Zach Werenski’s goal and assist power Blue Jackets past Flyers 3-2

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Zach Werenski continued his torrid scoring pace with a goal and an assist as the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 on Tuesday night.

Columbus scored a pair of goals 1:44 apart to start the second period. The Blue Jackets outshot the Flyers 6-0 in the opening three minutes of the period.

Mathieu Olivier scored the first goal 44 seconds into the second period, taking a pass from Werenski on a 3-on-2 rush and snapping a shot over the glove of Philadelphia goalie Dan Vladar to tie the score 1-1.

On his next shift, Werenski came out of the corner and worked his way into the high slot. He took a pass from Damon Severson and beat Vladar with a snapshot.

Werenski now has 77 points this season, second-most among NHL defensemen.

Mason Marchment also scored for Columbus, which moved into second place in the Metropolitan Division with points in 13 of its last 14 games (9-1-4).

Jet Greaves made 23 saves for the Blue Jackets, and kept his team in the game with nine first-period saves.

Greaves thwarted Owen Tippett on a breakaway and then stopped Noah Cates on successive shots — first a wrap around shot where he made a sprawling skate save to deny the scoring chance, and a moment later when he stopped Cates on a penalty shot.

Sean Couturier and Jamie Drysdale scored for Philadelphia, who had its three-game winning streak and six-game point streak snapped.

Blue Jackets: Wrap up a three-game road trip in Montreal on Thursday.

Flyers: Host Chicago on Thursday.

___

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl