No road in the Stanley Cup is smooth sailing. There are bumps along the way. Nobody comes out unscathed. And, despite holding a rather commanding 3-0 lead in the series against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Philadelphia Flyers might have hit their first road bump heading into Game 4 at home on Saturday night.
Around the midway point of the third period on Wednesday night, with the Flyers leading 3-1, the Penguins were hoping to cut the deficit with pressure in the Flyers zone. The puck was near Flyers goalie Dan Vladar, but Pittsburgh forward Bryan Rust was nearby also. Rust’s knee landed on Vladar’s right arm, and it looked like his elbow momentarily bent in a way it wasn’t supposed to. Vladar fell over to his right side, and the whistle was blown. After taking some time to recuperate, and talking with the Flyer trainers, he carried on. He wasn’t 100 per cent, and let in a goal minutes later to make it 3-2. Fortunately, he wasn’t peppered with a lot of shots the rest of the way, and Philadelphia left with a 5-2 victory.
Dan Vladar was in a ton of pain after a play involving Bryan Rust falling onto his outstretched arm, but he's staying in the game 😳🤕 pic.twitter.com/IabxpLRnxh
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) April 23, 2026
After not being on the ice Thursday for a maintenance day while the team skated, Vladar wasn’t on the ice Friday as the team took the day off. Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet said Vladar felt better on Thursday, but didn’t guarantee Vladar would be starting Game 4.
Tocchet on Vladar: "Another maintenance day for him, two days off is going to help him. We'll see where he is tomorrow."
— Charlie O'Connor (@charlieo_conn) April 24, 2026
Clearly, having your number one goaltender, and one of the best goaltenders in the league all season — and especially down the stretch — out for any playoff game is concerning. If there’s one positive, it’s that the Flyers couldn’t possibly be in a better position after the first three games. With one more win, they’re on to the second round, a notion that seemed ridiculous in early March. But if Vladar is unable to go in Game 4, Sam Ersson most likely will get the start. The biggest question will be can Ersson shut down the Penguins in a game where they’re facing not just elimination, but possibly the end of the trio of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang playing together.
Which Ersson will Philadelphia get?
Assuming for the sake of argument that Vladar can’t go, and Ersson is called upon, it’s not the end of the world for Philadelphia’s success in the series, nor in Game 4. The Flyers have relied on Vladar most of the season to keep them in games, but Ersson has also held his own since the Olympic break. Since defeating the Rangers on Feb. 26 in a 3-2 overtime win, Ersson’s save percentage was north of .900 on six occasions. Granted not all of those were complete starts. One was mopping up for Vladar in the third of a 6-2 loss to those same Rangers on March 9. But generally, he looked a lot more calm and collected in those nine appearances.
Ersson’s record was 6-1 in games he started after the Olympic break. The only clunker was against Detroit where he gave up four goals on 19 shots in a 4-2 loss. Other than that (and a .880 save percentage in a win against Los Angeles), his save percentage in victories were as follows: .917, .957, .962, .944, and .931. Perhaps the most impressive of these was in the season finale, a 4-2 win against a fully dressed Montreal club who essentially faced a Flyers roster loaded with minor leaguers and youngsters. Ersson was solid in that performance with a ragtag defensive corps in front of him and few regulars in the lineup.
The confidence Tocchet and the team have in Ersson has rarely been questioned despite Ersson having very trying times the first two-thirds of the season. Whatever clicked or worked for Ersson since late February onward, it’s more than assisted both Vladar and the Flyers. The Swedish goaltender had a fantastic 1.71 goals-against average five-on-five since the Olympic break and a .923 save percentage. Vladar’s stats for the same time period (although used much more) were 1.65 and .932, respectively. Vladar’s high danger goals-against average (0.78) was also similar to Vladar’s (0.69), and the goals saved above average wasn’t a drastic drop off from Philadelphia’s consensus number one (-0.87 compared to 0.87). In short, the Flyers were able to get some timely quality starts from Ersson when they needed him the most.
Ersson thrived under new defensive structure
Part of the reason for Ersson’s success of late stems from the defensive structure the Flyers are using to help earn victories. It’s a smothering, aggressive style that takes away time and space from opponents. Simply put, it’s hard to get burned if you’re not giving your opponent much of anything. If the Flyers can maintain that framework on Saturday night, they stand a very good chance of moving on whether or not Vladar is good to go. A late-season version of Ersson between the pipes for Game 4 is not a huge drop in quality. The Ersson of the first few months? Well that’s a different story. Ersson had a 3.09 goals-against average five-on-five from October through the Olympic break. His save percentage was near the bottom of the league at .857, and his goals saved above average was a chasm between himself and Vladar’s (-15.41 for Ersson and 18.18 for Vladar).
So, if Ersson can remain even-keeled for 60 minutes (or more) on Saturday night, the Flyers might be able to defeat Pittsburgh in four games and move on. It won’t be easy, but Ersson has a victory against Pittsburgh earlier in the year. On October 28, Ersson stopped 24 of 26 shots at home against their rivals, including coming up huge in the overtime and shootout. His save percentage was north of .900 on that night (.923). It was one of just of six starts from October through the Olympic break where Ersson was at or over .900. On January 15, Ersson was pulled in the second in a 6-3 road loss to Pittsburgh. Not great.
However, in his career, Ersson has posted decent numbers against Pittsburgh. Lifetime he is 4-2-1 with a 3.35 goals-against average. That number is skewed somewhat by a Dec. 23, 2024 game that saw Ersson give up five goals on 14 shots (.643 save percentage and a horrid 7.50 goals-against average). Otherwise, he as five starts where his save percentage is at .900 or above against the Pens. Not bad, particularly for a goalie who rarely hit that achievement in the opening two-thirds of 2025-26.
Ersson should be ready if called on
Not having a start in over 10 days might see Ersson having a little rust on him. It’s crucial that he doesn’t if called on for Saturday night. While Philadelphia could come back from an early one-goal or two-goal deficit, seeing the Penguins light him up early and often would be the worst-case scenario, even if it was for just one game. The Flyers don’t need to see Pittsburgh gain any confidence in any parts of their game. And with momentum on their side, it would be a slight setback to not finish the job at the earliest opportunity. What makes Ersson a safer option is Tocchet and his team seem to have trust in him, and at this time of year, that might be as important as just how solid or stellar Ersson can be.
A Flyers victory either with Vladar or Ersson between the pipes would be incredible in Game 4. It would be icing on the cake if Ersson was in for it. It would give Ersson his first taste of playoff experience at the National Hockey League level. It would also enable Vladar more time to recover and also everyone else much more time to heal any ailments. Philadelphia wants to close this out as soon as possible, but risking a long-term injury to Vladar when an extra day or two of rest might make all the difference isn’t something to ignore either. Being up by three games after three games gives a team that small little luxury.
Having said all that, Philadelphia knows all about overcoming a 3-0 deficit to win in seven games. They want this series done, and not to give Pittsburgh and hope or momentum heading back to Pittsburgh. While Ersson hasn’t been consistent all season, he’s been consistent the last six weeks. And right now, that’s all that matters if he’s given the nod tomorrow night.
Stats courtesy of ESPN, Natural Stat Trick, and Statmuse
