The Philadelphia Flyers have their starting goaltender back after activating Carter Hart from injured reserve. The young netminder was cleared from the concussion protocol a few days ago but is now ready to get back into game action. The team already had room on the roster after sending Olle Lycksell down yesterday.
Hart, 24, has a .911 save percentage in 27 appearances this season, a nice bounce-back campaign after his struggles the last two years. Unfortunately, given the team he plays behind, that has resulted in just ten wins, with Hart leading the entire league in overtime and shootout losses with six. His return gives the Flyers their best chance at victory, though some fans will now believe that’s the opposite goal at this point in the year.
In his absence, the Flyers gave three straight starts to Samuel Ersson, who actually played quite well in his first NHL experience. Interestingly, the 23-year-old Ersson hasn’t been loaned back to the minor leagues yet, meaning Philadelphia is carrying three goaltenders. Felix Sandstrom would need to clear waivers to go down (while Ersson wouldn’t), something they may not want to risk. Given he has been dealing with an illness of late, they may be keeping Ersson up just for the next few days.
Either way, it should be back to normal with Hart taking the majority of starts. The Flyers are back in action tomorrow and then have a back-to-back situation coming up on Sun-Mon, something to keep an eye on to see whether Ersson or Sandstrom gets in the net.
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