In the midst of what has easily been their worst stretch of games all season, the Philadelphia Flyers have gotten at least some positive news in the form of the latest injury update regarding goalie Dan Vladar.
Panic seeped through the Flyers fanbase when the 28-year-old suffered an unknown injury early in the game against the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday, and understandably so: the Flyers don't have anything close to a replacement for Vladar.
Backup goalie Sam Ersson has a porous .853 save percentage on the season, which includes his relief appearance for Vladar in the aforementioned game against Buffalo.
Top prospect Aleksei Kolosov, while revitalizing his career in the AHL with a renewed sense of belonging, is still unproven.
The good news for the Flyers, and perhaps for the two understudy goalkeepers, is that Vladar is day-to-day with an upper-body injury, according to multiple reports.
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NBC Sports Philadelphia's Jordan Hall was able to confirm that Vladar won't play for the Flyers at home on Saturday afternoon when the free-falling New York Rangers come to town.
So, while Ersson and/or Kolosov will need to handle business against a division rival and attempt to snap a five-game losing streak, it goes without saying that things could have gone significantly worse.
As in, season-crippling worse.
Kolosov, 24, allowed three goals on 16 shots in relief of Ersson against the Pittsburgh Penguins in a 6-3 loss on Thursday night, seeing his first NHL action since making a spot start for the Flyers against the Calgary Flames back on Nov. 2.
The Flyers would probably benefit from giving Ersson a rest and seeing what Kolosov can do with another opportunity against the Rangers, but that has yet to be decided at the time of this writing.