Tag: Dan Vladar

The good times came to a halt, in more ways than one, on Monday night.

Hosting their Keystone State rivals, the Flyers lost 5-1 to the Pittsburgh Penguins. After winning three straight and outscoring the opposition 12-8, they gave up a five-spot for the first time since a Nov. 15 loss to the Dallas Stars.

It was the third game in four nights for Philly, who returned home after a productive 3-1-0 road trip. Monday’s defeat, which also came with a possible loss in the lineup, moved the Flyers to 14-8-3 on the season.

Trailing 1-0 after the first period, the Flyers tied the game up in the second. With Pittsburgh’s Erik Karlsson in the box for tripping Travis Konecny and teammate Connor Clifton joining him after taking down Matvei Michkov at the left post 43 seconds later, the Flyers had a two-man advantage. On the ice were Travis Sanheim, Tyson Foerster, Trevor Zegras, Konecny, and Michkov.

With the referee’s hand up for another penalty on Penguins’ Kris Letang, Foerster put the puck on net from the left faceoff circle, and it got past Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry for his team-leading 10th goal of the season.

But with the Flyers still on a five-on-three power play, less than a minute later, he took a pass from Zegras for a one-timer atop the left circle. Foerster appeared to suffer an injury as he shot the puck on goal. He skated off holding his right shoulder, went down the tunnel, and did not return.

Flyers coach Rick Tocchet did not have an update after the game, but hopes it is not long as Foerster is “obviously, he’s a big part of our team.”

Playing their 25th game of the season, the Flyers found themselves in an early hole for the 17th time. And it was Sidney Crosby who gave the opposition the lead.

After Cam York missed a shot wide, the Penguins broke out, and Bryan Rust put a shot on goal from the inside of the right faceoff circle. Dan Vladař had a good line of sight on the shot and made the save, but he wasn’t able to control the rebound, and Crosby scored.

Less than three minutes after Foerster tied the game in the second period, and with Rodrigo Ābols in the box for holding, Crosby put the Penguins back on top. Karlsson skated up the ice with the puck from his own end and carried it wide before sending a cross-ice pass to Rust. The forward dished a backhand to Crosby in the slot, and he fired it home. The Penguins captain has 59 goals and 137 points in 92 games against the Flyers, the most by any player.

Rust then added his own goal on a power play, after Sean Couturier was penalized for — no surprise here — a questionable holding call. He received a cross-ice pass from Evgeni Malkin, spun around, and carried the puck deep into the left circle before sending the puck past the glove of Vladař to make it 3-1, Pittsburgh. Rust used Sanheim as a screen on the play.

The Penguins entered the night with the second-best power play in the NHL (30.4%), while the Flyers had the fourth-best penalty kill (85.1%).

And Pittsburgh scored again in the third period with the man advantage, this time by Tommy Novak, after Michkov was called for slashing, giving the Penguins a 4-1 lead.

Former Flyers forward Kevin Hayes added another goal on a breakaway, getting behind York after receiving a stretch pass from Parker Wotherspoon.

Breakaways

Philly is now 9-6-2 after trailing 1-0. … Malkin was credited with a goal after a shot by Anthony Mantha went off his shin guard and in. But the Flyers challenged, and a video review determined that Malkin impaired Vladař’s ability to play his position before the goal. … The Flyers put 29 shots on goal and allowed 27. … The Flyers’ power play went 1-for-7, although the last man advantage came in the final 10 seconds of the game. … Forward Nic Deslauriers and defenseman Egor Zamula were the healthy scratches.

Up next

The Flyers host the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday (7:30 p.m., TNT).

OTTAWA, Ontario — The Flyers traveled to Canada’s capital for a showdown with the Ottawa Senators.

Facing a hungry team with just one win in its past six games, the visitors got off to a good start but ultimately fell to the Senators, 2-1. It snapped Philly’s two-game winning streak and moved its record to 3-3-1.

‘There’s no quitting you’

Entering the game, Dan Vladař had the fourth-best goals-against average (1.75) and the seventh-best save percentage (.929) among NHL goalies who had at least two starts.

It’s a big reason why he was getting his third straight start. But you also cannot ignore how well he reads plays.

“We wasted a good night from Vladdy,” coach Rick Tocchet said. “I thought he did a nice job in net for us.”

In the first period, as the Flyers struggled to get the puck out, the 6-foot-5 Czech netminder saved a point shot by Ottawa defenseman Nikolas Matinpalo before stopping Tim Stützle at the right post. Less than 45 seconds later, Vladař made a save on Thomas Chabot’s shot through traffic.

The Flyers took two penalties in the opening frame, and Vladař stood tall. He squared up to stop a shot by Stützle, robbed Shane Pinto from the slot, and then stoned Stützle again, taking the shot off the shoulder.

Vladař allowed a pair of goals on the 23 shots he faced in the first two periods. Ottawa’s Michael Amadio tied the game, 1-1, in the first.

Travis Sanheim stepped toward Pinto in the neutral zone, but the Long Island native chipped the puck to teammate Claude Giroux. The former Flyers captain drew Cam York and Owen Tippett in, giving Amadio time and space to accept the saucer pass and score.

Another former Flyers forward gave the Senators a 2-1 lead. The point shot by Senators’ Nick Jensen hit Rodrigo Ābols — who centered the fourth line in place of Jett Luchanko — in the slot, slowing the puck down. It allowed Lars Eller to make a nifty no-look between-the-legs pass to Olle Lycksell, a 2017 draft pick by Philly, at the right post for the slam dunk. It is his first goal for Ottawa in four games, and the second of his career.

But then Vladař shut the door, including stopping the Senators’ three shots on goal on a power play that began 34 seconds later when Sean Couturier was called for hooking in the neutral zone.

“I thought he played great again,” Sanheim said. “He’s been a rock back there for us. Not ideal when you have that many penalty kills and you’re giving up looks, and he’s coming up big for us and keeping us in the game. So credit to him on another solid start.”

Vladař faced 33 shots, one fewer than in the Flyers’ opening night loss to the Florida Panthers when he stopped 32 of 34, and elevated his save percentage this season to .932. He has not allowed more than two goals in his five starts.

“That’s our job here, me and Sam [Ersson’s], just to give our team a chance every single night,” he said. “And I said it a lot of times, doesn’t matter if it’s 10 shots or 15, we just got to do our best to give our team a chance, and, unfortunately, it wasn’t enough today.”

‘Only For A Moment’

The Flyers’ early 1-0 lead was courtesy of Tyson Foerster scoring 29 seconds into the game.

Coming off the bench for Tippett, who had a 21-second shift — “Wasn’t really expecting it that quick,” Foerster said — the winger received a pass on his tape from Travis Konecny and fired the wrister past Ottawa goalie Linus Ullmark. Konecny pulled up on the boards after getting the puck from Sean Couturier, who tracked down the dump-in.

At the end of last season, the 23-year-old winger said he wanted to have a quicker start to his season. He has done that, notching his third goal in seven games on Thursday.

When asked if he is hitting his stride, Foerster responded postgame that, “I think offensively. I think I got to win some more battles down low and on the wall, but I just got to be a little better in those battle areas.”

‘Round and Round’

Despite the score, the Flyers certainly had their chances and put 23 shots on goal. The only issue? Too much was on the perimeter.

“We’ve worked on concepts of, we call it piston offense, and we’ve got too many guys who are playing on the outside, and that’s why guys are struggling to score goals,” Tocchet said. “The good goal scorers, they go to the interior, and you’ve got to do it. We have to do it consistently.”

It took some time for players to get going as they handed the Senators five power-play chances, including two in the first period. The Flyers also got a man advantage in the opening frame and had three opportunities across games. As Tocchet has said repeatedly, it’s hard to get guys who don’t kill penalties going.

“They’re stick penalties. When you have stick penalties, that means you’re not skating,” Tocchet said. Of their five penalties — Nick Seeler got a coincidental minor, too — the Flyers were called twice for hooking and twice for tripping.

Matvei Michkov had some of the best looks and led the way with seven shot attempts, including four shots on goal.

Late in the first period, while coming out of the penalty box, Michkov got the puck for a breakaway. Noah Cates sent the stretch pass after Jake Sanderson flubbed a shot at the point, and while Michkov skated in and pump faked, he missed on the backhand.

Less than three minutes into the second period, Michkov got the puck in the slot but had the shot blocked by Dylan Cozens.

“He’s shooting the puck,” Tocchet said. “Keep shooting, hopefully things will go for him.”

Not long after Michkov’s breakaway chance, the Flyers broke out of their end, and Tippett flew around Chabot for a shot on goal with the backhand. Trevor Zegras crashed the net and jammed at the puck, but was unable to get it across the goal line.

In the third period, the Flyers tried to get going again. Sanheim had a shot from atop the circles, snared by Ullmark, and York was stopped after getting a pass at the left point. But they were chances where the Swedish netminder — who played with Ersson at the 4 Nations Face-Off — got to see the puck well.

As the seconds counted down in the game, Couturier had a chance at the side of the net to even things up.

“Yeah, obviously got off to a good start, the first five minutes, and then took our foot off a little bit,” Sanheim said. “We let them get some momentum and get some chances. And then obviously, toward the end, we started to get some looks again, but just couldn’t capitalize.”

Breakaways

For every save Vladař and Sam Ersson make in the month of October, they are donating to the October Saves Goalie Challenge, which supports cancer research and patient care. Flyers Charities will match their donations.

Up next

The Flyers return home for a matchup with 2025 No. 1 pick Matthew Schaefer and the New York Islanders on Saturday (12:30 p.m., NBCSP).