Hart almost ready to return from injury
VOORHEES, N.J. >> Aftermissing seven games with an ankle injury, Carter Hart is healthy, anxious and quasischeduled for his Flyers return.
Assigned to back up Brian Elliott Monday for a Wells Fargo Center game against the Ottawa Senators, the 20-year-old rookie either will start Thursday against the visitingWashington Capitals or Friday at Toronto, according to interim head coach Scott Gordon.
“It definitely feels good,” Hart said after a morning skate Monday at the Skate Zone. “I am just excited to be back in the lineup and dress and be part of the boys again. I know when you are not playing, you are not in the dressing room, you are not with the guys a lot or as much. So I amjust excited to be back in the lineup.”
Hart was considered high among the reasons the Flyers have been able to again contend for a playoff spot after his midseason ascension to the NHL. Going 6-2-1 with a 2.33 goals-against average, Hart was the NHL’s Rookie of the Month for January. A later 3-0-0 spurt left him as the NHL’s second star of the week ending Feb. 4.
But an ankle injury, revealed on the eve of the Flyers’ Feb. 23 Stadium Series victory over Pittsburgh at the Linc, helped explain a twogame struggle in which he twice needed to be benched before the end of the first period.
He is confident that the time off left him 100 percent ready for a final push for the playoffs.
“Yeah, I feel good,” he said. “My ankle feels really good right now. I don’t feel anything going into my post. So I feel really good right now.”
Despite that, Gordon appointed Brian Elliott to start against the Senators. The veteran has been mostly solid after spendingmuch of his season recovering froma hip injury. The Flyers were 4-1-1 in his six starts, though he lasted just 24 shaky minutes in a recent loss to the Capitals.
Given that the Senators would bring a 23-40-6 record into play, it was notable that Gordon chose not to give his rookie the start against a last-place opponent. Rather, he would wait for what would seem to be more difficult challenges later in the week.
“The thought process is that Brian plays the game, gets pulled the other night, but has played some pretty good hockey for us since coming back from his injury,” Gordon said. “At this point right now, he is playing really well. And I came back with him against the Islanders and he played well. He’s gone 4-1-1 in his last six games, and right now he’s playing well.
“So I can’t just take him out of the lineup against a perceived lesser opponent, because I don’t feel that way. Like I said to the players, on a nightly basis, we’re ‘playing’ Columbus andMontreal, every single night. So we better treat it like that. And right now, Brian is playingwell and deserves to be in there. There is no reason not to play him.”
Hart was fine with any work schedule.
“We just have to take things one game at a time and just worry about ourselves,” he said. “We can’t really control how other teams are doing. So we have to just focus on ourselves and the job at hand that we have to take care of.”
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After being suspended for two games following a hit to the head of the Islanders’ Johnny Boychuk Saturday, Jake Voracek was not involved in the Flyers’ early Monday practice.
Predictably, the Flyers did not salute the NHL’s decision.
“I don’t know, it’s a tough play,” Sean Couturier said, adding, “All you want is a little more consistency. Everyone kind of wants that. Sometimes we are on the good side, sometimes we’re on the bad side.”
The Flyers were stunned that Voracek was run for two games for a hit they believed was less severe than the one Nolan Patrick received recently from the Devils’ Kurtis Gabriel.
“That’s not my position to criticize the suspension,” Patrick said. “I don’t know what they take into consideration or how the process works. So I am in no place to say if they are inconsistent or not.”
Gordon, however, was OK with comparing the two collisions. “Obviously, I am disappointed,” Gordon said. “In the big picture of things, the hit on Patty was more severe, more intentioned than what Jake was trying to do. I think Jake was trying to protect himself. A guy is sprinting down the boards, has no intention of slowing down, sees Jake in front of himand never slows down, and Jake’s not going to stand there and absorb the hit.”
While Gordon said he “knew nothing about” the possibility, multiple reports said Voracek will appeal the suspension through the players’ association and will have a hearing Tuesday with commissioner Gary Bettman. Since he was to miss the Monday game, his only hope was that the suspension could be reduced to one game and he would available Thursday.
General manager Chuck Fletcher declined multiple press requests for interviews Monday.
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With Voracek unavailable, Gordon was set to playMonday with 11 forwards and seven defensemen.
“It doesn’t bother me,” he said. “I did a whole season of that in the AHL with 11 forwards and six defensemen (for the Phantoms). Obviously, there are circumstances that could make it harder. But usually it doesn’t.”
The loss of the veteran Voracek came at an inconvenient time for a coach trying to lead a frenzied late playoff charge. Then again, the Flyers just played last week without Voracek, who was battling a lower-back issue.
“It’s the same thing when we went into Long Island and Jake was out with an injury,” Gordon said. “So we’ve got to have the same response.”