Hart sharp as Flyers win return to ice

Whether or not their first round-robin game in the Toronto bubble was a playoff game, the Flyers and goalie Carter Hart weren’t taken in Sunday by the semantics surrounding the stage.

It’s debatable as to the importance of a mini-tourney to determine seeding among the top four teams in each conference, quite unlike the ongoing “qualifying tournament” among the lower seeded teams, where a spot in the playoffs is truly at stake.

The Boston Bruins, who exited hockey life as we knew it in March with the most points in the NHL during the short-circuited regular season, might be wondering why they have to play in this thing to keep what should be rightly entitled — a No. 1 playoff seed in the East.

They’ve certainly played like it’s on their minds, following up an ugly exhibition game loss to Columbus with a lifeless showing in a 4-1 loss to the Flyers Sunday at Scotiabank Arena.

The Flyers impressed all fans in the building — that would be the broadcasters up in the rafters and maybe a rogue beer salesman who knows how to sneak in — with as balanced and defensively competent game as they’d dream for.

To that end, lower-line guys Michael Raffl, Nate Thompson and Scott Laughton scored goals along with increasingly confident rookie defenseman Phil Myers.

On the other end, however, while the Flyers’ put in a defensively solid showing, it was Hart stealing the show in what some call his first official NHL playoff game.

Whether he considered this outing historic or not didn’t seem to enter his thoughts.

“Once you get out there and start playing, the game really slows down,” Hart said. “Obviously it’s a little different in playoffs, where we don’t have fans. But when the game’s going, when the puck drops, it’s all the same. You’ve got to just prepare and execute and play your game.”

Not only did Hart play his game as well as could be rightly expected, since his last full official game was nearly five months ago, he had plenty of help. For example, the Flyers killed off all three power plays for the high-powered Bruins.

After a closely contested

— some would say boring

— first period, the only time Boston got close was when Chris Wagner wheeled and pinballed a shot off defenseman Robert Hagg’s skate and past Hart with just 1:09 remaining in the second period to cut the Flyers’ lead to a single goal.

Little matter, because Myers took off with the puck after the ensuing faceoff and drilled a shot past Jaroslav Halak all of eight seconds later for a 3-1 lead after two periods.

Hart had to come up big a couple of times in the third period, but that Myers goal had sapped much of the life out of the Bruins. Like Hart, Myers is experiencing an NHL playoff atmosphere for the first time, no matter what this part of the tournament is called.

“At first, maybe before the first shift, I was a little bit nervous,” said Myers, who has teamed with Travis Sanheim to form a sold second D pairing. “Then it became just like any other game. I kind of got in a zone out there.”

Ditto Hart, the 21-yearold goalie grabbing his moment in this sort-of postseason coming out party with a superb 30-save performance.

“I know I’ve only been here for a short time, but he doesn’t look 21 to me,” said Thompson, the checking line forward acquired at the trade deadline. “He’s pretty poised, even off the ice. He carries himself well beyond his years. He’s a true pro. He reminds me a little bit of a goalie I used to play with in Montreal and you guys know who I’m talking about.”

Patrick Roy? Nah, Thompson’s not quite that old. Plus he only played in Montreal the past two seasons, a time when Carey Price was turning in a solid 12th and 13th seasons in a Canadiens uniform.

It’s hard to believe that Price, who oversaw a 3-2 Habs qualifying round win over the Penguins Sunday, will only be turning 33 on Aug. 16, three days after Hart turns 22.

And yet those similarities ...

“He’s our backbone back there,” Thompson said of Hart, “and he was really good tonight for us.”