Things have gone from bad to worse to catastrophic for the Philadelphia Flyers.
Jamie Drysdale returned from injury on Wednesday night, and it looked like we’d see some new pairs as well. However, after taking part in the morning skate on the top pair with Travis Sanheim, Rasmus Ristolainen was a late scratch in Buffalo due to an upper-body injury.
Injury update: Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen (upper-body injury) is day-to-day and will be unavailable for tonight’s #PHIvsBUF matchup.
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) January 15, 2026
Ristolainen joined Bobby Brink as scratches due to injury, and Rick Tocchet explained why Denver Barkey was taking a seat for the first half of the back-to-back.
With hopes of bouncing back from two blowout losses to Tampa Bay, the Flyers did no such thing. The Sabres went up 2-0 in the first period and had a few other high-danger chances ring off the post.
Neither of the two goals was particularly leaky for Dan Vladar, but rather a continued poor effort on the defensive end by the Flyers. So when it was Samuel Ersson who came out to tend the Flyers’ net in the second period, it raised a few eyebrows.
Vladar was missing from the bench, though, so there was cause for concern, and the Flyers confirmed that he would not return to the game due to a lower-body injury.
Injury update: Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen (upper-body injury) is day-to-day and will be unavailable for tonight’s #PHIvsBUF matchup.
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) January 15, 2026
There wasn’t anything too obvious to point to for Vladar, but the goalie did seem to come up a bit gingerly after Buffalo’s first goal of the game.
Feelin' the power 🎯#LetsGoBuffalo pic.twitter.com/o5OjtRKHiQ
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) January 15, 2026
Vladar, 28, was making his 28th start of the season for the Flyers. He started a career-high 29 games last season in Calgary while also making one relief appearance.
With Ersson already struggling mightily, which might cause the Flyers to want to make a move for a goalie anyway, any sort of long-term injury to Vladar would sink Philadelphia. He entered tonight’s game with a career-best .907 save percentage and 2.42 goals-against average.
Hopefully, this turns out to be a precautionary pull for Vladar and the Flyers. They play the second half of a back-to-back in Pittsburgh on Thursday night before coming home to host the New York Rangers on Saturday afternoon.
If Vladar does have to miss any time, the Flyers will likely recall Aleksei Kolosov from the AHL.
Kolosov is 9-9-1-2 with a .908 SV% and 2.54 GAA this season with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. He made 19 saves on 21 shots in his only start with the Flyers this season, while also stopping all seven shots he faced in relief the night before. Of course, Kolosov saw plenty of time in the NHL last season, going 5-9-1 with an .867 SV% and 3.59 GAA.
