Atkinson, Blue Jackets hold off Flyers for third consecutive win

PHILADELPHIA -- Cam Atkinson scored two goals and the Columbus Blue Jackets won their third straight game, 4-3 against the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center on Saturday.

Atkinson and linemates Artemi Panarin (one goal, two assists) and Pierre-Luc Dubois (three assists) combined for eight points and were plus-9.
"I think we've been going the last little bit," Atkinson said. "We're supporting each other, forechecking hard, and just playing the right way. Capitalizing on our opportunities."
WATCH: [All Blue Jackets vs. Flyers highlights]
They weren't going so well early.
"That line was brutal in its first three shifts, and I was thinking about shaking things up," Columbus coach John Tortorella said. "I felt on the bench, starting with that line, I was thinking about breaking it up. Thank God I didn't over-coach."
Atkinson, Panarin and Dubois have combined for 105 points (45 goals, 52 assists) this season and contend they should be in the discussion for the top line in the NHL.
"I think we should be," Atkinson said. "I'm not going to lose sleep at night if they don't talk about us. ... We just have to stick to our business and keep doing what we're doing. We're pretty dynamic, just have to keep it going."
Zach Werenski scored for Columbus (20-12-3), which is 4-0-1 in its past five games. Sergei Bobrovsky made 34 saves.

Sean Couturier,
Phil Varone
and James van Riemsdyk scored for Philadelphia (14-16-4), which had won two in a row. Rookie goalie Carter Hart made 15 saves and lost for the first time in three games since being called up from Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League on Monday.
It's the first loss for the Flyers since coach Scott Gordon was promoted from Lehigh Valley after Dave Hakstol was fired Monday.
"I think we did a good job. We carried the play a lot," van Riemsdyk said. "Obviously we made a couple mistakes that ended up in our net, but those are things we can clean up. But I think overall we had a pretty good process, we played pretty hard and did a lot of good things."
The Blue Jackets had a season-low 19 shots on goal.
"We did not play that well tonight," Tortorella said. "We played in spurts. It was probably [Bobrovsky's] best game of the year. ... We weren't awful, but we didn't play with pace and we had some passengers tonight."
Werenski gave the Blue Jackets a 1-0 lead at 15:05 of the first period with a shot from above the hash marks.
Couturier made it 1-1 when he scored a power-play goal for Philadelphia with 23 seconds left in the first, and Varone gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead at 7:40 of the second period with his first NHL goal since Jan. 16, 2016.
But Atkinson scored on his rebound at 9:30 to tie it 2-2, then gave the Blue Jackets a 3-2 lead at 13:23.
Atkinson has 22 goals in 34 games, two shy of the 24 he scored in 65 games last season. He's on pace for 51 this season; his NHL high is 35 in 2016-17.
"I like scoring goals," he said. "I don't care how many I get as long as I'm scoring goals. Just a lot. And more."
Panarin scored for Columbus with 36 seconds left in the second to make it 4-2. He one-timed a shot past Hart after Dubois beat Couturier on a face-off in the right circle in the Philadelphia zone.

"I tried to win it to that side (his left)," Dubois said. "It was originally for (defenseman Seth) Jones and it went straight to Panarin. That's just how it goes."
Van Riemsdyk scored with 1:10 remaining in the third and Hart on the bench for a sixth attacker to get the Flyers within 4-3.

They said it

"Cam has great offensive instincts and he's tough to get to. He's so low to the ice and so quick and fast so he's tough to defend. And for a smaller guy (5-foot-8, 179 pounds) he's willing to play in the (tough) areas. That's really important for a goal-scorer." -- Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella
"I was getting chances in earlier games. That one was probably the easiest one. I just had to put it in the back of the net." -- Flyers forward Phil Varone

Need to know

Panarin has seven points (one goal, six assists) in three games against the Flyers this season. ... Voracek's assist on van Riemsdyk's goal was his 600th NHL point in his 802nd game. ... Giroux had an assist on Couturier's goal to give him 20 points (five goals, 15 assists) in his past 14 games.

What's next

Blue Jackets: At the New Jersey Devils on Sunday (12:30 p.m. ET; SN, MSG+, FS-O, NHL.TV)
Flyers: At the New York Rangers on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, MSG, NBCSP, NHL.TV)