At the end of the night, Dan Vladar’s glove got a piece of the shot, but the puck trickled over it and into the net. The Flyers goaltender smashed his stick against the post and could be heard screaming in frustration. Philadelphia lost 3-2 in overtime, shook hands with Carolina, and got a loud ovation from the Flyer fans who stuck around to send them off.
The goaltender, who never had any playoff starts before this 2025-26 season, finished the night with a .925 save percentage, stopping 37 of 40 shots. His opponent on the other end, Frederik Andersen, was just a hair better on less than half the shots Philadelphia had on Carolina. However, while disappointed, Vladar ended the season the way he started, providing one of the best goaltending seasons for Philadelphia in recent memory. And particularly after one of the worst statistical seasons in franchise history the previous year.
After the game Saturday night, and realizing the dream was over, Vladar said the season was a strong one for the Flyers who proved a heck of a lot of people wrong from start to finish. “There wasn’t a lot of people outside of the locker room that believed in us,” the goaltender said. “I thought that we really stuck together as a team and we really played hard for each other. As I said we gave it all.”
Vladar played every minute for Philadelphia this postseason, finishing with a .922 save percentage and a 2.18 goals against average. As well, he had two shutouts against Pittsburgh, including the sensational game 6 where the Penguins peppered him with 42 shots. As stellar as he was all season, Vladar was even better in playoff pressure. Sure, a few goals he would’ve liked to have back, but overall he kept Philadelphia in the games, and kept the Flyers in the playoff chase until the team came alive down the stretch. The torrid sprint to the playoffs only came on the back of Vladar’s excellent play from October through May.
“I didn’t really have to do much, I just had to follow our leaders in here,” Vladar said, modest almost to a fault. “As I said everybody here was just trying or everybody was doing the right things for the crest in front and just following the lead.”
Tocchet can’t say enough about Vladar
Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet cited Vladar’s stellar play throughout the playoffs following Game 4, something he didn’t probably anticipate heading into October. Originally, Vladar was thought of a short-term, stopgap for Sam Ersson, possibly playing 30 to 35 games and taking some of the pressure off the number one. The longer the season went on, the more one realized just how consistently stellar he was. And just how much of a bargain Flyers general manager Danny Briere got last July inking him to the two-year deal worth a total of $6.7 million.
“He’s a guy like he came here, he was a backup,” Tocchet said after the Game 4 loss. “Nobody really even knew much about him, and look what he’s done. It just goes to show you your mindset. He wanted to be a number one, he worked on it this summer, and he’s just a terrific guy. I can’t say enough about him. Not even leadership, just every day. He’s probably going to blame himself (pointing back to the locker room), like that’s the type of guy he is. It’s not even his fault and he’ll say, ‘Yeah I should’ve had this or that.’ He had no chance, so I got to give him (a lot of credit), that’s what I love about the guy.”
Although not one of the final nominees for the Vezina Trophy, Vladar should certainly have ended up with some votes or consideration. He says this playoff experience — and his first playoff starts after two mop-up appearances earlier in his career — should provide a solid foundation for next season.
“Yeah a bunch of guys played through injuries so obviously we weren’t in the best spot,” the goaltender said. “All of a sudden we were playing Carolina who was well rested and they’re a really good team. So it wasn’t easy. You can say we lost two games in overtime. But at the same time they’re obviously a better team than us. For us it’s just a learning experience. And coming back next year just trying to have a great summer and give us a better chance too. We’re probably going to have to face them again if we make it. Just try to learn from it and do everything we can to give ourselves a better chance next year.”
Playoff pressure will go far down the road
While Vladar was new to the pressure that comes with playoff hockey, he said the fact over a dozen players got their first taste of playoff hockey at the National Hockey League level should provide a huge learning lesson for the Flyers heading into 2026-27. It was also something he’ll cherish, even though it’s not the end goal for Philadelphia.
“I mean it’s huge, you just look at Risto, he’s 30 years old, he’s played 800 games in the NHL and he doesn’t have a playoff game,” Vladar said. “Even Tocc was saying don’t take this for granted because you just don’t know when the next opportunity is going to come to be playing because it’s a privilege to be playing playoff games. Obviously it’s great for lots of young guys. As I said everybody’s done a great job following our leaders. We weren’t going to make it without those leaders.”
Finally, the goalie said he enjoyed the fan’s reaction during the handshakes between Carolina and Philadelphia, as well as the ovation as the team raised their sticks and acknowledged the crowd.
“Goosebumps,” he said about how he felt during those moments. “I mean they’ve been having our back since the beginning of the year So sorry we weren’t able to deliver more hockey for them. I can speak for all of us that we gave it all we had.
“It was awesome. I’m going to repeat myself but that’s another big reason I wanted to come here to Philly and be a Flyer because I know how tight this city can be and obviously I’m hungry for more.”
Given just how incredible Vladar was in his first year with Philadelphia, most can’t wait to see what he’s capable of doing going forward. He made a name for himself this year, and hopefully this time next year his stellar play might have the Flyers writing a far different story.
