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Flyers’ 3 Stars of the Week: Goaltending, Zegras remain the bright spots

Looking at who the best Philadelphia Flyers players were in the last week and it’s some familiar faces.

Posted on by Cole Keller
Photo Credit: Heather Barry

The third full week of the season was another good one for the Orange and Black, as the team went 2-1-0 in three games this week. With two home wins over the Seattle Kraken and the New York Islanders, and a loss in Ottawa between them, the Flyers improved to 4-3-1 in their first eight games of the season. 

In this week’s three stars, we have some familiar faces from last week’s stars, and a new entrant to the list! 

3. Cam York 

0 goals, 4 assists, 24:59 Average TOI, 3 games played 

Fresh off an injury that held York out of the lineup for the first three games of the season, York jumped right back into action these past two weeks, and really settled down in the three games this week. Relied on alongside Travis Sanheim, York was phenomenal this week, doing all the little things that made that pair go. Averaging 25 minutes a night is no easy feat, and York has impressively broken even from a corsi-for standpoint thus far. 

None of York’s assists were particularly flashy, but York’s proving to be especially adept as the point on the second (first?) power play unit with Trevor Zegras, Noah Cates, Tyson Foerster, and Bobby Brink. Dating back to his time with the US National Team Development Program, York was known for his abilities to facilitate and get pucks through traffic on the power play, even if he wasn’t incredibly dynamic in doing so. That’s kind of what we’re seeing now, as seen in York’s power play assist against Seattle. 

2. Dan Vladar 

1 win, .928 SV%, 4 goals allowed, 2 games played 

After another strong week, Dan Vladar makes the 3 Stars yet again. Still, Vladar hasn’t allowed more than two goals in his five starts with the Flyers so far, carrying a 1.81 GAA and a .932 SV%. He’s unquestionably ahead of Sam Ersson on the depth chart right now, and for good reason – despite Ersson’s strong performance against the Islanders on Saturday. 

This week, Vladar’s two starts against the Kraken and the Senators were a mixed bag for the team, but Vladar did more than enough to win both of those games. In the win over Seattle, Vladar backstopped the Flyers with 21 saves on 23 shots. He wasn’t the main story of the game, but he made some massive saves early to allow the Flyers a chance to take control over Kraken. 

In Thursday’s game against Ottawa, Vladar was hands-down the Flyers best player. The game should have been much more lopsided than the 2-1 final for the Senators, as Vladar made 31 of 33 saves on the night. In what was truly an off night for the team, Vladar gave the Flyers a chance to win it, and that’s about all you can ask out of your starting goaltender. Considering the Flyers’ sterling defensive numbers thus far, Vladar keeping this level up could create quite a strong defensive team over the course of this season. 

1. Trevor Zegras 

2 goals, 2 assists, shootout Goal, 3 games played 

It’s now eight points in eight games with the Flyers for Trevor Zegras, and that trade with Anaheim is looking like an absolute robbery in the early-goings. 

This week, the big game for Zegras was Saturday against the Islanders, where he put up his first two goals with the Flyers and added a highlight-reel assist to go with it. His ability to create chances with his passing, in the midst of pressure, has proven to be such an impressive and valuable skill thus far. 

With his first two goals as a Flyer, Zegras finished on a chance created primarily by Christian Dvorak, and then cashed in on the powerplay in a netfront scramble. His offense has largely come from assists so far, but if Zegras can find a way to scratch across 20 or so goals, there’s a really high upside, complete player here. 

Oh, and as always, Zegras delivered in the shootout against the Islanders, continuing his all-time best success rate in the competition. 

All in all, it was a true coming out party this week for Trevor Zegras as a Flyer. With Zegras seemingly getting lots of ice time with Matvei Michkov in the last three games, Zegras performing to this level without an A-level from Michkov is promising. If Michkov can raise his level in the coming weeks, odds are that Zegras can get a whole lot better, especially on the statsheet. 

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