Flyers Files Observations: Vladar, Zegras, Shot Mentality

The Flyers Files podcast officially launched on Wednesday with our first episode. You can watch it below to hear my thoughts on all things Flyers.

In addition to the show every Wednesday, I’ll be posting a weekly Flyers Files observations column on Sundays to provide more insight into what I’m seeing with the Orange and Black. Here’s this week’s Flyers Files:

Vladar in the Spotlight

For the first six games of the season, Dan Vladar was pretty much as good as it gets. Entering Saturday’s game against Toronto, he had a 4-2-0 record with both losses coming in 2-1 results. He had yet to allow more than two goals in a game, posting a 1.67 GAA and .939 save percentage.

Vladar’s path to this point is somewhat unexpected. He was signed to be more of the backup to Sam Ersson, who had the backing of the front office from the beginning. But after training camp, Vladar got the first chance to start on opening night and again in the home opener. After four games with each goalie rotating in twice, Vladar got the next three starts.

Ersson did rebound with back-to-back shootout wins in the next two games, but an injury popped up that put Ersson on IR. In his first chance as the regular starter, Vladar was outstanding again with a 32-save performance against Nashville.

However, his first big hiccup came against Toronto, allowing four goals on 19 shots and exiting 33 seconds into the third period. With Ersson still out until at least Thursday, the spotlight is on Vladar for now, and he’ll have to bounce back from his first rough outing of the season.

Zegras Finding Old Form

Trevor Zegras has been a breath of fresh air since arriving, and he’s sure making himself known to the home crowd. Through eight home games, Zegras has registered at least a point in all of them. During this current homestand, he has two three-point games and a total of four goals and eight points.

More impressive is the overall totals so far. Zegras is at 13 points through 11 games. That’s substantial for a player that was looking for a return to form.

In his last two seasons in Anaheim, Zegras played a combined 88 games. He had 18 goals and 47 points in that time. In just 11 games, Zegras is already more than a quarter of the way to that total. 

For a player in a contract year and looking for a long-term future, Zegras may prove to be a worthwhile chance taken via the trade market in the offseason. It sure looks like a buy-low move that could pay big dividends. 

Tocchet Looking for ‘Shot Mentality’

Entering Saturday’s game, the Flyers had won three straight games and six of their last eight. That was despite having one of the lowest shot totals per game in the NHL.

The Flyers finished with 33 shots on goal Saturday, majority of them coming in the late stages of the third period with the game out of reach. Through two periods, they had 14 shots, right on pace for their typical average. 

Through 11 games, they have averaged 24 shots per game, 31st in the NHL. Rick Tocchet said after Saturday’s game that it’s the biggest area of improvement needed for the team.

“Offensively we’re struggling,” Tocchet said. “We’re passing up opportunities to shoot the puck and we don’t have people going to the net. That’s probably the biggest struggle for me this year is trying to get these guys to understand that.”

Toronto scored four goals on 19 shots on Vladar, each coming at an opportunistic time to put the puck on net. Whether a quality scoring chance or with traffic at the netfront, the Leafs were firing away and took advantage of the opportunities. 

“We’ve got to start delivering pucks. We need people to shoot the puck with people at the net,” Tocchet said. “The other stuff will happen after you shoot the puck, but we’re trying all this fancy stuff before that. So we’ve got to correct it and it’s on me to get these guys to start to do that.”

Kevin Durso is Flyers insider for 97.3 ESPN. Follow him on social media @Kevin_Durso.