Hart seems to have cured road woes
Flyers goalie Carter Hart has improved play away from Philadelphia
NEW YORK » All season long, even after playing the odd road game here and there, pre-ordained No. 1 Flyers goalie Carter Hart has been saying his game preparation is the same on the road as at home.
Why the game results were starkly different, Hart wasn’t sure, shrugging away any answer.
Even Sunday, after overseeing a 5-3 Flyers win at Madison Square
Garden with a 23-save effort for his second win in three starts away from Wells Fargo Center ... Hart wasn’t changing his tune.
“I’ve always prepared the same, no matter where we are,” Hart said. “Whether we’re in New York or whether we’re in Prague, where we were at the beginning of the year. It doesn’t matter where you’re at, you just have to go and play the game.”
Hart may have thought he was doing just that, but the numbers weren’t lying.
Until he earned a victory over the Panthers in the Everglades on Feb. 13, he hadn’t won a road game since Nov. 10, when he tended a rare road victory over a Bruins team usually unflappable in their building. In that long stretch between road victories, an injury and a rather obvious preference by head coach Alain Vigneault to start Brian Elliott in road games made Hart’s road bogey seem even longer. But he claims it did nothing of the sort.
“I’m not worried about that at all,” Hart said. “Wherever we’re at, we’re just trying to get the two points.”
Yet even with this victory, Hart is but 4-10-1 with a 3.81 goals-against average and .857 save percentage on the road this year. Those numbers are vastly improved over what they were a few weeks ago, however. And they do nothing to diminish what he’s accomplished this first full season at Wells Fargo Center, where Hart has been outstanding, going 18-2-2 with a 1,67 GAA and .941 save percentage.
Certainly all of those numbers have been impacted by the distinct difference in the play of the club overall between the road and home schedules.
But Vigneault points out that a couple of long trips — a disastrous West Coast tour after Christmas in which Hart was blown out in San Jose and Vegas, and took it on the chin in Arizona; and a less than successful Western Canada tour in October — undercut some better recent road work by Hart. His teammates agree. “I think it’s one of those fluky things,” Sean Couturier said of Hart’s home-vs.road record. “That happens. Sometimes it’s just the way it goes. He’s a great goalie, he’s got a bright future. We’re not too worried about whatever happened earlier in the year. He’s strong mentally so I’m sure he’s all right.”
Added Kevin Hayes: “He’s a great goalie, and it’s not hard to figure out why. He puts a lot of work into his game. Him, Moose (Elliott) and the goalie coach, they go hard every day. And it’s paying off.”
Overall, Hart’s performances have been on the rise of late, not-so coincidentally tracking with those of his team. The Flyers’ sweep of the home-and-home series with the Rangers, with Hart tending goal in both games, boosts their winning streak to six games.
At 38-20-7 (83 points) they’ve rocketed up the charts and were just a point behind the front-running Washington Capitals in the race for a Metropolitan Division title, pending the Caps’ game in Minnesota Sunday night.
Almost poetically, the Flyers’ next game will be against those very Capitals, who have lost two of three games to Philly this season, including a 7-2 Flyers blowout in D.C. on Feb. 8. Elliott manned the net in that game.
Expect to see a different netminder for the Flyers for Wednesday night’s rematch at Capital One Arena.
Not that it seems to matter to Hart.
“We’re having fun and playing hard, but we don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves,” Hart said. “We have 17 games left, and we just have to take one game at a time. We know the (Caps) are a good team, we’ve played them three times already this year. So we know we can play with them. Like we always do, we just have to come out and play our game.”
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The Rangers did a double-length video tribute to two well-known alums, Vigneault, who was fired after the 2017-18 season, and Hayes, who was traded less than a year later. Nevertheless, the word “Thanks” was scrawled across the board as the videos played.
“It was cool,” Hayes said. “I had five years here that were unbelievable. I came out of college, and I became a grown-up here. A lot of memories. It was cool, and it was nice to share it with AV. He’s been my coach the entire time except for (David Quinn) for a year. My family and friends were in town, so it was great.”
*** Newcomer Derek Grant had a breakout game of sorts for the Flyers, assisting on their third goal and scoring the fourth.
Asked about the adjustment he’s been making, going from more of a defensive role in Anaheim to a bigger chunk of the pie centering a third line between James van Riemsdyk and Tyler Pitlick, Grant said, “I think it’s pretty much the same, for the most part.”
The difference, however, is having veterans on either wing, especially a natural scorer in JVR on his left side.
“With guys like JVR and (Pitlick) they’re always in the right spot,” Grant said. “If you can get them the puck, they’re playing close and tight. It makes everyone’s job easier.”
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It was his team’s sixth straight victory, but Vigneault rightly defined it for what it was: “Strange game,” AV said of the first game he’s coached in Madison Square Garden since being shown the door in the spring of 2018.
But he wasn’t describing the feeling as much as he was the way the game went. Of the eight goals, only one came at even strength.
In other words, referees Wes McCauley and Chris Rooney were perhaps ... a little overly officious?
“A lot of penalties there,” Hart said. “I’m not one to comment on whether they should be penalties or not, but that was definitely more than usual, for sure.”