It seems like the three goalie experiment has come to an end in Philadelphia as the Flyers have sent down Aleksei Kolosov to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. They also sent down forward Olle Lycksell and in a subsequent move Anthony Richard was recalled.
Kolosov, who has been a healthy scratch for the majority of the month, last saw the ice on the 2nd of January when he allowed 4 goals in a 5-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights. There had been some speculation in recent weeks as to whether or not the Flyers would him back to the minors with the experiment not having been a successful one.
The Belarusian netminder made headlines over the summer when it was reported that he was disgruntled with how the Flyers dealt with his arrival and at one point in time he was seen practicing in Minsk with his KHL club. However, he finally made his way to North America and participated in training camp before starting the year with the Phantoms.
Earlier in the season, Elliotte Friedman alluded to the idea that the Flyers had a deal in place with the goaltender that would have seen them make a decision regarding his NHL standing before the month of October came to a close. It was reported the Flyers weren’t against loaning him back to the KHL but it never happened as he was called up ahead of their contest against Montréal on the 27th of October.
Kolosov ended up losing his first 4 contests after allowing 14 goals on 19 shots before rattling off 3 straight wins and 4 over his next 6 contests. He looked a lot better, so much so that John Tortorella announced he would be Samuel Ersson’s backup goaltender for the foreseeable future, which shunned Ivan Fedotov to the press box for over a month.
In 5 appearances between the 19th of December and the 2nd of January, Kolosov went 0-3-0 while allowing 16 goals on 86 shots for a paltry .814 SV%. It was evident that he was not quite ready for the NHL but the Flyers seemed hesitant on making a transaction.
Fedotov had reclaimed his backup position from Kolosov in recent weeks and after Daniel Brière’s presser on Tuesday, the writing was on the wall. His first NHL stint comes to an end with a 4-8-1 record, a 3.45 GAA, and a .870 SV% to go along with a shared shutout.
Lycksell had been in the lineup for 5 games spanning from the 11th to the 21st of January but failed to record a point. He finished -1, took no shots on goal, averaged 10:29 TOI, and finished 2 checks to go along with 3 blocked shots. He will return to the Phantoms where he’s currently third in points with 24 in just 25 contests compared to Samu Tuomaala’s 26 points in 36 games and Jacob Gaucher’s 25 points in 40 games.
As for Richard, the 28-year-old will receive his second recall to Philadelphia after having scored 2 goals and 6 points in his first 7 games back in November, where he averaged 11:55 TOI, was +4, and held a 20% shooting clip. With the Phantoms, he had 8 goals and 19 points in just 18 games, which had him tied for 4th with the recently promoted Rodrigo Ābols.
Kolosov will return to the Phantoms where he posted a 1-2-1 record with a 3.29 GAA and a .875 GAA across 4 games. Cal Petersen has played the lion’s share of games with a 10-11-3 record across 24 contests, a 3.30 GAA and a .881 SV%, though he is currently banged up. It will be interesting to see how the goaltending duties will be split up upon Kolosov’s arrival with Parker Gahagen and Keith Petruzzelli.
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