Dan Vladar’s return and Travis Konecny’s hat trick couldn’t save the Flyers from their struggles.

The club followed up its dud on home ice with a 5-3 loss Wednesday night to the Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena.

Konecny’s second and third goals made it a 3-3 game in the final stanza. But not even a minute and a half after Konecny punctuated his hat trick, the Flyers lost Sean Monahan backdoor as Columbus regained its lead.

The Blue Jackets finished things off with an empty-netter.

The Flyers (24-19-9) have dropped their last two games by a combined score of 9-3. On Monday night, they were blanked by the Islanders, 4-0, and elicited boos from their fans.

Rick Tocchet’s club has lost nine of its last 11 games (2-7-2), a stretch in which it has allowed 4.45 goals per game.

Last season, the Flyers were just one win behind this pace at 23-23-6 through 52 games.

This was the first of three meetings this season between the Flyers and Blue Jackets (25-20-7).

• The Flyers saw their all-important goaltender back in net. And his presence was felt.

Vladar converted 26 saves on 30 shots after missing the previous six games with a lower-body injury.

The 28-year-old made an absolutely stellar glove save early in the third period with the Flyers on the penalty kill. It kept the game at 3-1 and gave the Flyers a chance to make a comeback attempt.

Flyers goalie Dan Vladar made a ridiculous glove save in his first game back after a six-game absence.

After Konecny drew the Flyers to within 3-2, Vladar delivered another spectacular glove stop. Konecny rewarded him again to tie the game with 4:46 minutes left.

But the Flyers didn’t help Vladar a whole lot. They fell behind just 38 seconds into the action after a Trevor Zegras turnover led to a point-blank look for Charlie Coyle.

With 20 seconds left in the first period, Owen Tippett lost a puck battle with Zach Werenski, who then found Kirill Marchenko to give Columbus a 2-1 lead. The Flyers wanted a penalty on Werenski, but didn’t get it.

Early in the second period, the Flyers’ deficit grew as Erik Gudbranson scored on a shot through a ton of traffic.

Blue Jackets netminder Elvis Merzlikins stopped 24 of the Flyers’ 27 shots.

• The Flyers got another huge effort from Konecny. They dropped to 10-2-0 when he records a multi-point game.

The 28-year-old alternate captain has 48 points (20 goals, 28 assists) in 51 games.

Travis Konecny cashed in his third goal of the game, bringing the Flyers even at 3-3 with the Blue Jackets.

• Rasmus Ristolainen exited with a lower-body injury after playing just two shifts. More on him here.

• The Flyers are right back at it Thursday when they visit the Bruins (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP+).