Flyers takeaways: Trevor Zegras is on pace for a career season, and Dan Vladař continues to be ‘amazing’

RALEIGH, N.C. — On Sunday night, the Flyers lost their third straight game, and their third straight after regulation, with a 3-2 shootout loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.

Yes, it’s a losing streak, but the Flyers were facing the Eastern Conference’s best for the second straight night. And while things started slowly for the Philly squad, they were able to find their footing and snag a point.

Here are two players who played a big role.

The Flyers may have been playing the Hurricanes, but there’s a storm front coming from Trevor Zegras. Acquired in June, the 24-year-old from New York is on pace to smash his career highs.

Zegras is riding a four-game point streak (three goals, three assists) and has 13 goals and 32 points in 31 games. It ties his points total from last season in 57 games.

If he maintains this pace, he will score 34 goals and 85 points. His career high is 23 goals and 65 points, set in the 2022-23 season.

» READ MORE: Flyers drop second straight game to Hurricanes in 3-2 shootout loss

“Yeah,” coach Rick Tocchet said about Zegras when it was mentioned he was one of the better players for the Flyers right from puck drop.

“He wants the puck. He wants to make plays,” he continued. “That’s what we want from him; he’s been doing it all year. And then when he gets the puck, he’s making plays through the middle of the ice, which is nice.”

Zegras tied Nick Seeler for the team lead on Sunday with seven chances. Although three missed the net and two were blocked, two more shots were on goal, with one finding the back of the net.

That goal came in the last 2 minutes of the game to tie it up and send the game to overtime. But it was one moment of many by Zegras that set the tone.

In the first period, with the Flyers trailing 1-0, having one shot on goal, and on their second straight power play, Emil Andrae was having some trouble with Seth Jarvis deep in the Flyers’ zone.

Zegras came over and followed one of the fundamentals when there is a man advantage: if you lose possession, you need two players on the puck. He threw a hit on Jarvis — just the 11th by the lithe forward this season — with Andrae squeezing him out on the other side, ending the Hurricanes forward’s possession.

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It wasn’t the most altering moment of the game, but it seemed to say that it was time to end the Flyers’ poor play. And the Flyers did start to pick up the pace after that, powered by Zegras.

“I mean, it’s a team game,” he said when asked about carrying the load. “It’s a team effort, especially if you’re talking power play. I mean, I definitely just try to do what I can to be the best for my teammates. But I mean, those guys were making plays all night.”

According to Natural Stat Trick, Zegras had one rebound attempt and created another two, with one being by Noah Cates atop the crease as the Flyers looked for the equalizer in the third period.

He also led the team with six scoring chances. None came during five-on-five play. Most came during six-on-five action — the Flyers did score both goals at this strength — or on the power play.

Originally, with Andrae on the power play alongside Zegras, Cates, Bobby Brink, and Owen Tippett, they had one missed shot and two more blocked. But Tocchet moved Andrae off the unit — and also off the second pairing.

“I thought Emil was struggling,” he said about Andrae’s being moved down to play with Noah Juulsen. “He’s been struggling the last couple of games; not struggling, but has been a little bit off. Just try some different things.”

Zegras’ old power-play buddy Jamie Drysdale with the Anaheim Ducks was moved to their unit, and things started to pick up. This unit had eight chances, including three shots on goal.

“I think the power play was good tonight,” Zegras said. “I think we got some looks that we wanted to.

“We had the pre-scout on their penalty kill for the last couple days, so we kind of knew what to expect, and just finally broke through on the six-on-five, which was good.”

In Star Wars: A New Hope, Darth Vader says, “I find your lack of faith disturbing.” He’s a lot nicer than the villain, but Dan Vladař could probably say the same to those who doubted his signing in July.

You cannot lay any blame on the two goals he allowed to Carolina — one off a broken play and the other a deflection on a power play — but you can assuredly praise him for the 30 shots he bested.

“He’s a stud,” Drysdale said. “There really is no other way around it. Both of our goalies have been great this year and really, really give us a chance. So that also instills a lot of confidence in our group, for sure.”

In the first period, he faced 14 shots on goal, nine in the second, seven in the third, and a pair in overtime. He got a lot of work in the opening 5 minutes, 44 seconds, facing eight shots on goal to zero for the Flyers.

The Czech netminder, who should be getting a call to represent his country in the Olympics soon, was often spotted using his blocker. He stopped Jordan Martinook in the second period and then Carolina defenseman K’Andre Miller on a breakaway.

“He’s amazing,” Zegras said. “He saved my butt a couple of times. But, I mean, it’s every night, right? You guys [the media] see it. It’s big saves, timely saves, saves that he shouldn’t even be making.”

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And while the official play-by-play says Jackson Blake missed the net, it was Vladař’s patience and movement that forced the son of former New York Islander forward Jason Blake wide.

According to Natural Stat Trick, 16 shots were low-danger shots — and Vladař stopped them all.

“You look at their shots, their shots are from the corners and stuff like that, like they’re kind of cheap shots. So we’re not too worried about that,” said defenseman Cam York, who returned to the lineup after missing four games.

“I think we’re worried about trying to make sure those aren’t Grade A chances. And, you know, Vladdy, he’s so good that he’s going to make those saves.”