Bernie Parent says Flyers can win Stanley Cup, calls Carter Hart a better goalie than him at this stage | Sam Carchidi

It seems like a lifetime ago when Bernie Parent orchestrated two Stanley Cup parades in Philadelphia.

Without him, the Flyers would probably be without a Cup since the franchise started in 1967.

Forty-five years after Parent won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the NHL’s best playoff performer and carried the Flyers to their second straight Cup, Carter Hart is trying to become the modern-day version of the man who was saluted with a bumper sticker on most cars in the 1970s: Only the Lord Saves More Than Bernie Parent.

If Hart does it, maybe the bumper stickers will honor some of the heroes of the pandemic: Only Docs Save More Than Carter Hart.

Who better to ask than Parent himself if he believes Hart has what it takes to steer the Flyers to the promised land?

As a violent storm caused huge waves to crash near his new house in Avalon on Tuesday, Parent was his usual jovial self. His surgically repaired back is making progress. He had just finished a 35-minute workout to strengthen his back, chest and shoulders, followed by going up and down 42 steps 10 times to stay in shape.

Some fun, eh?

It was not a good day for Parent to be on his beloved boat, not a good day for fishing, so he was happy to spend time talking about his favorite team and his favorite position.

Carter Hart?

“Who is he, some defenseman?” Parent, 75, cracked.

Hart, who turns 22 next week, is coming off the first postseason game of his young career, a superb 34-save performance in a 4-1 round-robin victory Sunday over Boston. He became the youngest goalie in Flyers history to win a postseason game.

“Let me tell you something: I watch this kid and I’m amazed at his thinking and his anticipation about what’s going on in front of him,” Parent said. “He’s incredible. He reads the plays in front of him and knows where the opening is, and that helps him cover up things. At 21, to be able to do that is just incredible.”

When Parent was 21, he was in his second NHL season, playing in 18 games with Boston in 1966-67. He was still getting his feet wet and says he really didn’t become a student of the game until he played for Toronto in 1970-71 and 1971-72 and had his idol, legendary goalie Jacques Plante, as a teammate and mentor.

The goalies’ equipment, of course, is much bigger than when Parent played. Today’s players are also faster and bigger, diminishing some of the goalies’ equipment advantages.

“The play wasn’t as fast when I was playing,” Parent said. “My God, I could smoke a cigar between shots.”

He let out a hearty laugh.

“I wish I would have been at the level Carter’s at now when I was 21,” Parent said. “I changed my game when I went to Toronto, and I think that’s when I really learned how to study the players, your defensemen, and a lot of other stuff. When I learned how to apply it, it made a big difference.”

Under Plante’s guidance, Parent refined his game and became a two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Flyers and a Hall of Famer. (On a side note, when Parent was 10, his family lived next door to Plante’s sister in Montreal, and he would eagerly wait for the NHL star to visit her in the summer. “I’d be sitting in the kitchen by the window and waiting for him, and his big car would pull up,” Parent said. “He had a big hat on and was always smoking a cigar. I’ll never forget seeing him, but I was scared to go over and talk to him. And then many years later, I ended up playing on the same team as him in Toronto!”)

Hart’s composure and his easy-going, engaging personality help him combat pressure, Parent said.

Hart has “something that a lot of players don’t have these days -- and I wish they had more, like we had in our days,” Parent said. “He has that ability to socialize well with the public and socialize with your players. You’re not going to play great games all the time, and when you don’t, you [should still] socialize with people. They’ll love you and they’ll back you up and stand by you, and that’s very, very important.

“At 21, his approach on life and his approach as a goaltender is incredible.”

Parent said the champion Flyers of 1974 and 1975 were a close-knit group, and he senses the same about this year’s team.

“And when you get on the ice, you’re protecting each other, you’re working together and it’s a beautiful thing,” he said. “It’s exciting. It’s just a shame we don’t have them playing at home” in front of fans. “When you have 20,000 people cheering for you or standing up when you make a big save, you don’t replace that. I know every team is in the same boat, but to have that crowd behind you in Philly, it elevates you to a different level.”

Parent said goalies will make key saves and turn around a game once in a while, “but it’s all about teamwork. The whole team has to work. You have to win as a team. I remember [coach] Fred Shero saying, ‘Even if you only play four minutes a game, your four minutes could win or lose the game,’ so it’s important that the whole team works together. That’s what I like about this team. The whole team is working together and helping each other out, and it’s a beautiful thing. They’re well-coached. They have very good players, a great goalie, and I think they have a great chance to win the Cup.”

Parent has met Hart only once. They talked at the Flyers’ benefit golf tournament before the season. Lou Nolan, the Flyers’ longtime public-address announcer, introduced them.

“Here’s a kid who’s 21 -- and he looked like he was 14, for God’s sake,” Parent said, chuckling. “I looked at him and I had my wife Gini next to me, and he goes, ‘Wow!’ I figured I made a big impression, but I think he was looking at my wife.”