,” said assistant coach Brad Shaw, who addressed the media in place of Flyers coach John Tortorella. “I thought that we mismanaged the puck a few times, and they took advantage, and we paid the price.
“We don’t necessarily have to work harder. We have to work smarter. We have to certainly be smarter with the puck.”
The Blue Jackets played with just four defensemen after Werenski suffered an upper-body injury late in the first period and did not return. Erik Gudbranson left the ice with a facial laceration after a hard check into the boards in the second period and also did not return.
“The guys were battling out there like crazy, especially dropping down to four defenseman,” Jorpisalo said. “Just seeing how they battled there — they put 110 percent out there. You want to do the same.”
