Carter Hart wins NHL Rookie of the Month honor

Share

Updated: 2:55 p.m.

VOORHEES, N.J. — The Carter Hart euphoria just keeps getting better.

On Friday, the Flyers' 20-year-old goalie was named NHL Rookie of the Month for January, an honor he certainly earned and deserved.

Hart, who has breathed life into a 2018-19 season that was on life support, went 6-2-1 with a 2.33 goals-against average and .931 save percentage in nine January starts. Over that span, he led the NHL in saves with 283.

Don't expect Hart, regarded for his maturity and professionalism, to get lost in the award. He hardly cracked a smile Friday at practice and made the distinction about the team.

"Last month has been really good for us," Hart said. "We've won six games in a row now and we just need to keep pushing and take things one game at a time.

"I'm just trying to focus on what we're doing right now. Not trying to focus on anything that has been in the past or anything in the future, just trying to focus on what we're doing right here, right now. And right now, we have to prepare for Edmonton [Saturday]."

The Flyers are riding the longest active win streak in the NHL at six games. Hart has won five of those games, becoming just the 10th goalie ever to record a five-game winning streak before his 21st birthday and the first to do so since Carey Price in 2008, when the Canadiens' netminder went on a 7-0-0 run.

Because of injuries and instability, the Flyers have played seven goalies this season and Hart has been by far the best.

"I don't think there's a team in the league that had to go through that and for what this team has had to go through … it's been a tough haul the whole year having to go through that, and it's not an easy thing to be able to find somebody to come in — and certainly from the minors — and play the way Carter has," Flyers interim head coach Scott Gordon said. "It's great for the organization, it's great for Carter — we just need to keep going in the right direction."

Overall in 14 starts, Hart, the Flyers' 2016 second-round pick, has gone 8-5-1 with a 2.48 goals-against average and .922 save percentage.

"When you have a goalie that's making big stops and has that coolness to him, for whatever reason, you can definitely feel that on the ice," James van Riemsdyk said about Hart on Jan. 10, the start of the Flyers' best stretch in which they've won seven of eight games. "I would be curious to see what his heart rate gets to because he seems so cool under pressure."

Claude Giroux echoed that sentiment earlier this week.

"You're not supposed to be a 20-year-old and play the way he's playing," the Flyers' 31-year-old captain said. "I don't think he knows how to panic."

Hart pieced together a historic junior hockey career. He became the first goalie to win CHL Goaltender of the Year twice and the first to capture the Del Wilson Memorial Trophy (WHL top goaltender) three times.

The Flyers hope Rookie of the Month is the first of many NHL accolades for the youngster in net.

Click here to download the MyTeams App by NBC Sports! Receive comprehensive coverage of your teams and stream the Flyers, Sixers and Phillies games easily on your device.

More on the Flyers

Contact Us