Heading into the 2025-26 season, goaltending was perceived to be the biggest weakness of the Philadelphia Flyers, but so far, it’s actually been their greatest strength.
Prized free agent signing Dan Vladar kept the Flyers in the game all night in their first game of the year against the Florida Panthers on Thursday night, racking up an impressive 32 saves on 34 shots (.941) after, somewhat surprisingly, starting ahead of Sam Ersson.
Ersson got his chance on Saturday night, though, and while his 35 saves on 39 shots and .897 save percentage weren’t quite as impressive, he did more than enough to give the Flyers a chance to win the game against the Metropolitan Division rival Carolina Hurricanes.
At the time of this writing, according to Moneypuck, Ersson (1.87) and Vladar (1.00) are 11th and 14th in the NHL in goals saved above expected.
Sure, it’s only been two games, and one for each goalie, but the Flyers were handily outplayed in both while icing a more than depleted defense.
Ex-Flyers Goalie Pitches Shutout in AHL Debut
In his first ever AHL game, this recently traded former Philadelphia Flyers goalie earned an impressive shutout.
So, despite that, the Flyers are actually tied with the Hurricanes for 12th in the NHL with a team GAA of 2.89, and they’ve faced 28 more shots on goal.
This is all to say that the Flyers’ goalies came to play to start the season, and it’s on them to continue these types of performances. The onus is on the Flyers, too, to protect them with a better defense and some goal support.
Ersson and Vladar have always been capable, but it’s been a matter of consistency for both players in their NHL careers.
It’s fair to say that both Ersson and Vladar were the Flyers’ best players in their respective first starts of the season, and that’s not something anybody expected to say after matchups with Florida and Carolina.
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