Carter Hart holds strong against Panthers onslaught, carries Flyers to 6-3 victory

For the second time this season, Carter Hart shut down the Florida Panthers’ offense, carrying his team to a 6-3 win Tuesday.

Hart stopped 41 of 44 shots. The last time he played the Panthers, he faced a career-high 51 shots. He stopped all but three then, as well, to help his team to victory.

“He’s been there all year,” Travis Sanheim said. “It doesn’t really surprise me anymore.”

Forty-four is the third-highest number of shots Hart has faced this season. The second-highest came Dec. 15, when he faced 49 shots on goal (and stopped 48) against the New Jersey Devils.

And Hart’s teammates supported him Tuesday. Despite spending long minutes in the defensive zone, they still managed to produce six goals. It’s the second time they’d scored that many, the first coming Jan. 5 against the Arizona Coyotes.

They went down early when Matthew Tkachuk redirected Carter Verhaeghe’s pass 1 minute, 15 seconds into the game. But once the Flyers finally got the puck out of their own zone, they quickly tied it when Joel Farabee deflected Noah Cates’ pass just under 5 minutes into the game.

The momentum once again started out in favor of the Panthers in the second as they stormed ahead in shots.

But the Flyers kept to their game, and, despite long minutes in the defensive zone, took the lead on Sanheim’s goal. Although Brandon Montour tied it for the Panthers again, the Flyers kept pushing and broke it open. In the span of two minutes, Scott Laughton, Sanheim, and Ivan Provorov scored to give the Flyers a 5-2 second-period lead.

The Panthers added a final goal when they pulled their goalie while on a power play with six minutes left and scored on the ensuing six-on-four. They pulled the goalie again in the final minutes, but Morgan Frost added an empty-net goal to seal the Flyers win.

Flyers coach John Tortorella likes to say that no matter the situation a goal is scored in, every goal has the potential to give a player momentum. Farabee has proved that theory right.

In Friday’s 5-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres, Farabee scored his first goal in 26 games. He has scored a goal in every game since, and all of them have been created by his work in the dirty areas.

“He’s going to the areas he should be,” Tortorella said. “He’s getting some puck luck.”

Cates, who hadn’t had a point in five games, scored against Carolina and followed it with a two-point game. Since scoring a goal Tuesday against the Vegas Golden Knights, Frost also has scored five points in four games. Tyson Foerster also has recorded a point in three straight games since scoring his first NHL point Friday.

With the organization’s emphasis on the Phantoms’ playoff run, the Flyers’ recalls aren’t competing for long-term spots this season. But they’ve proven in their short auditions that they are going to be contenders for roster spots next season.

Egor Zamula helped set up Cates’ shot that Farabee tipped in. He finished with two assists, a plus-minus of plus-2, and 13 minutes on the ice.

“Z, I’m not sure how his assists come about, but just watching his game, I thought he had some really good puck poise,” Tortorella said. Zamula said he got “lucky” that the guys who received his passes sent them to people who pulled great moves and scored.

Foerster continued to show off his big shot, even though Panthers goalie Alex Lyon, a former Flyer, got in front of his scoring attempts. He also displayed his ever-growing confidence with some fancy moves, including a spin move in front of the net, that were just inches away from being jaw-dropping goals. In addition, he had two assists.

Despite getting stuck in their own zone for long minutes, when the Flyers broke out, they broke out in a rush. In recent games, Owen Tippett has generated a lot of the Flyers’ scoring chances on the rush because he’s gotten good at using his speed and strength to power past defensemen.

Tuesday, lots of Flyers were racing past the Panthers’ blueliners. To name a few, Wade Allison created multiple rushes, helping him accumulate three shots on goal. James van Riemsdyk beat the defense, and the defensemen set up Laughton for a wide-open shot, which he turned into the team’s fourth goal.

As a result, more players contributed to the scoring than the past few games, where the scoring has centered on Tippett. Ten players recorded a point.

The Flyers host the Minnesota Wild at 6:30 p.m. Thursday (ESPN).

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