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Carter Has Been The Hart of the Flyers

By Ariel Melendez

Nov 1, 2022; New York, New York, USA; Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Carter Hart (79) takes a break in the second period against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 1, 2022; New York, New York, USA; Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Carter Hart (79) takes a break in the second period against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports /
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If you want to find one reason for the Flyers 5-2-2 start, look no further than the play of Carter Hart. He has been in the net for all five of the team’s wins and didn’t lose his first game of the season until his sixth start of the year. Even then, the team has gotten at least a point in his next two starts.

So to start the season, Hart has earned the team a point in every game he has played in. And a lot of them are directly because of his play in net. Take the Flyers 4-3 win against the Panthers. Hart faced a total of 51 shots in that game and saved a career high 48 of them. 21 of those shots came in the third period alone. In comparison, Philadelphia posted a total of 22 shots with just five coming in the third.

Hart sits ninth in the league with a 2.10 GAA and fourth with a .943 SV%. According to Natural Stat Trick, he is saving 9.96 goals above average in all situations. That is the best among all goaltenders. To put that into perspective, during Hart’s worst season he posted a -22.68 GAA. Now that’s comparing 27 games then to seven now, but unless things go very poorly for him, he won’t be anywhere close to those numbers this season.

Among goaltenders who have appeared in the same amount of games, Hart is third with only eight goals given up at even strength this season. Only Logan Thompson (7) and Jake Oettinger (6) have given up less in a similar amount of minutes.

Hart has also faced the third most shots in the league at 262. There are actually eight goaltenders who have appeared in more games than Hart below him on that list. Based on the amount of shots that Hart faces, he is expected to have given up almost 27 goals but has actually given up 15 altogether. Hence his GSAA mentioned above. That makes what he is doing all the more impressive. His workload has been heavy to start the season, facing an average of 37 shots per game.

Now these aren’t numbers that Hart is likely to sustain as the season goes on. While the Flyers may not be giving up as many high danger opportunities as before, they are still allowing way too many shots to go in on Hart. It’s not to say that he will all of a sudden break, but it is going to be hard to be able to make save after save all season if his workload continues to be as heavy as it has been.

For now, the Flyers can ride the impressive start to the season that Hart is having. But they need to be a lot better in front of his. He has earned that much with his play.

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