Carter Hart got his first start in the last three games Monday as the Flyers began a four-game road trip that, they hope, straightens out their struggling 22-year-old goaltender and improves their position in the playoff race.
Well, Hart played fairly well as the Flyers outlasted the Rangers in overtime, 5-4, and moved to within a point of a playoff spot.
Jake Voracek ended a long shift and scored the winner in overtime at Madison Square Garden.
Kevin Hayes appeared to give the Flyers the lead with a power-play tally with 3:04 left, but the goal was nullified after the Rangers challenged the play and the replay showed Sean Couturier was offside.
Claude Giroux was hit with a high stick that drew a four-minute penalty, then scored a backdoor goal on the ensuing power play -- Voracek set him up nicely -- to tie the game at 4-4 with 14:27 remaining in regulation.
Rangers goalie Keith Kinkaid stopped Scott Laughton and Voracek on breakaways in the last six-plus minutes of regulation.
Earlier in the third, Hart made a sensational save to rob an all-alone Chris Kreider on the doorstep while the Rangers were on a power play. About two minutes later, Hart was beaten to the glove side by unguarded fourth-liner Kevin Rooney to give New York a brief 4-3 lead with 17:04 to go.
After dominating the opening 20 minutes, the Flyers sleepwalked through most of the second period, one in which they were outscored, 3-1, and didn’t get their first shot until 8:55 remained in the stanza.
The Rangers overcame a 2-0 deficit with second-period goals from Artemi Panarin (left-circle blast), Colin Blackwell (finishing a two-on-one), and Julien Gauthier, who burst past Shayne Gostsibehere, went in alone, and beat Hart with backhander up high.
But Joel Farabee tied it at 3-3 with a power-play goal with 1:24 left in the second, scoring on a left-circle one-timer after a feed from the ever-present Giroux as he maneuvered behind the net.
James van Riemsdyk and Ivan Provorov scored 78 seconds apart early in the first period to give the Flyers a 2-0 lead, one they held the rest of the stanza. In their previous seven games, they had been outscored in the opening period, 12-5, so this seemed like a step in the right direction.
Van Riemsdyk, who collected his team-leading 13th goal, finished off a slick passing play with Farabee and Couturier, who also assisted and screened Kinkaid on Provorov’s score. Van Riemsdyk put a backhander through Kinkaid’s legs.
“We got some good, quick ups and we created some odd-man rushes,” said Couturier, who has points in 14 of his 16 games this season.
With about two minutes left in the first, Farabee blocked K’Andre Miller’s blast with his right foot and limped off the ice in pain. Farabee returned a short time later.
The Rangers were missing two of their top players – defenseman Adam Fox and winger Pavel Buchnevich (team-high 22 points), who were placed on the COVID-19 protocol list Monday.
The Flyers were coming off a 5-4 loss to Washington, which made it somewhat surprising that coach Alain Vigneault went with the same six defensemen Monday.
“We felt it was one of our better five-on-five games so far this year,” Vigneault said before the game. “We tracked scoring chances and we only gave up seven in that game, so we felt the D group had done a pretty good job against one of the best teams in the NHL.”
Well, if they only allowed seven quality chances, the Capitals scored on five of them against goalies Brian Elliott and Hart, who both played in that loss.
Both Flyers goaltenders have slumped lately. Coupled with defensive breakdowns, it’s the main reason the Flyers entered Monday with four losses in their last five games.
“At the beginning of the year, our goaltenders might have been bailing us out a little bit,” Vigneault said. The rest of the team wasn’t playing as well, he added. “We needed to improve, especially our five-on-five game. We have improved our game. (But) our goaltending is not at the same level it was initially. Both of those guys, Brian and Carter, have proven they’re very good goaltenders in the NHL, and Carter’s getting an opportunity (Monday).”
In the last few days, Hart did more work with goaltender coach Kim Dillabaugh in an attempt to regain his form.
“We’re no different than any team in the NHL,” Vigneault said “You need strong goaltending. This is a competitive league, and goaltending is the most important position – it’s also the toughest position.”
