Knights goalie Carter Hart doesn’t play in Philadelphia return

PHILADELPHIA — Golden Knights goalie Carter Hart was on the bench against the Flyers for Thursday’s 3-2 overtime win for Vegas in his return to Philadelphia.

Vegas had started Hart in back-to-back games, including Tuesday’s 5-4 shootout loss to the New York Islanders. Hart is expected to start Saturday in Columbus on the final game of Vegas’ road trip.

Akira Schmid, who last played Friday and shut out the New Jersey Devils, started and made 17 saves in the victory.

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“Carter wants to play every game. He’s a very competitive guy,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said Thursday morning. “We discussed coming out, you’d play two out of three this week, and coming out of the Ranger game, he wanted to get right back in the net. So that led to a decision on Long Island. We discussed it obviously with him, but that was more us making a decision. I had to get Schmid back in pretty soon coming off the shutout; that’s how we landed on it.”

Hart has played three games since being reinstated by the NHL on Dec. 1, going 2-0-1 and saving 72 of 81 shots. Each of the three games went to overtime.

The 27-year-old goalie, who played six seasons for Philadelphia from 2018 to 2024, was one of five players on Canada’s 2018 under-20 world junior team accused of assaulting a woman after the 2018 Hockey Canada Foundation Gala. Hart was formally charged with one count of sexual assault on Jan. 30, 2024, shortly after he took a leave of absence from the Flyers. In a trial this summer, a judge found that prosecutors did not meet the onus to convict the defendants on any of the counts and they were all acquitted.

Hart joined the Golden Knights on a paid tryout Oct. 16 after the NHL instituted a reinstatement process in which players could not return to the league until Dec. 1. The goalie then signed a two-year, $4 million dollar deal with Vegas.

Flyers general manager Danny Briere told ESPN this week that Philadelphia was exploring re-signing Hart this summer after the NHL’s decision to reinstate the goalie. However, Hart called Briere over the summer and told him he believed he needed a fresh start. Several teams showed serious interest in signing Hart before he chose Vegas.