Carter Hart

Montreal got off to a hot start by taking just 62 seconds to get on the board. Brendan Gallagher fired from an angle and Tomas Tatar buried the rebound to give the Canadiens the 1-0 lead.

Calm, cool and collected, Hart made 27 saves to help the Flyers claim a 2-1 win in Game 1 of their first-round series against the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night.

The Flyers' greatest weakness for decades was finding a goalie that had the ability to get them to the next level. Carter Hart has appeared to transform that discussion.

Whether they are frequent visitors to a ballpark or stadium, or just enjoy a game on TV, this is a hit to one of the greatest recreations that people have in life.

Hart made 20 saves in the loss. Vasilevskiy made 30 saves in the win. The win was the 10th straight for the Lightning.

“What is it, two weeks and it seems like he didn’t miss a beat,” Ivan Provorov said.

It’s certainly not an ideal way to win a game, but the Flyers will take the two points and look to build on it.

Just as the second period was approaching its midpoint, the Tampa Bay Lightning finally broke the ice with the first goal of the game. It was the only one they needed.

January becomes all about establishing an identity. The Flyers were on their way to establishing a good one. On their recent road trip, all of that vanished.

The Arizona Coyotes had more than enough to earn the win with a three-goal first period and the Flyers lost their third straight by a score of 6-2 Saturday night.