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Dan Vladar Says Flyers “Proved Everybody Wrong,” But Maybe They Just Proved Themselves Right
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Dan Vladar was awesome on Monday night as the Flyers clinched a postseason berth for the first time in five full seasons. He stopped 24 of 26 shots and then allowed 0 shootout goals on 4 attempts as the Flyers got by a short-handed Canes team 3-2 at home.
Afterward, he spoke to Hartsy:
“Oh my God, this is awesome, I have no words.. (something about picking it up this season? picking us this season?) We just proved everybody wrong and I’m so proud of the guys that played in front of me…. This is awesome, this is why we play hockey. Especially here, people are starving for it and we are so proud to be able to deliver the experience. I can assure you, especially our fans, that we’re gonna do everything we can to make it as far as we can.”
Not sure if this is a stupid take or not, but I’m not so sure the Flyers “proved everybody wrong” so much as they proved themselves right. A lot of the guys spoke after the game and said they were a tight knit group that believed in one another, and the fact of the matter is that they played well early on. They were 14-7-3 going into December and showing glimpses of a playoff-caliber squad. That was at the height of the Matvei Michkov and Rick Tocchet drama, before things were really clicking in March and April. That was long before guys like Porter Martone and Denver Barkey even sniffed the lineup, and before a trade deadline in which they didn’t do very much at all.
If anything, I think the Flyers proved that the team we saw early on in the season was the true version of themselves, certainly more than anything that was displayed on the ice in January. What a horrific month that was. The Olympic break could not come at a better time, and for everybody who was saying that it would make or break the season, that period of rest and recovery, they were right, because the Flyers have been on a tear ever since. They’ve won 17 of their 26 games since the break needed every single one of those points as contenders fell apart around them, but that’s why you play the games. You have to worry about yourselves and let squads like Columbus and the Islanders run out of gas.
Playoff hockey returns to Philly, and it’s gonna be fun. The Flyers don’t have any pressure on them at all.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com