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The Philadelphia Flyers lost their second preseason game in as many days on Tuesday, falling 5-1 to the Boston Bruins at TD Garden.
But of greater concern is the injury status of Dan Vladar, their starting goalie and last season’s team MVP.
Boston opened up the game in the third period with four unanswered goals to pull away with the game. Considering they played a more NHL ready lineup than the Flyers, it wasn’t surprising to see their veterans take over.
Winger Mikey Eyssimont scored two goals, while defenseman Fredric Brunet picked up a pair of assists. Boston also got goals from Morgan Geekie, Elias Lindholm, and Brian Halonen.
The Flyers lone goal came from center Jacob Gauthier, off a smart outlet pass from Jett Luchanko in the first period to tie the game. For two periods, they were able to stay with the Bruins, but the bottom fell out in the final 20 minutes.
How Vladar Was Injured
However, the result of the game wasn’t as concerning in the big picture. Losing Vladar for any extended period time is.
Vladar was injured during a sequence that led to the Bruins’ opening goal with 6:29 left in the first period. After mishandling the puck at the goal-mouth, the Flyers goalie was crashed into by winger Tanner Jeannot in front, losing his stick in the process.
Even before Eyssimont scored, Vladar was in trouble. He didn’t use his blocker arm at all, holding it at his side. Moreover, he made no attempt to retrieve his stick after dropping it. Vladar came off the ice in obvious discomfort, favoring his right arm. Back-up goalie Aleksei Kolosov took over the rest of the way with 14 saves on 18 shots.
Prior to the injury, Vladar looked strong in net as the Bruins were buzzing in the Flyers’ end early. His lateral movement looked in mid-season form as he stopped several Bruins chances, including an early David Pastrnak chance.
Flyers Working Against A Stacked Deck
Following a quick turnaround from their Monday preseason opener, Rick Tocchet’s team hoping looking for a better showing. They knew it was going to be a tall order.
Boston Bruins head coach Marco Sturm assembled a lineup that had 13 NHL regulars with starter Jeremy Swayman in net.
Tocchet countered with a mostly AHL lineup, though he had a top line of Noah Cates, Owen Tippett, and Alex Bump. He also included junior forward Matthew Gard, who would be headed back to the WHL after the game.
The reason for the lineups: under the NHL CBA, NHL teams are required to dress eight (8) veterans for every preseason game. More importantly in this case, players with at least 100 or more career NHL games are limited to playing two (2) pre-season games.
So it wasn’t surprising with the Bruins playing their last home preseason game that they’d go with more NHL regulars. Though it stands to reason whether the Flyers will do the same after what happened to Vladar.
So much of their success last season was bolstered by his performance. But it’s important to remember that he suffered a right arm injury against the Penguins in the first round of the playoffs. He gritted through it for the remainder of their run.
Even if the injury is minor, it would be understandable why they might be hesitant to put him back in before next Wednesday’s regular season opener against the Penguins.
Flyers Fly-Bys
- The line of Jett Luchanko, Cole Knuble, and Carl Grundstrom were one of the main high points for the Flyers. Luchanko picked up an assist on Gaucher’s goal and used his speed to set up transition chances. He got an especially good feed to Grundstrom with six minutes left in the first period. Knuble got a hard one-timer off the post after sneaking into the slot coming right off the bench. Another heads up play after a good game on Monday.
- The defense pairing of Oliver Bonk and David Jiricek were especially active in the shot blocking department with seven between them. They also made some good anticipatory plays in keeping the puck in the offensive zone.
- It was an up and down game for Ty Murchison and Spencer Gill. Murchison got rocked by Nikita Zadorov in the first period, but returned in the second. However, his cross checking penalty on Lindholm in the crease directly led to Geekie’s power-play goal that broke open the game. Gill engaged in some solid board work in the first period. But hel also committed a bad turnover behind the net that led to Casey Mittelstadt finding JJ Peterka in front for a dangerous chance in the final minute of the period.
Mid Week Off The Post Radio with guest Jim Biringer
On the Wednesday edition of Off The Post Radio, we head up the Jersey Turnpike and talk Devils hockey with guest Jim Biringer.
“Jersey Jim” covers the Devils and the NHL-at-large for Full Press Hockey. He’ll give his take on GM Sunny Mehta’s offseason moves and where the Devils stand heading into the season.
Join me, Jim, Michael Augello, and Russ Cohen on our YouTube channel at 4:30pm ET.
Link is below:
Forthcoming: Opening Night Fan Fest at Stateside Live!
On Wednesday, September 30, to celebrate the start of the 2026-27 NHL season and the Flyers Home Opener matchup against the Pittsburgh Penguins, today the Flyers announced the club will host Fan Fest at Stateside Live! (the former Xfinity Live!)
Before the game, there’s an on-site Fan Fest event starting at 3 p.m. EDT. The Flyers encourage people to RSVP — and arrive early — for the best chance at entry inside. Full details are here.
Flyers Daily: September 23, 2026
Jason Myrtetus breaks down Tuesday’s 5-1 exhibition game loss on Boston. More importantly, he looks closely at the play in which Dan Vladar got injured in the first period on Tuesday. He also devotes a segment to upcoming roster decisions.
Michkov discusses training program, lessons from 2025-26
In his first one-on-one English interview, Flyers winger Matvei Michkov saw down with NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Ashlyn Sullivan. Among other topics, they discussed how Michkov dramatically reduced his body fat percentage since last September. He also talked about valuable lessons he learned from his on-ice ups and downs last season.It’s a short segment. However, just as he did in his first English press conference, Michkov handled himself well.
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