Hart in rhythm as Flyers head for postseason trip
Just prior to his team packing up and packing it in as far as their Philadelphia-area activities in the Comeback 2020 hockey tour are concerned, Flyers goalie Carter Hart pronounced himself fit and ready to go ahead of Tuesday’s lone exhibition game in the NHL’s Eastern Conference bubble in Toronto.
The Flyers were scheduled to fly to Toronto Sunday, get tested in the COVID way and then get tested in the hockey way by the Penguins before games start to sort-of count up there.
After the exhibition on Tuesday, they will practice then commence an Eastern Conference seeding mini-tourney against the Boston Bruins next Sunday, the Washington Capitals on Aug. 6 and finally the Tampa Bay Lightning on Aug. 8.
That will determine the top four Eastern clubs’ seeding for the Stanley Cup playoffs, which will be expected to follow a normal timeline except for the first
round being a best-of-five. Beyond that, the Flyers and everyone else are hoping this visit to Toronto becomes a two-month-long hockey odyssey.
“I think it’ll be great for us,” Hart said on a Saturday non-Zoom video chat. “We’re in fourth place right now and we can only move up from here (in the seeding mini-tourney). I think we’re lucky in the sense that we put ourselves in a good position, so we deserve to have those three extra games than some other teams going into the qualifiers where they play one exhibition game and then have to fight for their lives to get into the playoffs.
“It’s nice that we have those three games for us to determine the seeding and also to see what the atmosphere is going to be like playing in front of no fans and how the setup is going to be. I think for us, we need to use those three games to our advantage and help us prepare for Round One.”
Certainly Hart needs as much prep time as he can get. He took part in scrimmage work Saturday after mostly resting this week due to what was believed to be back spasms. He left Tuesday’s scrimmages early.
Hart, however, has pronounced himself ready for the exhibition game.
“I feel good,” Hart said. “Just kind of taking things a little more precautionary the last couple days. I’ve been ramping it up the last two days. I feel really good right now.
“It’ll be nice to get into a game on Tuesday when no one’s played a game in more than four months. It’ll definitely be nice to get that first game in there, just getting back into that game mentality. Just run through everything that you would normally do on a game day because it’s been a long time for all of us.”
Presuming he runs through that game and the seeding tourney (also exhibition, just don’t tell the NHL), Hart will become the youngest goalie in franchise history to start a playoff game.
“He gets it. He’ll be ready,” defenseman Justin Braun said of Hart. “He’s dialed in on his game. He’s got one job back there - stop the puck. When he’s dialed in, he’s one of the best in the league. It’s been fun playing in front of him. When you need that big save, you saw that lateral movement on a couple plays this year coming across and making that save. You need that every once in a while, especially in the playoffs.”
However, there are no guarantees that Hart will be asked to carry the club through the seeding tourney and the playoffs. That’s partially due to everyone coming off a nearly four-month long period of inactivity, and partially due to caution since Hart is coming off a touch of back spasms.
Oh, and veteran Brian Elliott has looked good in the scrimmages, too. Thus...
“To be quite honest, I’m not sure what the plan is with Carter,” assistant coach Michel Therrien said Saturday. “He felt really good today on the ice. That’s a good sign.”
Therrien said Hart, head coach Alain Vigneault and goaltending coach Kim Dillabaugh are likely to meet and discuss the goaltenders’ respective workloads once the club gets to Toronto.
You get the idea Hart will have a lot of input.
“Going into this postseason, it’s like no other,” said Hart, who has had no other NHL postseason. “It’s uncharted waters for everybody. It’s going to be a new situation. It’s not your normal, typical playoffs.
“Me and Moose (Elliott) had a good chat there on the bench that one scrimmage and we were just taking a break between periods. He said to me, ‘This is what it’s going to be like for your first playoff game.’ That’s pretty crazy. Playoff games, he said, are mostly about atmosphere and all that, so it’s going to be different for everybody.
“I think as athletes, as professionals, it’s our job to adapt and overcome whatever’s thrown our way.”