For Hart, a ‘cool’ victory over childhood hero
PHILADELPHIA » For most of his life, Carter Hart watched Carey Price in admiration. Thursday, he watched the legendary Montreal Canadiens’ goaltender in ultimate delight.
After making 40 saves, several of the variety that made him a six-time All-Star, Price was unable to smother a direct shot from Sean Couturier 55 seconds into overtime, the puck dripping into the net for a 3-2 Flyers victory.
With that, Hart had something he’d long imagined but was hesitant to expect: A victory over his hockey hero.
“It’s the first time I beat him,” Hart said. “So it was pretty cool. The first time I played against him it didn’t go so well. I was a little star-struck and got pulled in that game. But for sure, it’s cool to go up against the goaltender you admired most growing up. So it was especially good to get a win.”
The Flyers stormed Price for the first 30 minutes, at one mid-second-period point having 32 shots. But Price was at his best, holding the Flyers to 0-for-6 on the power play and even stopping Carsen Twarynski on a third-period penalty shot.
“I think in the first period, everybody was like, ‘Wow,’” Hart said. “He made a huge save to keep his team in it. He was their best player. And he’s been the best goaltender in the NHL for a while now.”
The win was Hart’s third in seven days and helped to boost the Flyers to 8-5-2.
“We were throwing pucks on net and batting them at their net-front,” said Hart, who made 22 saves. “I thought we really competed hard tonight.”
For all the remarkable shots the Flyers failed to convert, they would win only when Price was unable to stop Couturier’s otherwise ordinary attempt from in tight. “They don’t ask how,” Hart said.
For Couturier, it was his fifth goal of the season.
“We’re starting to be a little more structured,” Couturier said. “Guys are starting to play the right way. Everyone is starting to push in the same direction. It’s still early. There’s still a lot of work to do. I think we can still be better.”
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Former first-round draft choice Samuel Morin tore his right ACL in a game for the Phantoms Wednesday and is out for the season, the Flyers said. It’s the same ligament he tore in May 2018.
The defenseman was the 11th overall pick in the 2013 draft.
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Entering the game, Claude Giroux was ranked No. 4 in the NHL with 167 successful faceoffs. Couturier was sitting at No. 15 with 111.
Offered Alain Vigneault, with a laugh: “I would say it’s the French part in them. It’s a knack that all French people have. They’re good on faceoffs.”
Either that, or ...
“But more seriously, it’s an ability that’s worked at,” Vigneault said. “And both those guys put a lot of time in before every game, watching video of the other team and how they’re taking faceoffs. They haven’t improved their skill without working at it. They work extremely hard. They’re talking to people. And that’s why both of them are good.”
In his career, Giroux had been 798-649 in faceoffs, a 55.1 percent success rate.
“It’s about knowing your players that you’re going against,” he said. “Experience, I think, helps a lot. You see a guy coming into face off, and from practice, you know what he’s going to do. I try not to practice it too much or over-think it. You want your instincts to take over.
“But you are going to have faceoffs where it hits the ref’s skate and goes to your side. You’ll also have nights when it’s not going to go so well. The thing is to not overthink it. But we want to start with the puck, that’s for sure.”
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Still searching for some consistency in his lines, Vigneault is likely to keep Jake Voracek and Kevin Hayes together on the No. 3 unit for a while. Tuesday, they started with Twarynski.
“We play similar style games,” Hayes said. “With both of our ‘A’ games, if we play the right way, it should be a good combination. I am a believer that anyone who puts on an NHL jersey, especially a Flyers jersey, tries their hardest. We are both trying to go out and make the right plays and try our hardest. But I think of we demand a little of each other’s game, if we demand ourselves to be better, it should be good for a good combination.”
• • • Vigneault was the Canadiens’ head coach from 1997 through 2001. His Flyers assistant, Michel Therrien, coached Montreal from
2007 through 2017.
To Vigneault, games against the Habs provide little remaining meaning.
“They are special because they are an ‘Original Six’ team,” he said after the morning skate. “But today I would say they are more special for my counterpart, Michel. He is excited about this game and he’s looking forward to it.”
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Michael Raffl opened on the fourth line Thursday with Mikhail Vorobyev and Tyler Pitlick.
“We’re in a sequence right now where we’re playing four games in six nights, so I need to be able to play four lines,” Vigneault said. “So by putting him there, I feel I’ve got some good balance on each of the lines and I’m sure he’s going to do a good job.” Raffl is comfortable with any assignment. “Making plays and stuff you’ve got to be reliable because every play you can change the game one way or another,” Raffl said. “As a fourth-liner you have to make the right plays at certain moments of the game.”