Hart returns, Flyers down Panthers

PHILADELPHIA — The Flyers got Carter Hart back in the crease on Monday night and he made 30 saves to backstop a 4-1 win over the Florida Panthers.

“Maybe a couple shots and I was good to go,” Hart said. “I kind of did all the work in practice with our coaches and our staff to make sure we did any scenario that would test my injury and see how I felt. You get a couple (shots) early and it gets you into the game.”

Carter Hart #79 of the Philadelphia Flyers peers around the screen byNoel Acciari #55 of the Florida Panthers

MacKenzie Weegar scored the only goal for the Panthers.

“I know we’re frustrated with a few things and we can make excuses up, but we’ve got a great leadership group in here and we have great guys in this room,” Weegar said. “We pick everybody up and we’re not too worried about it. We’ll get scoring [and] we’ll finish off in the right way this year.”

James van Riemsdyk had a goal and two points i the win.

“He (Hart) looked sharp, looked like he didn’t miss a beat there,” van Riemsdyk said. “It’s tough for anyone to miss time, especially for goalies. I think it can be tough, just the timing of things, and having that much time out with an injury is tough. But he looked really good tonight. He looked calm, he looked poised and made a lot of stops look easy.”

Ivan Provorov and Travis Sanheim scored for the Flyers.

“It was nice to get back out there,” Hart said. “It’s not fun when you’re just watching from the side, so it felt really good to get back out there with the boys and get a huge two points.”

Claude Giroux added an empty net goal late for the sealer.

[WATCH: All Panthers vs. Flyers highlights]

Sergei Bobrovsky made 30 saves in the loss.

“We had a real good start to the game, did a few good things,” Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said. “Lost a little momentum on their first goal, but I thought we had several high-quality chances in the second period and they go down and score to make it 3-1. Third period wasn’t very good, but we had some chances, missed some breakaways. We’ve got to be better start to finish.”

Claude Giroux #28 of the Philadelphia Flyers

Defenseman Josh Brown #2 of the Florida Panthers attempts to keep Philadelphia Flyers Connor Bunnaman #82 from the puck in front of Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky #72 of the Florida Panthers