Flyers Playoff Player Review: Carter Hart

Carter Hart was by far the Flyers best player during his first shot at the postseason.

After his first full season in the NHL, Carter Hart was stepping into another first. He was getting his first taste of what the NHL postseason is like. It was a little bit different than normal with the Flyers in Toronto for every game. But it was still a playoff atmosphere.

He was coming off a season in which he had one of the best home record, but an abysmal road record. Hart was beginning to figure out his road woes before the pause. But it was as if he two different goaltenders depending on where the Flyers were playing.

Hart still posted strong stats and elevated his game from his rookie season. He used the extra playing time and was able to prove he could handle the workload. In 12 more games, he still ended up with the same regulation loss total. His GAA improved greatly while his SV% only dipped slightly.

So with 74 career games under his belt, Hart was ready for a taste of postseason hockey. He helped the Flyers breeze through the round-robin, giving up two goals in his two games against Tampa and Boston. However, his real test would be an actual playoff series.

And he would get to test things against a surprising first-round Montreal Canadiens teams. They surprised by upsetting the fourth-seeded Penguins. Despite coming in as a 12th seed, the Canadiens were not an easy test for the Flyers.

Hart found that out, especially when he was tagged for four goals in Game Two. He responded to being pulled by posting back to back shutouts in the third and fourth game. While the Canadiens fired back with four goals in Game Five, he shut the door on them, giving up only two goals in the clinching Game Six.

The second round was a different story, though. While he was a big reason the Flyers were able to bring the Islanders series to a decisive Game Seven, Hart gave up three goals or more in every single game.

He had probably his best game of the entire playoffs in Game Six, though. The Flyers won that game in double overtime after Ivan Provorov scored at the 15th minute of 2OT. Hart made 49 saves that game, finishing with a .925 SV%.

Overall, Hart stopped 399 of the 431 shots that he faced. That gave him a 2.23 GAA and a .926 SV%. Both stats were top-10 among all goaltenders in the postseason. He was tied with four other goaltenders for second with two shutouts. And despite losing in the second round, Hart finished tied for fourth with nine wins.

It was a good test for his first postseason. He proved that he was able to step up when it mattered most. No one is perfect which is why Hart was given an A instead of an A+. While he isn’t at fault for the Flyers lack of scoring, he did give up a lot of goals in the Islanders series.

This postseason is something to build on for Hart. But there is no reason to believe that he won’t one day be able to lead this team to a Stanley Cup.