POSTGAME 5: Hart Backstops 2-1 Motor City Victory

The Philadelphia Flyers nipped the Detroit Red Wings, 2-1, at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday evening. Two spectacular backdoor saves by Carter Hart in the third period and 31 blocks overall in front of him including eight by Ivan Provorov proved critical with the game on the line.

The first period, largely controlled by Detroit, was scoreless. The second period was much tighter checking on both sides with a small edge to the Flyers as the frame unfolded, but was also scoreless.
In the third period, goals by Scott Laughton (12th) at 9:01 and Noah Cates (6th) built a 2-0 lead for the Flyers. After two failed empty-net attempts by the Flyers that went for icings, Detroit's Lucas Raymond scored a rebound goal (15th) at 19:17 to cut the gap to 2-1. The Flyers had to withstand another heavy push but closed it out.
Carter Hart carried a shutout for 59-plus minutes amid a spectacular performance. Overall, he stopped 30 of 31 shots to earn the win. Detroit counterpart Ville Husso kept the Flyers scoreless for 49 minutes but blinked first. He finished with 23 saves on 25 shots.
The Flyers went 0-for-1 on the power play. The Red Wings were 0-for-2.
FLYERS STARTING LINEUP
86 Joel Farabee - 49 Noah Cates - 11 Travis Konecny
25 James van Riemsdyk - 48 Morgan Frost - 74 Owen Tippett
13 Kevin Hayes - 21 Scott Laughton - 57 Wade Allison
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 38 Patrick Brown - 17 Zack MacEwen
9 Ivan Provorov - 45 Cam York
6 Travis Sanheim - 77 Tony DeAngelo
24 Nick Seeler - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
79 Carter Hart
[32 Felix Sandström]
TURNING POINT
The Red Wings entered the game as a very strong third period team, sciong 12 more goals than opponents (57 GF to 45 GA). The Flyers were minus-nine (46 goals scored, 55 goals against) in third periods entering the game. With the game scoreless after two periods, the Flyers needed to defy that season-long trend. That's what they did.
Hart, of course, was ultimately the biggest reason why the Flyers got the game to the first intermission knotted at 0-0. In the third period, he was under siege once his team took the lead. He had help in the form of 31 blocked shots including a potential goal-saving one by Nicolas Deslauriers but Hart was the biggest hero of the night.
Hayes made a good play at the attacking blueline and Laughton had a gutty finish to finally snap the scoreless deadlock. The forechecking work of Konecny and a quick release by Cates provided what proved to be a crucial insurance goal.
The Flyers had two long-range cracks at empty net goals but missed the net on both. Although the current "common wisdom" is to try for the open net even from behind the red line, both icings here played directly into Detroit resuming the attack in the Flyers' zone. Hart ultimately made it an afterthought.
MELTZER'S TAKE
1) Provorov iced the puck at 1:24, Detroit won the ensuing faceoff. Twice, the Flyers failed to advance the puck beyond the red line. Finally, they got the puck in deep and changed lines. Shots on goal were 2-2 through 3:00.
Near the 5:00 mark, the Flyers' fourth line got in on the forecheck on a cross-corner dump. They took the body on several hits and Deslauriers nearly tipped home the puck in front. Husso made the stop.
At the other end of the ice, Provorov turned the puck over into the slot but the Flyers recovered with no harm ensuing. At 7:10, Hart denied a Michael Rasmussen deflection from the slot.
At 8:27, Hart absorbed a Filip Hronek blast from the right circle. On the next shift, Hart made another stop on Andrew Copp after the Flyers failed a defensive zone exit attempt.
Frost won a puck battle down low and centered out to Tippett in the slot. Husso made the save. DeAngelo held the puck and fired a shot that missed the net from a sharp angle. Then JVR got the puck and fired a snap shot on net from up high. Husso held for a stoppage at 10:03.
The Flyers' Hayes turned the puck over at the defensive blueline. Hart erased the turnover with a save on Larkin at 11:06.
Ristolainen called for a marginal neutral zone interference penalty at 11:44. Moritz Seider ripped a heavy shot but it missed the net and rimmed out of the zone. Larkin tipped a shot dangerously on net. Beyond that, the Flyers killed the penalty in good shape.
DeAngelo lost the handle on the puck near the defensive zone. Pius Suter had a prime chance on a deflection near the net at 14:30. At 15:14, Hart had to come up big again; this time on Raymond from close range.
At the 16:00 mark, Patrick Brown landed a heavy hit behind the Detroit net but the Flyers were unable to gain possession.
With Joe Veleno lurking at the net, Hart stopped a Sundqvist deflection at 17:57.
Cam York joined the attack and went to the net to receive a Farabee pass. Husso stopped York's backhander from the doorstep at 19:04.
Coincidental unsportsmanlike conduct penalties were called on Konecny and David Perron with 36.1 seconds remaining in the opening stanza. Four-on-four play ensued for two minutes, including carryover time into the second period.
2) First period shots on goal were nearly even at 11-10 Red Wings (26-15 Detroit shot attempt edge). The quantity and quality of scoring chances, however, were heavily in Detroit's favor. The Red Wings had an overall 15-7 scoring chance advantage and a 9-2 high danger chance edge. Plain and simple, Hart was the Flyers' best player in the first period.
The Flyers won 11 of 19 faceoffs in the first period. Philly had a 16-5 edge in credited hits, led by three Owen Tippett hits. The Flyers also blocked a dozen shot attempts by Detroit (Provorov led with four blocks in 8:53 of ice time).
Philly officially turned the puck over a half-dozen times in the first period. They were charged with five giveaways and the Red Wings were credited with one takeaway. The Red Wing officially had four turnovers.
3) Hart stopped a long-range shot by Jake Walman as four-on-four play continued on the first shift of the second period. Walman cleanly knocked Farabee to the ice with a clean hit at the other end of the ice. No bonafide scoring chances ensued before five-on-five play resumed.
At 2:04, Hart took a Ben Chiarot shot from the top of the circle off his mask, knocking it loose. The whistle blew quickly to allow the goalie to adjust his mask.
The Larkin line hemmed the Flyers in, as the 13-21-57 line failed to clear. Lucas Raymond was unable to find the handle of a loose puck in front.
At 6:26 of the second period, the Flyers finally got their first shot on goal of the period. York, one of the few Flyers with any jump in his skates, jumped into a play and took the puck to the net from the right circle after creating some space with a spin-o-rama move. Husso made the save.
The next several minutes saw tight checking on both sides. Second period shots at the ilidway mark of the period and game were 6-3 Red Wings.
At 12:22, the Flyers iced the puck. At the other end of the ice, Tippett and JVR won a battle down low and Frost put a bouncing puck on net.
An after-the--whistle scrum broke loose at 13:11. The Red Wings got two roughing minors (Rasmussen, Perron) while the Flyers (Sanheim) got one. The Flyers went to the power play for the first time. The Laughton PP unit started. Forty-five seconds into the power play, DeAngelo teed up a Laughton one-timer. Subsequently, Husso fought off a Farabee screen to stop a DeAngelo point shot. With 32 seconds left in the power play, Konecny fired a long-range shot on net. The Flyers changed units. The Hayes unit was unable to generate anything of note in the remaining time and the resumption of 5-on-5 play.
With 3:33 on the clock, MacEwen won a puck battle and worked his way inside the dot.. At the other end of the ice, Hart faced a dangerous looking deflection but the puck went wide.

Frost made a good play in tight space to find a lane to pass out to DeAngelo. The resulting shot had a lot of movement on it but Husso fought it off.
In the final minute of the period, Rasmussen won a foot race with DeAngelo and canceled out an icing. With 11.1 seconds left in the period, trying to stickhandle around Perron, Sanheim took a high-sticking penalty. The Red Wings' Larkin won the first faceoff of the power play against Laughton and Hronek fired a quick shot on net from just above the circle. The Flyers cleared the puck and time expired. Further pushing and shoving, with Konecny in the middle of it, ensued after the horn. No penalties were called.
4) Second period shots on goal were 11-7 in the Flyers' favor. Detroit got to six quickly but then went most of the remainder without one. Shot attempts favored the Flyers 17-12. Scoring chances were 9-3 Flyers but high-danger chances were 2-1 Detroit.
The Flyers won 12 of 19 faceoffs in the second period (23 of 38 through two periods). Second period credited hits were tied at 9-9 (25-15 Flyers through two periods). The Flyers blocked seven shots in the second period (19 through two periods) led by three from Provorov (seven through two periods).
The Flyers took much better care of the puck in the second period, turning the puck over twice after five turnovers in the first. The Red were not charged with a second period giveaway and neither team was credited with a takeaway.
5) The Red Wings took 1:48 of carryover power play time from the Sanheim high-sticking penalty into the third period. Detroit iced the puck with one minute remaining. Hart made a side angle stop on Raymond. Provorov was stung by the puck on a 94 MPH slapshot off his left calf and went off very gingerly with help from Ristolainen. The Flyers briefly had an odd-man counterattack but it was sealed off. Laughton killed off the remaining PK time.
Provorov returned for his next 5-on-5 shift. The Flyers iced the puck at 4:35. A sliding Deslauriers blocked a point blank shot with ample net for Rasmussen to shoot at.
A Frost shot attempt from the middle was blocked by Jordan Oesterle. Hayes attempted to follow it up and York also made a good play up-ice.
At 8:02, Sanheim killed a developing play deep in the Flyers' zone. The puck trickled harmlessly to Hart, who covered it. Copp won the ensuing faceoff against Cates but the Flyers bottled up everything and ended the threat. On the next shift, Hart made a save on Raymond.
At 9:01, Philly broke the deadlock. Allison chipped the puck off the boards in the neutral zone. Hayes made a good pass from just over the Detroit blueline to Laughton. Under heavy pressure, Laughton moved around Husso and scored on the backhand. The assists went to Hayes and Allison.
At 11:16, Hart moved rapidly across his crease as a cross-ice pass connected and Veleno one-timed the puck. The goalie made an outstanding glove save to protect the 1-0 lead.
The Flyers iced the pick at 11:25. Rasmussen won a left circle draw against Laughton. A point shot was snuffed out and the puck was stolen by Tippett.
Cates had an uncredited redline takeaway on the next shift, and ended it by scoring. Konecny, who delivered a big neutral zone hit on the same shift, forced a turnover in deep by Kubalik. He then made a quick pass out to Cates who scored at 13:23 for a 2-0 lead. Konecny got the lone assist.
With 5:00 on the clock, Hart made an excellent pad save on Sundqvist and Frost swept the rebound to safety. At 3:52, after Veleno tested Hart from inside the left hash marks, a puck was deflected out of play.
After the stoppage, the Red Wings pulled Husso for an extra attacker. Brown won the draw, but Konecny iced the puck. Copp won the next faceoff and Detroit generated a scramble at Hart's net. Again, the Red Wings won the draw. A Perron shot was blocked out of play with 2:56 on the clock.
Brown broke up a pass and cleared the D zone. After the Red Wings re-entered, Hayes blocked a pass attempt out of play. Provorov iced the puck with 1:34 left.
Larkin won a draw against Laughton and subsequently hit the post. Allison blocked a shot. The Red Wings were guilty of a hand pass, bringing about a neutral zone faceoff. Frost won the draw to TIppett but Tippett missed the net and took an icing.
Larkin beat Frost on the left circle offensive zone draw. Seider had a great keep up high on an attermpted clear by Frost. Seider worked the puck to Kubalik. Hart stopped an initial shot but Raymond outdueled DeAngelo and potted the rebound at 19:17 to narrow the deficit to 2-1. The assists went to Kubalik and Seider.
The Red Wings controlled the ensuing faceoff. Attacking again 6-on-5, Detroit pressured heavily. Cates whiffed on a potential clear. With just a couple ticks left, Hart made a 10-bell pad save on Raymond just in front of the goal line. Time expired.
Third period shots on goal were 13-4 Detroit, with the vast majority coming late after Phillly took the lead. Shot attempts were 29-11 Detroit. Scoring chances were 11-5 Detroit. High-danger chances were 7-3 Detroit.
In the end, of course, all that really mattered was the Flyers put two goals in the cash register in the third period and Detroit (very narrowly) was unable to get a second one after finally getting on the board.