PHILADELPHIA _ While many of the Flyers traveled to tropical beaches during their bye week, Carter Hart went back home to the Edmonton area _ suntan lotion wasn't needed _ so he could be with family and friends before returning and playing in an AHL game Saturday with the Phantoms.
The tune-up obviously kept him in sync.
Hart, the impressive 20-year-old rookie, resembled the goaltender who won three straight games before the long layoff as he led the Flyers to an impressive 3-1 victory Monday over gifted Winnipeg at the Wells Fargo Center.
Hart made 31 saves as the Flyers extended their winning streak to a season-high four games and avenged a 7-1 loss to Winnipeg on Dec. 9.
Travis Konecny's 13th goal, scored late in the second period, turned out to be the game-winner. Konecny (two points), playing in his 200th career game, also set up James van Riemsdyk, who finished a slick two-on-one to make it 3-1 with 3 minutes, 35 seconds left.
Phil Varone, the AHL's MVP last season, scored on a rebound with 10:13 remaining in the second to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead.
Mikhail Vorobyev, recalled from the Phantoms on Sunday, put the play in motion. From deep in the right circle, Vorobyev found Christian Folin at the point, and the defenseman's shot deflected off Michal Raffl and went to Varone, who knocked in his second goal in 19 games since being promoted from Lehigh Valley.
"Sometimes you just try to get to the net and good things happen," Varone said.
A little over four minutes later, Jack Roslovic tied it as he deftly deflected Jacob Trouba's point drive past Hart with four seconds left in a Jets power play. Roslovic tipped the puck in the right circle and it bounced crazily past Hart.
With 1:14 to go in the second, Konecny gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead. Skating from right to left, he was in the left circle when he deflected Andrew MacDonald's drive high into the net.
Hart's quick glove kept the game scoreless in the early stages of the second period. He gloved Patrik Laine's drive from the high slot with 17:11 left in the period, and about five minutes later denied Trouba's one-time blast from just above the right circle.
In between those clutch saves, Raffl fired wide on a two-on-one chance, and Winnipeg goalie Laurent Brossoit stopped Scott Laughton from out front.
Earlier, the pace was slow. Passes didn't connect. An inordinate number of shots were fired high or wide.
In other words, it was a typical first period for teams that had eight days between games because of bye weeks, teams trying to find their rhythm after the layoff.
Winnipeg's best early scoring chances came after it received its first power play late in the first period, but Hart denied Mark Scheifele from the slot and Laine from the left circle in the final minute of the sloppy, scoreless session.
The Flyers entered the night 14 points out of a playoff spot with 34 games remaining.
"Looking at the big picture, it's not pretty," captain Claude Giroux, the Flyers' lone All-Star representative, said after Monday's morning skate. "You start looking at the small picture and going one game at a time. We have three games here in four nights. You win those and you look at it and you're maybe 10 or eight points behind."
