Dan Vladar still sees the exact moment that ended the Philadelphia Flyers season. The starting netminder that has risen from being just some no-name backup to being one of the better goalies in the NHL, still watches that puck float past his head and across the goal line to hand the Carolina Hurricanes the series.
It was an extremely tough watch and still is to this day. Despite the Flyers beating out the preseason odds, making the playoffs, and beating the archrival Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round of the playoffs, the specific way the season was ended still leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. And Vladar knows it more than anyone.
The Hurricanes rushing up the ice with the line that has murdered the NHL since they’ve been put together — with Taylor Hall delivering the crushing blow with teammates Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake — and then the shot fluttering out of his glove, a ricochet he will never forget, and then just perfectly bouncing up and over and into the back of the net.
It’s nightmarish stuff.
At exit interviews on Tuesday, as every Flyers player got their turn to the podium to reflect on their season and what they want for next year, Vladar was asked about the way the season ended and since it was just such a flukey goal that finished it.
“Tough. It’s tough. We were able to win that game against Pittsburgh — Game 6, in overtime. To see that goal, I watched a lot of times, to be honest with you. I watched it probably 150 times and I was getting more and more mad. It’s another fire that’s going to be driving me forward,” Vladar told the media Tuesday.
“Obviously goals happen, don’t get me wrong, it happens every single day around the league, but for me it’s just the mentality of doing everything I can to set myself up, or give myself a better chance to be a better goalie next year.”
A goal is a goal. That’s maybe the only way a netminder could compartmentalize that specific moment happening. Considering they were already facing a 3-0 series deficit and had been largely dominated throughout the first three games, the end result felt logical, but that logic can’t really take the pain away.
Vladar himself repeated just how that sweep and the first playoff experience has now made him and the team overall so much hungrier. To experience it all again but with a better understanding of how the postseason works and with more potential to make an even louder noise.
“No one is satisfied here,” Vladar said. “We are proud of what we accomplished and how far we got, but everybody wants more, including myself. Obviously, Pittsburgh were a great team and we were able to beat them, coming from that series on the right side. But with Carolina, I still think me personally — I think I could’ve stole a game or two.
“Every playoff series you need a goalie to step up and steal that extra game and I wasn’t able to do that. So that’s something that’s going to be pushing and at the back of my head over the summer and heading into the season. But at the same time, we know how hard it is to make the playoffs. So, obviously, there is probably going to be more pressure heading into next season.”
It is true that there is going to be higher expectations now that we know this team can at least get into the playoffs and win a round (against a not-so-good opponent). Even if Vladar was able to pull out some classic game-stealing moves throughout the playoffs, it would have taken a generational run from the large Czech backstop to put them over Carolina.
Against the Penguins, Vladar earned an impressive .937 save percentage and averaged just 1.7 goals against per game. He willed the team to some of their wins, even when the Penguins started to get back in control, and it was him that truly outlasted Arturs Silovs in that Game 6 pitcher’s duel.
And even against the Hurricanes, none of the four losses were terrible. He had a .904 save percentage — which was close enough to his .906 save percentage he earned in the regular season — and faced an onslaught of shots, averaging 34 against per game. A very solid performance against a team that just peppers the opposing netminder all game long.
How Vladar performed in his first year as a bona fide starter in the NHL and with the Flyers, has now led to the conversation of a potential contract extension.
Vladar on a potential contract extension this summer
Vladar signed a two-year deal with the Flyers last summer, as Philadelphia entrusted him to be a short-term answer to stabilize their crease and give them an option other than Sam Ersson, so they can find out more about the overall team without having to worry about someone saving just 85 percent of the shots they face.
At the exit interviews on Tuesday, Vladar was asked about a potential contract extension this summer, since he is eligible to sign one on July 1, and whether it would be a phone call from the Flyers that he would eagerly accept.
“Yeah, and if you can ask the same question to Danny Briere, I’m going to be watching, so we’ll see what he says,” Vladar says, laughing.
Of course Vladar wants to stay with the Flyers, where he has found the most success he’s ever had in his career. And as he turns 29 years old this summer, he can remain effective for at least a few more years. But it also is going to be interesting to see what the Flyers’ front office thinks about this.
It’s risky signing any goalie to a long-term contract, let alone one who just set a new career-high in games played by 22 appearances and can be seen as a major question mark. Can Vladar repeat the same season? Of course. The defensive environment will largely be the same, so the likelihood of a repeat season can make sense.
But in a cold-hearted sort of way, would it be sign Vladar for three or four more years, keeping him with the Flyers potentially through the 2029-30 season? Could be risky. Regardless, he’s had a stellar season and should be celebrated.
Even if the final goal of the season still haunts him, it was a season that is worthy of some recognition. It feels weird that we can be confident in who is in the crease in Philadelphia.
