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Benching Carter Hart in favor of 35-year-old netminder Brian Elliott was anything but unexpected. It was a matter of when, not if.

Tired of turning away from the flashing red light, Flyers coach Alain Vigneault and general manager Chuck Fletcher realized they no longer could stomp their feet and talk about what a great future Hart had each time he gave up the far side of the net or was unable to control a rebound.

Punishing Hart by putting him through an extended training camp, as the Flyers basically did Monday, is a shocker. But that’s his lot right now just as slumping Phillies veteran Scott Kingery’s job is to be the best minor leaguer he can be.

Hart practiced with the Flyers the morning of their Monday night game at Buffalo. He’s scheduled to practice again Tuesday and Wednesday and won’t dress for an NHL game at least until Friday.

Considering his slump and the team’s urgency to stay in the playoff hunt, the Flyers might give a start or two to backup

goalie Alex Lyon. In the wings is Lyon’s fellow Phantom Felix Sandstrom, the other standout goalie prospect when Hart was breaking out as a junior.

Hart is 2-6 in March with a 4.00 goals-against average on the season. Lyon was promoted from the Taxi Squad Monday and backed up Elliott against the Sabres Monday night.

Until further notice Hart reports to Flyers goalie coach Kim Dillabaugh.

“He’s going to practice today and work with Kim after,” Vigneault said Monday morning. “And we’re going to stay that way here for a little while. He needs to work on his game. He needs to work harder. He needs to work better. I had a good conversation with him and Kim about my expectations, about his practice habits and him stopping the puck. Just like our team, everybody benefits from good practices and Carter’s going to benefit

from practicing here.”

With Elliott looking ordinary lately, Lyon and possibly Sandstrom are a bad period or two from getting on the ice. Also, in his Monday morning video conference, Vigneault said that either Elliott or Lyon, would start the Wednesday game against the Sabres.

We shall see what happens Wednesday. Elliott entered the Monday game with a 15-2-2 career record against the Sabres, four of the wins shutouts, including two this season.

Elliott’s record aside, there is no better NHL team to play against right now than the Sabres, who are on their second coach of the season and entered the contest with a 17game winless streak.

The Flyers took Sandstrom (6-2, 196) off the board in the third round of the 2015 draft, No. 70 overall. That was the draft where the Flyers netted Ivan Provorov with the seventh pick and Travis Konecny at 24.

Since then, Sandstrom hasn’t quite proven to be the next Pelle Lindbergh.

Sandstrom is 2-1-1 with

a goals-against average of 4.40 in four games with the Phantoms. Statistically he was the Phantoms’ third-best goalie behind Zane McIntyre (2.29 GAA, 6-1-1) and Lyon (2-10, 3.40).

What opened the door for the backups will be the subject of debate. While Fletcher declined to name names last week, he intimated that the young Flyers who weren’t married — Hart is among them — were having a tougher time dealing with the solitude of COVID protocols.

Players basically can’t go out for dinner, even in the team hotel, and basically must self-quarantine before games home and away. And let’s not forget their daily testing for the virus. That could take the fun out of the game for anybody.

There’s no denying Hart’s loss of concentration. He can look dynamic for two periods, and in the final frame like he’d just been called up from the AHL.

Last week Fletcher gave Hart a vote of confidence, saying, “I believe in Carter.

I believe in his talent. And I believe he’ll be a very good goalie for this franchise for a long time. But clearly right now he’s not on top of his game.”

The same can be said for the Flyers as a whole. Entering Monday they’d won just five of their last 15 games.

Still, the way Hart was swept to the curb was eye-opening. Vigneault was answering a question about a possible letdown against the struggling Sabres when the truth about Hart emerged.

“This is a game that we need,” Vigneault said. “And I expect the leadership of this group to make sure that everyone is on high alert, they understand the importance of this game and that they come to play tonight.”

Last year Hart was the goaltender. This year, in a game the Flyers needed, they didn’t need him.