Now, you may ask yourself, as I did, “Is Alain Vigneault wrong with starting Brian Elliott against the Capitals tomorrow?” I thought about it, and in my opinion he’s not. This season Elliott has been phenomenal, a lot better than many people expected him to be. Hart has struggled on the road, and is lights out at home. Elliott is the complete 180 of that, being great on the road, not being terrible at home, just not playing as much.
For me, with Hart in net at home, it’s a completely different game than with Elliott, and that’s not a shot at Elliott either. Hart is just a completely different goalie at home, his positioning, angles, puck handling, everything, is better at home, but most importantly his defense is much better in front of him, as compared to being on the road. Also, one of the biggest reasons Hart is so good at home is because of the crowd behind him. Cheering for him, and his teammates obviously boosts his confidence.
As for Elliott, he just locks it down on the road. He’s playing like he did with St. Louis Blues in 2013-14, he’s been that good. Elliott has been a rock for Flyers, and hasn’t always had the defense in front of him on the road, but has came up huge when needed. Now, if you are the Flyers, you have two main objectives. One make the playoffs, and two get home ice advantage throughout the playoffs.
If you are Alain Vigneault, you want to start your best goalie on the road, and the best at home. Starting Hart on Sunday on the road against the New York Rangers made sense, so that he could give Elliott the Capitals (Caps) game on Wednesday. A Caps team that Elliott just beat in Washington back on February 8, 2020. This now gives Hart the start against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday at home.
Playing Hart Sunday against the Rangers at home gave him some much needed confidence with picking up a road win, and helps him get ready for the playoffs. This team is red-hot right now, so let’s hope it continues tomorrow night against the Caps.
Nice piece. Agree with you, and hope they go deep in the playoffs!
Good points and great read. With just 7 road games left after tonight, I just hope Carter Hart gets enough road starts to build his confidence going into the playoffs (unless AV doesn’t care whether or not to go with both goalies in the playoffs). Tonight would’ve been a great test for Carter on the road.