Bouncing Back: Flyers finish road-trip with a 2-1 win over Claude Giroux and the Ottawa Senators
The Philadelphia Flyers finished a tough road-trip with a 2-1 win over Claude Giroux and the Ottawa Senators. Carter Hart continues his dominant start with 33 saves on 34 shots and now has a record of 6-0-2, with a save percentage of .946.
Flyers – Carter Hart 2022-23 Season
It felt very odd to be watching my team face Claude Giroux last night. I’ve experienced plenty of former Flyers playing against the club, but something about tonight just felt weird. Giroux has been the face of the franchise for the majority of my life as a Flyers fan so maybe it’s a touch of bitterness. I can honestly say that watching the rise of a young Claude Giroux during my teen years is something I’ll never forget, it’s a huge reason I care so much about the team today.
Nonetheless, he made it painful for me out of the gate scoring three minutes in on a beautiful play to put Philadelphia down 1-0. His 300th goal… congratulations Claude.
Oh yes he did. 🤭
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 5, 2022
Claude Giroux gets career goal No. 300 against his former team! pic.twitter.com/UYSNI3ezEx
From here it was more of the same, rely on Carter Hart for dear life as we get shelled in the first period. The saving grace for the Flyers starts has been timely finishing and they got more of that on the first powerplay from Kevin Hayes to tie it at 1-1. Great job by Tony DeAngelo on finding a lane to funnel this puck through.
Kevin Hayes (2) ties it up! #Flyers pic.twitter.com/b6vsqQtqZ6
— TLY (@TheLibertyYell) November 5, 2022
The second period is where the Flyers’ put the foot on the gas and took all of the momentum. Philadelphia killed three penalties, outshot Ottawa 17-10, and came away with another goal courtesy of Zack MacEwen.
ZACK MACEWEN (3) pic.twitter.com/agZRbAAHdZ
— TLY (@TheLibertyYell) November 6, 2022
Going into the final period with a 2-1 lead I expected a shooting gallery out of Ottawa. Surprisingly, the Flyers’ finally closed out a game aggressively. Sure there were scary moments here and there, but this was one of the more complete efforts out of the club all season and a win I’m happy to grab.
John Tortorella praised the efforts of the Deslauriers/Frost line for setting the tempo early with a relentless forecheck. Glad to see Morgan Frost getting a solid game in after exiting the lineup the last game.
*Eye test*
— TLY (@TheLibertyYell) November 6, 2022
“Hey, thought Frost looked pretty good tonight”
*checks analytics to see if it backs up eye test claim*
: pic.twitter.com/uu6PkVj5at
At the end of the day this was yet another Carter Hart masterclass. In every game he has started the team has obtained points in the standings. We all saw the signs of greatness in him when he out-dueled Carey Price in the bubble but he has now officially arrived as an elite net-minder in the National Hockey League. Everyone projected this team to be atrocious and yet he’s dragging them to wins with momentum riding high.
I don’t know how long to expect these game breaking performances to last but I’m here for the ride. Although my expectations remain tempered, I have to say I’ve enjoyed the early bit of the 2022-23 season despite being outshot regularly. On to St. Louis at home.
6-3-2.
Mandatory Credit: Philadelphia Flyers
