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Wrap: Hart Steals Game in Detroit, Flyers Win 3-1

February 17, 2019, 9:19 PM ET [208 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Wrap: Hart Steals Game in Detroit, Flyers Win, 3-1

Sunday's overall performance in the road finale of a home-and-home set with the Detroit Red Wings was far from the Philadelphia Flyers' best 60-minute effort of the season. There were long stretches, especially in the second period, where the Flyers made too many soft plays with the puck and lost too many battles where they ended up flatfooted.

Thankfully for Philly, 20-year-old rookie netminder Carter Hart was stellar in goal. He turned back 37 of 38 shots to steal a 3-1 victory despite his team being outplayed for the majority of the game.

Offensively, the Flyers sandwiched even strength first period and third period empty net goals by Oskar Lindblom (9th and 10th) set up by Sean Couturier (29th and 30th assists) around a seeing-eye goal by Ivan Provorov (6th) early in the third period. The Flyers mustered just four shots in the third period and 13 over the final 40 minutes. Phil Varone (4th assist) and James van Riemsdyk (14th assist) got the helpers on the Provorov goal. Travis Sanheim, who had a rough weekend overall, got an assist (17th) on the Lindblom empty net goal. Jakub Voracek saw a nine-game point streak come to an end.

Darren Helm (5th) scored a rebound goal from the doorstep at 14:49 of the second period for the lone Detroit goal. Niklas Kronwall (14th) and Frans Nielsen (22nd) got the assists. Hart had to make 14 saves in the first period, 11 in the middle frame and a dozen more in the third period -- many of the tougher-than-average variety -- to nail down the win.

Jonathan Bernier (9 saves on 10 shots) started the game for Detroit, but had to leave after the first period after getting up high. Veteran goalie Jimmy Howard (11 saves on 12 shots went the rest of the way). He was tested a bit late in the second period. Provorov's game winner came through a screen by Travis Konecny.

With the win, the Flyers swept their three-game season series against Detroit with two regulation wins and one OT victory. None of the wins came easily, however. Overall, the Flyers moved to 12-1-1 over their last 14 games and 13-2-1 over the last 16 games. The Flyers are still six standing points plus a 30-26 ROW tiebreaker disadvantage behind Pittsburgh for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Wayne Simmonds wasted little time making Anthony Mantha answer for his controversial hit on Claude Giroux late in Saturday's 6-5 Flyers overtime win. Thereafter, the teams focused on the game at hand.

Alertness and a bit of patience by Couturier to intercept a Detroit pass, start a counter attack, and stay onside started the sequence on the Flyers' first goal. On the back end, Lindblom got to a scoring area around the net and get some self-made puck luck off Detroit skate at 15:48 of the first period. Hart narrowly escaped an early miscue with the puck and then settled in for an excellent game.

The Flyers played a poor second period and were lucky Hart was so sharp or they would not have been tied at 1-1 by the second intermission. Philly did finally get some offensive push late in the period but the stanza belonged to Detroit.

Provorov's left point shot through traffic provided the Flyers a 2-1 lead at 2:11 of the third period. Hart continued to step up as the Wings tested him multiple times over the period.Finally, a defensive stop and good exit pass by Sanheim, a patient neutral zone play by Sean Couturier and good focus by Lindblom on an empty-netter nailed down the win. The biggest hero, however, Hart.

Making his NHL debut, Philippe Myers had a solid performance overall in 9:53 of ice time. He kept things simple and showed off his mobility in breaking up a possible breakaway for Andreas Athanasiou. There was one jittery sequence with the puck that may be a teachable video moment. Early in the third period, he made a good pinch on the sequence that ended in Provorov's go-ahead goal.
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