With Hart's career high, Flyers find way to sweep Golden Knights on the season

For just the second time in the year of 2022, the Flyers have won consecutive games.

They've got themselves a two-game winning streak after beating the Golden Knights, 2-1, Tuesday night at the Wells Fargo Center.

Carter Hart was superb in net, while the Flyers (18-28-10) received goals from Justin Braun and Oskar Lindblom.

Scott Laughton finished with two assists.

The Flyers went 3-4-1 on their eight-game homestand and are 5-6-2 in their last 13 games.

That's progress interim head coach Mike Yeo will absolutely take as it comes on the heels of the club's 13-game losing streak.

Yeo sent a loud message to his team leading up to its 4-3 win over the Blackhawks last Saturday. For the most part, the Flyers have been consistently competitive under Yeo. He deserves credit for navigating a rash of injuries and still getting his team to play hard and structured.

The Flyers went 2-0-0 against the Golden Knights (32-22-4) in their two-game regular-season series.

• Hart beat the Golden Knights in Las Vegas back on Dec. 10 when he matched his regular-season career high with 41 saves.

This time in Philadelphia, the 23-year-old topped it, setting a new career best with 47 saves.

Evgenii Dadonov cracked him on a Golden Knights power play in the second period.

But Hart kept Vegas there.

"It was unbelievable," Braun said of Hart's performance. "Any time you give up that many shots and grade As and you come out with a W, that's probably on your goalie having a great night."

The Flyers sealed the game on a PK in the final 1:45 minutes when Ivan Provorov committed a delay-of-game penalty.

"I think we've done a really good job these last couple of weeks of just sticking to the process, coming to work every day and just battling," Hart said. "And that's all you can do — give your best, compete and work your nuts off."

Golden Knights netminder Robin Lehner stopped 19 of the Flyers' 21 shots.

More: With Hart under siege, Flyers recall one of top prospects for his go-to strengths

• Braun was flexing his right hand on the bench after blocking a shot during Vegas' first power play in the opening minutes.

Moments later, he scored the game-opening goal from the blue line. It was his fifth of the season, which matches his career high.

"He was awesome," Yeo said. "There's no way that you win when they roll out line after line with the skill that they have [without] the way that we lean on Brauner in pretty much every situation except the power play right now, which maybe we should consider that."

Yeo said that with a smile.

The 35-year-old veteran's game is not offense but he has provided some of it on top of steady and sound defense. Braun is one of the most likely trade moves for the Flyers, who are set to "aggressively retool" at the March 21 deadline.

The NHL-leading Avalanche had a scout on hand Tuesday night. They own a blistering offense and could be eyeing defensive help at the deadline. Colorado assistant general manager Chris MacFarland also scouted the Flyers' home games Feb. 26 and March 1.

Claude Giroux, who is the Flyers' biggest storyline at the deadline, played in his 996th career game Tuesday night.

"They're aware of what's going on and they know if their name's in the mix or if there's rumors or whatever the case is," Yeo said Tuesday morning of his players. "They're human beings. You have to remember, most of these guys that we're talking about have families, have kids, have homes here. Someone like G, how long he's been here, how much he has invested into this organization.

"All you can do is try to be supportive, try to encourage them, get them focused on tonight's game and not think about the big picture, but it's not an easy thing to do, that's for sure."

• Lindblom's goal cushioned the Flyers' lead to 2-0 at first intermission.

Since Dec. 14, the 25-year-old winger is second on the Flyers in goals with nine, behind only Cam Atkinson (11).

In 30 games over that span, Lindblom has 19 points (18 at even strength) and a plus-10 mark.

He has looked more and more like himself.

• The Flyers' power play went 0 for 4 and is 8 for 75 (10.6 percent) since the calendar turned to 2022.

It has looked out of sorts for a while now, from entries to in-zone execution. Personnel has changed a good bit because of injuries, but it's an area general manager Chuck Fletcher has to address in the offseason.

The club's penalty kill went 4 for 5. It survived a scare during the second period when Hart lost his stick with the Flyers nursing their 2-1 lead.

"He was incredible," Laughton said. "Second period on the PK there, I thought he was huge. No stick, I think he made two or three saves. We had a couple of big blocks, but he was really good for us."

• Nick Seeler entered the lineup for Kevin Connauton, who was shaken up pretty badly during the third period last Saturday when he took a hit from Blackhawks forward Kirby Dach.

But the depth defenseman was on the ice for optional morning skate Tuesday after missing practice Monday.

"We'll see how he responds to the skate today, but obviously good news that he's able to get out there," Yeo said. "He felt good yesterday, so hopefully he's going to be cleared to play."

• Nolan Patrick took part in Vegas' morning skate but was out with an upper-body injury.

• The Flyers hit the road for the first time since mid-February as they visit Sunrise, Florida to face the Panthers on Thursday (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP).

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