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 makes a ridiculous 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.

The Flyers forward cashes in on his third goal of the game to tie the Flyers at three 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+).