PHILADELPHIA -- Radko Gudas shot the puck from center ice with little hope of it finding the back of the net.

Somehow it did and the Gudas show was on for the Philadelphia Flyers.

The stocky, hard-hitting defenseman not known for offense snapped a 65-game goal drought by scoring two and compiling four points Saturday, leading the Philadelphia Flyers to a 6-0 drubbing of the Columbus Blue Jackets at Wells Fargo Center.

"I'm not going to say I was expecting it to go in," Gudas said with a laugh.

"We've been waiting for it all year," Philadelphia coach Dave Hakstol said jokingly of Gudas' surprising outburst. "No, you know what, he played a good hockey game."

Gudas ignited and punctuated Philadelphia's explosion while setting career highs in goals and points in a game as fans chanted his name during the third period.

The Flyers (30-23-11) have won four of five during their six-game homestand and are back to within three points back of the Pittsburgh Penguins for the Eastern Conference's final wild-card spot.

"Yeah, everybody was yelling," Gudas said. "But two points are the most important for us."

The Blue Jackets (27-31-8), who were 9-1-0 in the last 10 games against the Flyers, suffered their first loss to Philadelphia this season in three meetings.

"Just one of those games," Columbus coach John Tortorella said. "We just couldn't generate much. So you wrap that up and throw it in the trash."

The Blue Jackets were playing the second game of a back-to-back set and looked like it.

"I hate using this word because I don't think our team is like that, but we were just soft tonight, soft in a lot of things," Columbus left winger Nick Foligno said. "We never could quite get our game going and we got caught in theirs."

The Flyers took a 4-0 lead into the third period and added to it with a goal from Nick Cousins, and Gudas capped his career night with his second goal of the game.

"It's a wonder he hasn't scored yet," Flyers goaltender Steve Mason joked.

Mason, making his first start since Feb. 20 as Philadelphia rode the hot hand of Michal Neuvirth, stopped 19 shots.

The Blue Jackets went with Curtis McElhinney in net for his first game since Feb. 23. He was lit up for six goals on 36 shots.

"I don't think we played that well in front of him," Tortorella said. "Everybody has to give some skin tonight, from the coaches right on through to the team. We did not have a good game -- anybody. We're not going to look at the tape. I've already told the other coaches to throw it away."

Coming off its first shutout loss since Nov. 21, Philadelphia received a spark from an unlikely source in Gudas.

Gudas had not scored a goal since Dec. 4, 2014, and owned just six points in 57 games this season, but during the first period he set up the Flyers' first goal and delivered the second to propel Philadelphia to a 2-0 lead.

Gudas found Michael Raffl to make it 1-0 just 3:40 into the game and then put McElhinney on the blooper reel at11:45 when he scored on a shot from center ice.

In the second period, the Flyers doubled their lead in 10 seconds.

Sam Gagner ripped a slap shot top shelf from the circle at 17:13, assisted by Andrew MacDonald and Gudas.

Right out of the faceoff, Claude Giroux connected on a bouncing pass from Wayne Simmonds as Philadelphia seized complete control at the second intermission before Gudas put on the finishing touches in the third period.

"Obviously it's something I've never done before," Gudas said. "So it's a great feeling."

NOTES: Blue Jackets LW Brandon Saad was out because an upper-body injury he suffered in Friday's 6-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers. The 2015-16 All-Star, who is considered day to day, entered Saturday leading Columbus in goals with 24. ... Flyers C Brayden Schenn played despite being a game-time decision. The 24-year-old appeared to hit his head on the ice during a third-period scuffle Thursday in Philadelphia's 4-0 loss to the Edmonton Oilers. Before Saturday, Schenn had already set a career high in goals with 21. ... Blue Jackets LW Scott Hartnell faced his former team for the eighth time since being traded from Philadelphia to Columbus during the summer before the 2014-15 season. C R.J. Umberger, who the Flyers acquired in the deal, was a healthy scratch for the sixth straight game and has appeared in just 38 of the team's 64 games this season. ... Flyers D Brandon Manning returned to the lineup after sitting the previous two games as a healthy scratch. He replaced D Evgeny Medvedev.