The Philadelphia Flyers could avoid the worst after taking a blow to their goalie room. Daniel Vladar is only expected to be out short-term after sustaining an injury in the first period of Wednesday’s loss to the Buffalo Sabres, per Kevin Kurz of The Athletic and ESPN’s Emily Kaplan during Thursday’s broadcast. Vladar was replaced by Samuel Ersson while Alexei Kolosov was recalled on Thursday morning.
Vladar has led the charge for the Flyers goaltending room with 16 wins, a .905 save percentage, and a 2.46 goals-against-average in 28 games. He is the only Flyer with a save percentage north of .900 – with Ersson sporting a .853 in 18 games and Kolosov a .886 in three games. The two goalies split the next in Philadelphia’s 3-6 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. They each allowed three goals, though Kolosov had 16 saves to Ersson’s 14. The two will continue an even battle for starting minutes, while Philadelphia hopes for more good news around Vladar’s timeline.
More injury updates from around the league:
- Nashville Predators defenseman Adam Wilsby is out day-to-day with a lower-body injury per Alex Daugherty of The Tennessean. It is unclear when Wilsby sustained the injury. He played more than 21 minutes of Nashville’s overtime win over the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday, the fourth-most ice time of any Predators skater. Wilsby recorded one assist and a plus-one in the outing with no clear sign of wear. Either way, Wilsby will be expected to miss Friday’s game against the Colorado Avalanche and could be doubtful for Saturday’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights. Sitting out the back-to-back road games will give Wilsby four days to rest up before Nashville returns home next Tuesday. The 25 year old has seven points and a minus-four in 36 games this season.
- The Colorado Avalanche also face a hole in the lineup. Forward Ross Colton is out day-to-day with an upper-body injury and questionable for Friday’s game against Nashville, head coach Jared Bednar told Evan Rawal of the Denver Gazette. Colton played through regulation, but sat out of the overtime period, in Monday’s loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. He recorded five shots on goal that game. Colton has been a relentless piece of Colorado’s bottom-six this season. He has four points in his last three games, bringing his year-long totals up to 20 points in 45 games. That performance has made Colton a focal piece of Colorado’s gameplan. His absence would likely prompt the Avalanche to once again recal winger Ivan Ivan, who has one assist in five NHL games this season. Ivan has also scored eight points in 31 AHL games.