Hart Helps Flyers Hold On to Win 8th Straight

(Photo: Kate Frese)

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

In the latest episode of the Carter Hart show, the 20-year-old made perhaps his best save at the NHL level so far. Feels like we say that every night though.

Hart made 18 saves in the third period, including several highlight-reel saves, to keep the Flyers winning streak alive. The streak hit eight games, as the Flyers held off the Vancouver Canucks, 2-1, on Monday night at Wells Fargo Center.

The Canucks came out firing early, getting an 8-3 advantage in shots early and hitting the post twice, including a breakaway chance for Jake Virtanen. The Canucks also failed to score on a power play early in the game.

The Flyers started to apply pressure, getting six shots in short order and getting their first power play of the game. They failed to score, but with under three minutes left in the first, the Flyers went back to the power play and continued their recent hot streak.

Off a rush, Travis Konecny placed a perfect centering pass to Sean Couturier, who fired through a screened Jacob Markstrom to put the Flyers on the board with 1:23 left in the opening period.

After 20 minutes, the Flyers led in shots, 14-10.

The Flyers extended the lead early in the second period. Phil Varone used great patience and sent a lead pass to Jake Voracek. Voracek put a perfect move on Markstrom, cutting back to the forehand for the goal to make it 2-0.

The Canucks got on the board less than two minutes later, taking advantage of a miscue. The Flyers had a near 3-on-0 but failed to get a good shot off. As the clear rolled down the ice out of the reach of Brandon Sutter, Hart came out to play the puck away. He cleared it away from Sutter, but Brock Boeser came in along the boards and knocked it down and fired a shot on the empty net and scored to cut the lead to one.

That closed out the scoring in the second period, as the Flyers killed off 1:43 of a Canucks power play at the end of the period. Through 40 minutes, shots were 26-24 Flyers.

The Flyers were unable to sustain much pressure in the third period, getting just four shots in the period. The Canucks had 18 shots in the final period. Hart was up to the task on all of them. On some of them, he was spectacular.

Late in the third, the Canucks looked to finally have broken the armor, getting a rebound chance at the side of the net. Nikolay Goldobin put the chance on goal, only for Hart to come diving across to make the save with his arm. Seconds later, Hart made three more saves in tight.

In all, Hart finished with 41 saves, breaking a career-high set in Saturday's win over Edmonton. Markstrom stopped 28 of 30 shots in the loss.

The win was the 2,000th in Flyers franchise history. They become the first team from the Expansion Era to reach the 2,000-win mark.

The win also moved the Flyers to within five points of idle Columbus for the final wildcard spot. Columbus has two games in hand on the Flyers.

The Flyers look to keep their winning ways going on Thursday night against the Los Angeles Kings at 7 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• PHI Sean Couturier (21) PP (Travis Konecny, Nolan Patrick) 18:37

2nd Period

• PHI Jake Voracek (12) (Phil Varone) 3:20
• VAN Brock Boeser (18) (Unassisted) 5:14

3rd Period

• No Scoring

Game Statistics