Slump behind him, Carter Hart looks ‘unbelievable’
PHILADELPHIA >> Even at 21 years old, Carter Hart has gained a command of the No. 1 rule of his profession: The chances never stop.
The Flyers’ preferred goaltender, experienced or not, Hart was remembering that Tuesday after a strong performance in a 4-1 victory over Carolina. With the Hurricanes doing what they do best and pour as many shots toward the goalie as possible, Hart repelled 33 of 34 attempts in a display of anticipation and flexibility.
And just like that, his recent personal four-game losing streak was buried under a thorough Flyers victory, their second in a three-game stretch in which they’ve picked up five standings points.
“It’s a long season,” Hart said. “You’re playing almost every second night. So in a game like this, in the hockey business, you get the chance whether you win or whether you lose to come out in two nights and write a new chapter.”
With Travis Konecny, 22, and Joel Farabee, 19, joining No. 3 selection Hart among the game’s three stars, it is growing more clear that the Flyers are ready to re-write their franchise story. As he consistently beat the Hurricanes to the proper position Tuesday, Hart re-established his status as a developing star.
“I thought he played unbelievable tonight,” Farabee said. “He was big reason we got that win. Having that confidence as a team is really good. You know that when they get their chances, he’ll be ready for it.
“It’s good to know he’s in your corner and he’s going to bail you out.” Hart improved to 4-3-1. • • • The Flyers Tuesday had the eighth-ranked power play in the NHL, having scored on 23.5 percent of their opportunities.
Within the first 3:30 they showed why when Sean Couturier redirected Matt Niskanen’s power-play shot past Petr Mrazek.
“We brought in a couple different ideas that we’ve worked on since maybe the first week of training camp,” Alain Vigneault said. “For the most part, the principles on the power play are simple. You want to get pucks at the net. You want to make sure you get people there. You want to make sure you outnumber the opposition and you need good execution.
“I think for the most part we’ve worked on it on a consistent basis. It’s been a good weapon for us. It’s gotten us momentum. It’s gotten us some big goals. It needs to continue.”
One of the recent keys’ to that man-advantage success has been the injection of Ivan Provorov onto the No. 1 power-play unit.
“What I see now is a young man that skates well, moves very well laterally at that blue line and when he sees a lane, he’s not afraid to shoot the puck,” Vigneault said. “And that’s what we want.”
The Flyers were 1-for-3 on the power play Tuesday. •••
The Flyers were concerned Tuesday about the determination to take shots.
“In the offensive zone, they funnel a lot of pucks to the net,” Provorov said. “They play fast. They are tenacious on the forecheck when you don’t have the puck. In the d-zone, they swarm. They try to get five guys in close. So we have to find a way to try and beat that and take the game to them.”
The Canes outshot the Flyers, 14-10 in the first period and 34-28 overall.
“They play a hard game,” Vigneault said. “Their D’s are the most involved in the play, both on the rush and in the offensive zone, so they make it challenging for the opposition. They’ve got some good size and goskill. They’ve got tons of speed on that team. They didn’t make it to the conference finals by luck. They’re a good team.” ••• Provorov and Niskanen, who were tried together earlier in the season, have been reunited in a defense pairing.
“At the beginning we were trying to find the pairings that were working,” Provorov said. “And everyone is here for a reason. Everyone can play. So it did take a while to get used to playing together again, just maybe a period or so, and after that playing off each other and trying to help each other as much as we could.”