Dan Vladař sharp in net, but Flyers fall to Capitals in first game back from Olympic break

WASHINGTON ― It feels like it’s been 84 years since the Flyers last played an NHL game.

On Wednesday night, they kicked off the final 26 games of the season against the Washington Capitals. Entering the night, Philly sat four points back of Washington — with three games in hand — and eight points back of a playoff spot.

By the end of the night, the Flyers saw themselves six points back of Washington, after losing 3-1 at the Capital One Arena. They remain eight points back of the idle New York Islanders and Boston Bruins, and have a game in hand on the Islanders.

Trevor van Riemsdyk scored the decisive goal, giving the Capitals a 2-1 lead with 5 minutes, 52 seconds left in regulation. Off the rush, Declan Chisholm dropped the puck to Aliaksei Protas and got it back near the left post. He then hit van Riemsdyk, the brother of former Flyers forward James van Riemsdyk, as he crashed the net.

As coach Rick Tocchet noted postgame, the Flyers came out with some pep in their step to start the game. “The first nine minutes we were dominating,” he said. But they were unable to capitalize until the third period, when Noah Cates deflected a shot by Travis Sanheim 29 seconds in.

» READ MORE: Flyers’ Travis Sanheim ‘grateful for the opportunity and the experience’ despite coming up just short of Olympic gold

Rasmus Ristolainen applied pressure, creating a turnover to Matvei Michkov, who found Bobby Brink. The winger carried it down into the left face-off circle before hitting Sanheim for the quick shot, which Cates deflected past goalie Logan Thompson. Cates tied the game at one apiece — and ended an 18-game goal drought.

“I didn’t like my January,” said Cates, whose last goal came Dec. 30. “I thought the team struggled as well, and I feel like when I struggle, and the team struggles. You just want to get out of it and get going.

“So to get that goal and feel good about our line, we were making some plays and just playing the right way, playing how we can play with Bobby [Brink] and [Michkov]. So, yeah, good to get going.”

The trio had several other chances, notably in the third period when Brink, while under pressure, sent a cross-crease pass to Michkov alone at the right post. Thompson robbed him of a sure goal as he stretched across and made a toe save. According to Natural Stat Trick, when they were on the ice at five-on-five, the Flyers had 10 shot attempts, a game-high 1.05 expected Goals For, and nine scoring chances.

Philly did put 24 shots on Thompson, with 18 coming in the first two periods, but couldn’t find the back of the net. Dan Vladař kept them in the game all night.

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The goaltender told The Inquirer on Sunday that he “wasn’t the best” in his one game at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics, a 6-3 win against France, where he allowed the trio of goals on 12 shots for Czechia. So maybe he had something to prove.

Vladař faced seven shots in the first period, and robbed the owner of 919 NHL goals, Alex Ovechkin, of his 920th. “The Great 8″ was left wide open in front after Ristolainen had the puck poked away from him in the corner by Dylan Strome, who fed Ovechkin. Vladař then stopped Strome’s point shot as Travis Konecny’s clearing attempt went right to him.

“He gives us a lot of confidence. He was making huge saves out there for us,” center Christian Dvorak said. “He’s been doing that all year, and it would have been nice to get him a win tonight. He definitely deserved it. He’s been big for us, and we just got to work on being better for our goalies.”

In the second period, the Capitals outshot the Flyers 12-9 and seemed to have the ice tilted their way. Although they broke through once — and missed the net a few more times — Vladař came up big again to keep the score close.

He stopped a point shot by Ethan Frank off a face-off win, kicked out a Ryan Leonard shot to the boards, and then seconds later made a masterful stop on another shot by Leonard.

» READ MORE: Unhappy with his game, Matvei Michkov 'was training every day’ over break

Later, Vladař made a save on a Brandon Duhaime shot from nine feet out, and Nick Seeler pushed it back for him to cover. But there was a bit of a scramble, and Seeler fell over him, and the goalie seemed a bit stung. He flexed his right arm at the next whistle but stayed in the game.

Capitals defenseman Rasmus Sandin scored the Capitals’ opening goal in the period. Philly regrouped and reset after a three-on-two by Washington — and Michkov broke up a pass in front, but then allowed the blueliner to skate down from the point behind him. Hendrix Lapierre found him for the 1-0 goal.

And while he again allowed a goal in the third period, Vladař kept his team in the game. With the Flyers on the penalty kill, Pierre-Luc Dubois got the puck near the net and turned to take a shot, but Vladař was aggressive with the stick and poked it away. He was tracking the puck well all night and seconds later squared up to snare a Strome tip-in attempt on a point shot.

With the game tied, he robbed Lapierre, who got a return touch pass from Duhaime in the slot after the Flyers couldn’t break out of their own end.

“He’s a battler,” Tocchet said. “He’s done it all year for us. But the lateral goals are the tough ones; we don’t want to give those up. That’s the one thing. Vladdy’s played really well for us, but if we eliminate those that will really help. It’ll help Vladdy, too, [because] those laterals are tough to save.”

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Protas added a short-handed empty-net goal with 25.6 seconds left in the game. ... Defenseman Emil Andrae and forward Nic Deslauriers were the Flyers’ healthy scratches. What does Andrae, who hasn’t played since Jan. 26, need to do to get back into the lineup? “He’s not a PK guy,” said coach Rick Tocchet pregame. “So actually, this week, he’s worked on his penalty killing. That’s really what it’s going to come down to.“ … Forward Carl Grundström, who has been playing wing all season, centered the fourth line. ... The Flyers went 1-for-1 on the penalty kill and 0-for-2 on the power play.

The Flyers’ restart is already grinding away as they face the New York Rangers on Thursday at Madison Square Garden (8 p.m., ESPN).