Hart Gets Shutout as Flyers Regain Series Lead

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

One day after securing his first win in a playoff series, Carter Hart celebrated his 22nd birthday. His boyhood idol celebrated his 33rd birthday on Sunday. How did Hart celebrate that? How about with his first career playoff shutout.

In just his fifth playoff start, Hart made 23 saves, allowing Jake Voracek's first-period goal to stand as the game-winner in a 1-0 Flyers victory over the Montreal Canadiens.

Early in the game, the Flyers showed improvement in getting offensive zone time and trying to get traffic to the net. It paid off at 5:21.

Claude Giroux put a chance on net and the rebound banked in off Voracek to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead.

Just three minutes later, the Flyers had a chance to really break things open early, getting a four-minute power play. The power play struggles continued, as they were 0-for-3 in the opening period.

The Flyers did do a better job of containing the Canadiens and held them to just five shots in the opening period. The Flyers had eight shots on goal in the first.

The Canadiens got a few power play chances int he second period, including a very brief 5-on-3. The Flyers shut that down, but struggled to make much else happen around Carey Price.

Montreal outshot the Flyers in the second period, 8-6. 

Montreal started the third getting the better of offensive zone possession time. The Flyers were eventually helped with a pair of power plays that helped to drain some time off the clock, but didn't help them increase the margin. The Flyers were 0-for-6 on the power play in the game and didn't record a shot on goal in their final three power plays.

Hart took care of the rest. In the final minutes, he took care of all 10 shots in the final period by Montreal, including a great scoring chance in front off a turnover by Ivan Provorov in the final minute of play.

Hart finished with 23 saves in the win. Price was once again excellent, making 19 saves on 20 shots. 

The Flyers take a 2-1 series lead into Game 4 on Tuesday afternoon at 3 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• PHI Jake Voracek (2) (Claude Giroux, Robert Hagg) 5:21

2nd Period

• No Scoring

3rd Period

• No Scoring

Game Statistics