Last night’s game between the Flyers and Penguins featured Flyers goalie Carter Hart and former Flyer Jeff Carter. Both the young goaltender and the veteran forward were on display.
Carter Hart, who came into the game having lost seven starts in a row (0-5-2), was one of the main reasons the Flyers were able to fend off the Penguins in the shootout winning by a final score of 2-1.
Hart stopped 31 of 32 shots fired his way in regulation and overtime. In the shootout, he stopped 2 of 3 shots securing a much needed win for the Orange and Black.
After a much needed reset, Hart has looked more and more like himself of late despite the what his record might indicate.
Over the past five games, Hart has stopped 122 of 134 shots fired his way for save percentage of .910. He has allowed more than three goals in only one of those games.
Hart looked good moving east to west and between the pipes and made some timely saves for the Flyers, something he hadn’t done much of lately.
The 22-year-old netminder made multiple stops on the odd man rush. One of them came against NHL superstar Sidney Crosby with the Penguins already up 1-0. Another one of his biggest saves came when the game was tied up at 1-1 when he robbed Evan Rodrigues of a goal with a blocker save.
He also came up big in the shootout.
After allowing a goal to Penguins forward Jake Guentzel, Hart flashed the leather on both Crosby and Penguins defenseman Kris Letang to shut the door.
As for Jeff Carter, it was a bit odd to see him in a Pittsburgh Penguins jersey.
Carter, who played in 461 regular season games with the Flyers over a span of six seasons, was traded to the Penguins by the Los Angeles Kings ahead of this past Tuesday’s NHL trade deadline.
Thursday night marked Carters first game as a member of the Penguins organization. It was only fitting that it was against Flyers. Has it been mentioned that these two teams are cross state rivals as well?
In 40 games with the Kings this year, Carter posted 19 points, 8 goals and 11 assists.
In his Penguins debut last night, Carter was all over the ice. He didn’t register a point but had a couple of chances to put the puck in the back of the net. He finished with two shots on goal, a hit, a block, and one takeaway in 17:54 minutes of ice time.
Even at 36-years-old, Carter showed everyone that his speed is still there. That was evident throughout the game playing on the Penguins second line with James McCann and Jason Zucker.
The Penguins and Flyers have two games left against each other in the regular season. There next matchup is set for May 3 at the Wells Fargo Center.
Until they meet again…
Carter Hart 1 vs Jeff Carter 0.
