The Philadelphia Flyers season may be paused due to the Winter Olympics break, but fans can see some of their top players compete. Defenseman Travis Sanheim will be one that fans will likely follow since he plays for the stacked Team Canada. Meanwhile, fellow defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen is playing for Team Finland. Finally was Dan Vladar, who was one of the goaltending trio for Czechia.
It was a huge day for Vladar, who was slated to make his Olympic debut for Czechia in their game against France. This comes one day after Czechia was defeated 5-1 by Canada with Lukas Dostal in net. Czechia was easily favored to defeat France on Friday.
Entering the second period, Czechia had a seemingly commanding 2-0 lead over France. But then, Vladar collapsed at the worst possible time for Czechia, as he surrendered three goals in under five minutes. France's Louis Boudon tied the game up singlehandedly with two goals scored just over four minutes into the period. Nearly two minutes after Boudon's second goal, Hugo Gallet put the puck past Vladar to give France a stunning 3-2 lead.
Dan Vladar surrenders three goals in second period vs. France in Olympic debut
That was far from ideal for Vladar, as France only had seven shots on goal at that point. The last thing Czechia needed was to be handed a loss to France, especially as the favorites. Luckily for Vladar, he was bailed out by his teammates.
Past the midway point of the third period, David Pastrnak of the Boston Bruins tied the game. Then, at the end of the period, Czechia took a 4-3 lead on a tic-tac-toe goal by Matej Stransky. What makes that goal ahead goal that much more impressive is that Czechia was on the penalty kill, and they forced a 3-on-0 situation, leaving French goalie Martin Neckar to fend for himself.
Vladar has been a stellar addition for the Flyers this offseason, providing stability in net at the beginning of the season. While he did have a rough January, he has been all around solid for Philadelphia. In 33 games, Vladar has a 17-8-6 record, a 2.47 goals allowed average, and a .905 save percentage.
It was far from pretty, but the important thing is that he was bailed out by the offense after that rough start to the second period. We'll see if he'll have a chance to fully redeem himself in Czechia's last preliminary game against Switzerland on Sunday at 6:10 a.m. ET.