Everyone associated with the Philadelphia Flyers – players, employees, fans – can take a collective sigh of relief after taking care of their cross-state rivals in the Eastern Conference First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
It was a game that the Flyers had almost no business in winning, things got extremely tense and tentative down the stretch, and the Pittsburgh Penguins’ experience was out on display; enter Dan Vladař.
On the day the NHL announced its 3 finalists for the Vezina Trophy, Vladař put the Philadelphia Flyers on his back to oust the Sidney Crosby-led Penguins in 6 games.
Vladař, who has been sensational all year for the Flyers, stopped all 42 shots fired his way before Cam York’s late overtime tally pushed the Flyers to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
After suffering a late injury in Game 3, questions were amuck about Vladař’s availability in Game 4 and beyond. He moved past the injury but endured some tough luck in both Game 4 and 5, and that not only allowed the Penguins to stay alive, but it brought about some concern if he was 100% healthy.
All that could be pushed to the side after his Game 6 standout performance, which was also his second shutout of the series – and the season. He finished the 6-game bender with a .937 SV% and a 1.61 GAA.
What was most impressive was how sound and technical he became as the game wore on. The Penguins took almost complete control in the final 2.5 periods, outshooting the Flyers 23-11 in the third period and overtime, while also carrying most of the possession.
The Flyers played too conservatively, to a point where they looked afraid to make a mistake, which is why they kept dumping the puck in deep, flipping it out of the defensive zone, and were always looking for the deflection beyond the neutral zone off their stretch passes rather than sustained offensive zone time.
That led to the Penguins coming in waves, shift after shift, including most of the overtime period before York’s winner. Vladař had to come up big several times down the stretch, including a mad scramble in the blue paint, where not even the referees could locate the puck.
Ultimately, Vladař did what he has done all year, and that was keeping his team in the game long enough for them to score the game-winner. He was able to cast away any doubts from his rare blunders in the two losses that proceeded his sparkling start to the series, and the Olympian showcased once again why he might’ve been the best free agent signing of the 2025-26 season.
Additionally, the 42 saves he recorded were the second most saves in a shutout in Flyers postseason history, it was the 4th-most saves in a series clinching shutout in the past 70 years, and he became the 5th Flyers goaltender to record a 1-0 victory in a playoff game.
As for the Vezina Trophy, it was always going to be a long-shot considering he never got much attention from the national media all year. However, it will be interesting to see where he ranks in the voting once the results become public, and how far off he was from the finalists in Andrei Vasilevskiy, Jeremy Swayman, and Ilya Sorokin.
Vladař’s GAA was third best behind just Vasilevskiy and Scott Wedgewood, his .906 SV% was tied with Sorokin and just one point behind Swayman, and he finished tied for 10th in wins. He also tied Vasilevskiy for the most games played with 2 goals or fewer allowed.
At this rate, none of that matters as long he continues to perform in the post-season for the Cinderella-story Flyers. He had to stand on his head and deliver an otherworldly performance in Game 6, but in the end the Flyers prevailed and were able to secure their first series win since the 2020 playoff bubble against the Canadiens.
Now they can rest up for a bit as they await the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round, who swept the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. It looks like a mismatch with how well constructed the Hurricanes are, but the regular season battle was extremely tight, as all 4 games went to overtime or a shootout – Carolina won 3 to Philadelphia’s 1.
Vladař will be leaned upon once again, but if he can continue his breakout season, the Flyers can certainly hang around with the Eastern Conference’s best regular season team.
