The Philadelphia Flyers have returned to their losing ways following a short burst of wins. One reason? The goaltending has been awful.
The Flyers haven't done an amazing job stopping anyone lately. They have given up four or more goals in each of their last three contests. Neither Dan Vladar nor Joseph Woll has shown much consistency in those matchups or all season. Over the past three games, they have combined for an .814 save percentage.
Following Wednesday's contest, Woll now has an .899 save percentage, a 3.13 GAA, and a .625 quality starts percentage. Not bad numbers, but on Wednesday he allowed four goals on 29 shots faced, good for just an .862 save percentage.
Woll also got the nod in Philadelphia's 5-4 loss to the Anaheim Ducks. He made 21 saves on 26 shots in that matchup. It shows that Woll, while he has been solid at times, has not done good enough of a job to be a reliable netminder game in and game out.
Dan Vladar also has a solid .571 quality starts percentage, but his .888 save percentage and 3.26 GAA are concerning. While he was lights out in three of his past four contests, his recent outing against the Columbus Blue Jackets was a different story.
Across 61:11 of ice time in that game, Vladar allowed four goals on 15 shots. Allowing four goals into the net on 15 shots is something no goaltender can allow. If some of those goals weren't on the netminder, 15 shots in a single game means they need to come up big when the team messes up. Vladar didn't do that on Tuesday night.
It marks a bitter trace of irony with the Flyers, who have been outscored 14-9 in this losing streak. When Philadelphia started the year 0-6-1, they had a tough time scoring. Take out the 7-0 season-opening loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins , and opponents outscored the Flyers 26-11 between the second and ninth games of the year.
Across those first nine games, the Flyers scored 11 times. Now, the opposite is happening: they are scoring more, but are having a hard time stopping anyone.
The good news is that Vladar and Woll have shown they can play good hockey in the crease. Before that Columbus game, Vladar was 2-0-1 in his previous three appearances, allowing four goals and compiling a .953 save percentage.
Woll may have gone 1-3-2 in his first six games of the season. But he still snagged a .917 save percentage while allowing 2.66 goals per game. Those were some solid numbers before his recent struggles.
Now, we are looking at three types of Flyers teams that fans have seen in their first 15 games of the year: the team that couldn't score, a team that proved it can win when everything is working even remotely in its favor, and the team that can't stop anybody.
Few teams in the NHL have shown so many different versions so early in the year. For the Flyers, the goal is simple: Be that team that won three straight games more often, and they still have time to turn this season around.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
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