Flyers are shutout by Blue Jackets, 3-0, in final home game of season

Jackie Spiegel, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Apr 15, 2025

Published in Hockey

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

PHILADELPHIA — And so it goes, and so it goes, and so soon will the Flyers season, as you know.

Skating in Game 81, the Flyers closed out the home slate with a 3-0 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. They finished 20-20-1 at the Wells Fargo Center and moved to 5-2-1 under interim coach Brad Shaw.

Columbus needed a win to keep their postseason hopes alive. They are now two points back of the Montreal Canadiens with each team at 81 games. The win tied the Blue Jackets with the Canadiens in regulation wins, the first tiebreaker.

Philly entered the game slotted to pick fifth overall in the 2025 NHL draft and, technically, remained there with the loss. But they did help their chances of finishing fourth worst overall as the Boston Bruins wrapped up their season with a 5-4 overtime loss to the New Jersey Devils, putting them in a three-way tie with the Flyers and Seattle Kraken in points.

The Kraken finish their season later Tuesday night on the West Coast. If the Flyers lose in regulation on Thursday, they will get the No. 4 pick because they have the fewest regulation wins of the three teams.

The Flyers and Blue Jackets traded chances in the opening frame, with each team putting nine shots on goal and 19 and 22 shot attempts, respectively, according to Natural Stat Trick. Columbus had eight high-danger chances in the first, with their best chance a breakaway attempt by Kirill Marchenko.

Facing Columbus goaltender Jet Greaves, recently named First Star of the Week by the NHL, the Flyers — who entered the game as the top goal-scoring team in the league since Shaw took over March 27 — did have their chances. Tyson Foerster got a leading pass from Matvei Michkov deep in the Columbus zone and Michkov had a chance later in the period, but just missed his shot at the left post.

In the second period, the Blue Jackets broke through. Dante Fabbro fired off a point shot through a double screen of Noah Cates and Nick Seeler to make it 1-0. Kent Johnson made it 2-0, Columbus, when he scored off the stick of Seeler with a one-timer after receiving a dot-to-dot pass from Sean Monahan seven seconds after Emil Andrae was called for interference.

In the final 40 minutes, the Flyers again had opportunities for the hometown crowd to cheer one more time.

Skating three-on-two, Travis Sanheim stayed high and got the puck for a shot on goal from the left side. The puck then bounced around and off the shoulder of Greaves before Bobby Brink sent the puck off the left post. Later in the middle period, Travis Konecny cut through the defense only to have his backhand shot stopped.

In the third period, Foerster had a shot from the left faceoff circle that Greaves played perfectly. At the other end, Flyers goalie Sam Ersson robbed Sean Kuraly but Marchenko’s pass went in off Adam Fantilli as he crashed the net 31 seconds after getting out of the penalty box.

Greaves stopped all 29 shots he saw and Ersson made 31 saves.

Breakaways

On Tuesday, Garnet Hathaway was named the Flyers nominee for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, awarded annually “to the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community.” He was also named the Flyers Alumni Community Leadership Award winner and the Flyers Alumni will make a $5,000 donation to the charity of Hathaway’s choice. This year, Hathaway launched Hits for Hath’s Heroes, raising money for first responders through every hit the Flyers get this season. … Konecny won the Clarke Trophy for the second straight year. It is presented to the team’s most valuable player and the winner is selected by a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. … Defenseman Sanheim was named the recipient of the Barry Ashbee Trophy as the Flyers’ Most Outstanding Defenseman. He was selected for the third time, and his second consecutive, by the panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. Sanheim also got the Yanick Dupre Class Guy Memorial Award, which is presented annually by the Professional Hockey Writers Association’s Flyers chapter to the Flyer who best illustrates character, dignity, and respect for the sport both on and off the ice. … Selected by his teammates, Brink was named the Pelle Lindbergh Memorial Trophy as the most improved player from the previous season. … The Gene Hart Memorial Trophy, given to the player with the most “heart” during the season as voted on by members of the Fan Club, went to Cates. … After accumulating the most points via selection as one of the three “Stars of the Game,” Michkov earned the Toyota Cup.

Up next

The Flyers wrap up the season on the road Thursday when they face the Buffalo Sabres.