Flyers' playoff push takes a hit with 2-1 home shootout loss to Blue Jackets

Jackie Spiegel, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Mar 14, 2026

Published in Hockey

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PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Flyers are knocking on the door.

In a chippy game that had a playoff vibe, the Flyers were only able to collect a point against a team standing in their way of the postseason, with the Columbus Blue Jackets defeating them in a shootout, 2-1.

Philly’s winning streak ends at two games, but its point streak extends to three games, with Kirill Marchenko scoring the only goal in the shootout, a backhander over Dan Vladař.

The Flyers came out firing on all cylinders, but it was the Blue Jackets who, 4 minutes 21 seconds into the game, hit the board first.

A Travis Konecny pass intended for Alex Bump inside the offensive zone ended up on the stick of Marchenko, and the Blue Jackets broke out two-on-two. Mason Marchment ended up with the puck and got a shot off from the bottom of the left circle, before Adam Fantilli got two good whacks at the puck atop the crease.

Damon Severson corralled the puck, but the defenseman’s shot hit Konecny as he was tied up with Fantilli in front. The Flyers winger went down and stayed down as Fantilli got up and found Marchenko for the goal with Vladař out of position.

Konecny stayed down for a while in pain. After skating to the bench, he spoke with assistant athletic trainer Alex Ambrose for a while by the tunnel, but did not go down it.

That’s a good thing because Konecny and his linemates got the game tied up.

Bump made a nice play to maintain control of his zone entry and the Flyers got to work. Although they kept it to the perimeter, they possessed the puck, leading to Nick Seeler getting it at the left point. He passed it over to Christian Dvorak as he sliced through the top of the zone before dropping it back to Emil Andrae seconds after he hopped over the boards.

Andrae had some time and space and walked in before sending a wrister toward the net with Bump in front. The rookie, in his fifth game, got his second career goal with a tip-in — but he had to wait a bit to celebrate.

The referees didn’t realize the puck went in, as it hit the left post, the back of the net, and popped right back out. Play continued for 14 seconds — as the Flyers’ bench stood pointing — before Blue Jackets goaltender Jet Greaves covered the puck up. The play was quickly reviewed and ruled a goal.

Bump now has three points in five NHL games, and Andrae has points in consecutive games since being reinserted into the lineup on Thursday. Dvorak’s assist gives him a new career high in points (39), beating his previous best set in 2019-20 under coach Rick Tocchet in Arizona.

The second period was less eventful — although Owen Tippett got a great look as he cut across the crease on a pass by Nikita Grebenkin, who also had an alley-oop that set up Luke Glendening for a partial breakaway — it was fierier, with the teams combining for 18 hits.

Carl Grundström nailed Severson behind the Blue Jackets’ net, and Fantilli responded by dropping the gloves. Both got minors — Grundström for boarding and Fantilli for roughing — and five for fighting. Dvorak took a hard hit from Kent Johnson as he tried to turn up the ice, leading to a scoring chance by Boone Jenner that Vladař stopped.

And then Barkey nailed Severson, who has a few inches and more than a decade of experience on him, behind the net during a Flyers power play. The former New Jersey Devils defenseman took exception, cross-checking him a few times behind the net and then doing it again in front, notably high on the 20-year-old winger while he was on the ice.

The only problem is that the Flyers’ power play was powerless once again. Despite having four separate man advantages, including 3:35 to start the third period, the Flyers couldn’t buy a goal. According to Natural Stat Trick, they had 13 shot attempts and five shots on goal across almost eight minutes of five-on-four power-play time.

Breakaways

Barkey took a hard, scary hit by Marchenko in the corner of the offensive zone with 5:47 left in the first period. The hit, high and from behind, on the 5-foot-10 Barkey by the 6-3 Marchenko, knocked his helmet off. Barkey stayed down for a considerable amount of time, eventually skated off under his own power, but went down the tunnel. Originally ruled a major, it was downgraded to a minor for boarding after review. Barkey did not start the second period on the bench but was back on the ice less than two minutes in. ... Forward Garnet Hathaway and defenseman Noah Juulsen were each healthy scratches. ... The Flyers trailed 1-0 for the 45th time this season in 66 games.

Up next

Flyers after dark will be percolating as they head west for a three-game California trip, beginning on Wednesday against Cutter Gauthier and the Anaheim Ducks. The game marks Zegras’ return to Anaheim.