Philadelphia Flyers: Carter Hart posts consecutive playoff shutouts
It was another strong performance by the Philadelphia Flyers goaltender to give the team a commanding 3-1 series lead.
Carter Hart recorded his second straight shutout against the Montreal Canadians as the Philadelphia Flyers take a 3-1 lead in the series. Pucks were stopped with jedi-like reflexes. Philadelphia scored two goals to support the dominant performance by Hart.
Hart’s second straight shutout was just the fifth time a goaltender has recorded back to back shutouts in the playoffs before the age of 23. The last goaltender to produce that was Felix Potvin in 1994.
He also became the second youngest goaltender to record back to back shutout streaks.
Carter Hart’s shutout streak of 120:00 is the seventh-longest in @NHLFlyers playoff history and the longest since 2010 when Michael Leighton had a 172:55 streak en route to the #StanleyCup Final. #NHLStats pic.twitter.com/GyehxEJGGl
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) August 18, 2020
The scoring opened up midway through the first period with a goal by the Philadelphia Flyers. Michael Raffl scored a beautiful top shelf goal from a lightning quick wrist shot. Sean Couturier and Jakub Voracek recorded assists.
Philippe Myers scored the Philadelphia Flyers’ second goal on a long shot play. The puck deflected off the defender’s stick, but it certainly didn’t look like a shot that Carey Price would typically miss. Assists went to Travis Konecny and Kevin Hayes.
Montreal looks like a raw team who aren’t playing well together. Their speed advantage is evident; however, they only took advantage of it in game two of the series. Now, on the brink of elimination, they need to play as a team if they hope to come back. Of course, we don’t want that to happen.
The Flyers’ power play unit continued to flounder during the playoffs. They went 0-3 this game which sends them to 1-28 for the postseason. They aren’t even managing to produce shots on goal. The Montreal Canadians have imposed their athleticism with their penalty kill units as they quickly close in on the puck handler. Philadelphia needs to step out of their lethargic look on the power play.
The series can come to end tomorrow night. The teams play each other at 8PM Eastern. On the brink of advancing, the Philadelphia Flyers should use this game to make some changes on the power play. It is hard to make a deep run when you can’t take advantage of being a man up on the ice.
A 3-1 lead gives them the chance to take some risks especially with the dominant play that they are getting out of their young goaltender.