Carter Hart Earns The Victory In 1st Career Start
The Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Detroit Red Wings Tuesday night at the Wells Fargo Center by a score of 3-2. In game one without former head coach Dave Hakstol behind the bench, the Flyers came out victorious.
James van Riemsdyk scored his 3rd goal in the last 6 games to open the scoring. Radko Gudas would score from down-town on a beautiful fake-out by Claude Giroux. Shayne Gostisbehere ended his 16-game goal-less streak with a goal late in the 2nd period.
Carter Hart stopped 20 of the 22 shots he faced in his NHL debut to get the win. Hart stopped his first 10 shots he faced before giving up his first in the NHL.
Scott Gordon is credited with his first win in the NHL since October 21, 2010, when he was the head coach of the New York Islanders.
Here are 4 more observations from the Flyers 3-2 win over the Red Wings…
Carter Hart Wins In Debut
Just how they drew it up, right? Carter Hart making his debut in the NHL before he turned 21? Sounds like a fantasy, right? Well, that fantasy became a reality tonight.
Carter Hart made his NHL debut against the Detroit Red Wings and he didn’t disappoint. Hart has been the most talked Flyers prospect since he was drafted in 2016. Tonight, Hart’s potentially long career net-minding the Flyers started.
In his debut, Hart didn’t show many jitters and stopped 20 of the 22 shots he faced. Hart was tested. Hart was put into troubling situations. However, the 20-year-old rookie stood tall and showed a lot of potential in his first career start
Fresh And Energetic
Over the past 3 games, the Flyers looked slow, no fight, and just out-of-sorts in a way. Whether this was former head coach Dave Hakstol looking for anything and everything to save himself or just the team hitting rock bottom. Tonight seemed like a rebirth for the Flyers.
The Flyers looked fast, were sharp on their edges, and looked like they had new life. A new life that is being lead by interim head coach Scott Gordon. Gordon, known for his defensive faster style of play, showed tonight.
Fore-checking has been non-existent in the Flyers play over the past month. Allowing teams to gather pucks and break-out easily has caused the Flyers problems every night. However, tonight, it was the Flyers that were causing havoc.
Tonight, the Flyers were strong on the fore-check. The Flyers were causing havoc and creating turnovers. A fore-check that was needed to spark the Flyers. It just looked like the Flyers had new and fresh energy tonight.
Shayne Gostisbehere Ends Streak
When the Flyers needed a spark in 2016, they recalled Shayne Gostisbehere. Gostisbehere would then spark the Flyers to a excellent second half and a playoff birth. Something Carter Hart could do this season.
Tonight, Gostisbehere ended a long goal-less streak. Gostisbehere scored his 1st goal since November 8th against the Phoenix Coyotes.
With Gostisbehere ending his streak, the Flyers and Gostisbehere, both hope this jump starts his game. Coming into tonight, Gostisbehere only had 3 goals and 10 assists on the season. Well below the numbers the team and Gostisbehere thought he would have at this point in the season.
However, with the changes behind the bench, maybe tonight and the new coach, can get Gostisbehere going.
Power-Play Needs…….
Fill in the blank. The Flyers power-play needs __________ . What has to happen for the Flyers power-play to get going? Coming into tonight, the Flyers power-play was 0 for their last 10 and only 12 for 93 on the season.
Tonight, nothing changed for that unit. The Flyers would not score on either of their 2 power-play opportunities. Now, 12 for 95 (12.6%) on the year, what has to happen for the Flyers to make a change?
A season of changes for the Flyers, whether it be GM or head coach, it seems the power-play is next. The once feared Flyers power-play, is now one of the easiest ones to kill in the league.
After tonight’s 0 for 2, the Flyers power-play sits in 29th in the league. The penalty kill is having a little resurgence over the past month, when will the power-play?
Result : Flyers 3 – Red Wings 2 , WIN
Record : 13 – 15 – 4
Next Game : 12/20 Nashville Predators, Philadelphia PA, NBCSports Philadelphia 7:00pm