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The Flyers may want to find a way to ship Carter Hart’s bed wherever and whenever they stay on the road this season.
The 22-year-old goaltender wasn’t the biggest fan in his sleep at the Boston team hotel last week when the Flyers made a two-game trip to forget against the Bruins. Hart must have enjoyed sleeping in his own bed before facing the Devils at the Prudential Center as he was called up to take the Flyers to a 3-1 victory on Thursday night.
The Flyers were far from perfect and often outmatched by New Jersey, but they will worry about that later. Hart returned to form and the team won a sweep of their two road games against the Devils.
Although the Flyers took a 5-3 victory on Tuesday, head coach Alain Vigneault made two changes at the back. He ended up pushing the right buttons by inserting Erik Gustafsson and Nate Prosser into the lineup.
The Flyers (5-2-1) had two third-period goals from Michael Raffl and Claude Giroux after the Devils (3-3-1) defeated them 24-8 in the first two stanzas.
• Hart had not played since last Saturday. He was coming off a stretch in which he had allowed four or more goals in three straight starts for the first time in his career. He allowed seven goals in the third period in two games in Boston.
He was happy that the Flyers made it to Newark, New Jersey, on the day of the two games against the Devils.
“It’s nice that we’re only a short bus ride from Jersey, we sleep in our own beds – I think that’s huge,” Hart said on Wednesday. “I know the first two nights on the road there in Boston, it’s hard to sleep well in the hotel bed when you haven’t slept in a bed that hasn’t been yours in a long time.
Starting Thursday, Hart’s shots against by 60 minutes (34.8) were second in the NHL among goaltenders with five or more games played. He converted 33 saves on 34 shots against the Devils.
New Jersey goalie Mackenzie Blackwood was out again due to COVID protocol. Scott Wedgewood, who has just 25 career starts, had to make just 14 saves.
• Unsurprisingly, Prosser joined the roster for his first NHL game in over two years and scored the Flyers’ first goal.
OK, just kidding. These two scenarios were not expected.
The 34-year-old defenseman scored his first NHL goal since April 5, 2018, to draw the Flyers even at 1-1 in the first quarter. Give a ton of credit to Prosser, who had a really strong game, was stable and played four minutes from the penalty spot.
Gustafsson has times when he will be struggling defensively, but he can really impact games with his legs and passing ability. He delivered two assists on his return to the lineup after Tuesday’s healthy scratch. His second assist was a great main feed on Giroux’s 3-1 goal.
• The fourth row from Raffl, Connor Bunnaman and Nicolas Aube-Kubel was huge setting the tone in the final frame. This group produced the winner of the match 2:10 in the third period.
• The Flyers have been edged out in seven of their eight games, five of which have double-digit margins.
Without disrespecting Prosser, if the Flyers had learned that over two periods Thursday Prosser would be their only scorer and that they would have eight shots, they wouldn’t have liked their chances.
The Flyers are not yet close to playing a full game.
• Vigneault said before the game that Philippe Myers (fractured rib) skated again on Thursday and “felt good”. Vigneault will meet with Myers and Flyers sports medicine director Jim McCrossin on Friday to further assess the 24-year-old’s status for this weekend’s back-to-back game. (more on Myers here).
Vigneault estimated that Sean Couturier, who is recovering from a costochondral separation suffered on January 15, is “still a few weeks away” from returning. (more on Couturier here).
• The Flyers this weekend meet the Islanders for the first time since their loss in the second round of Game 7 to New York in the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Islanders visit the Wells Fargo Center for games Saturday (7 p.m. ET / NBCSP) and Sunday (7 p.m. ET / NBCSP). New York has beaten the Flyers nine out of 12 times in 2019-20, including the preseason, regular season, and playoffs. In the 12 games, the Islanders have scored three or more goals.
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