Vladar shuts down injury concern after Flames' first regulation loss: "I was really tired"
Calgary Flames goaltender Dan Vladar seemed to be okay health-wise when speaking with reporters following last night’s 4-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.
The 27-year-old sent the Saddledome into a frenzy after a fantastic effort late in the game to stretch out on what appeared to be a sure goal for Jack Roslovic. The replay showed that the puck actually went off the post, but by then, Flames fans were much more concerned with their goaltender’s health.
The Flames get lucky here. Carolina hits the post and it's still a one goal game. #Flames
š„: Sportsnet | NHL pic.twitter.com/EbJWiotG4O— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) October 25, 2024
Vladar remained on the ice for several seconds, before getting up and skating gingerly to the bench for a TV timeout. He finished out the game but was noticeably labouring until the final horn.
Carolina puts the puck into the empty net. #Flames
š„: Sportsnet | NHL pic.twitter.com/VUAqCiilbz— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) October 25, 2024
“The first 25 minutes [the shots] didn’t stop,” Vladar explained afterward. “I was really tired. I skated a lot the last couple of days. Tomorrow when I talk to our goalie coach I’ll let him know that it was too much the last couple days because I was really tired and I was cramping up at the end.”
Vladar certainly did face a lot of shots early on, with 32 coming his way through the first two periods alone, and 43 total on the night. Head coach Ryan Huska pointed out that the Hurricanes are a team that likes to throw pucks on the net from all angles, but also acknowledged that the group in front of his netminder needed to be sharper.
“They’re a shot volume team. That’s one of the hard parts of playing Carolina is that they shoot the puck a lot,” Huska said. “Your goalie has to always be ready, because they’re coming from bad angles, long shots, wherever it is. So you expect the shot totals to be a little bit higher against them, but I thought there were stretches where we got away from how we have to play [and] we opened ourselves up way too much. [Vladar] had to make too many saves, for sure.”
The Flames started this one out very flat and looked like they could be in for a long night when the Hurricanes made it 3-0 less than two minutes into the second period. Continuing their stretch of resiliency, however, the Flames battled back, and though they came up just short, they proved that they could play with any team in the league when at their best.
“We were a little flat for the first 25, 30 minutes of the game,” Blake Coleman said postgame. “You give a good team a few power play opportunities and they cash in. But I thought the response was good. We were never out of the game. We came back, made it a one-goal game with a chance to tie it late… Just take it as a lesson to start on time and go from there.”
Tonight’s loss marked the first game this season where the Flames failed to pick up at least a single point. While disappointing, they still own an impressive 5-1-1 record, and will look to improve upon it Saturday night back at the Saddledome against the 7-0-0 Winnipeg Jets.
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