Flyers make two moves with an eye to help in goal

Things have NOT gone according to plan so far this season for the Philadelphia Flyers.

The team has struggled out of the gate with a 4-5-1 record to start the season and are currently mired in a three game losing streak.

In case you missed it last night, the Flyers dropped a 5-2 decision to the Buffalo Sabres and lost starting goaltender Carter Hart to a suspected lower body injury. 

Here's the last sequence that Hart played before leaving the game due to injury:

The team has yet to make an official statement on Hart's status, but they did send down defenseman Victor Mete to the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms in order to recall goaltender Cal Petersen. This means that, for now at least, the Flyers are carrying three goaltenders on their active roster. Felix Sandstrom is down the with Phantoms on a conditioning stint, while Samuel Ersson remains with the big club. Don't be surprised if Ersson or Petersen gets the start tomorrow night in the team's rematch against the Sabres.

As for Hart, the 25 year old goaltender has actually gotten off to a decent start this season. He has just four wins in eight starts, but he has a solid 2.52 goals against average and .913 save percentage. While no one is calling Hart a Vezina Trophy candidate just yet, it's encouraging to see him finally find his footing a bit in this, his 6th NHL season.

 Hart has been front in center in trade rumors for awhile now and those rumors picked up substantially this past offseason with new GM Daniel Briere taking over duties for the team. While Briere hasn't denied that he's fielding offers on all his players, he's been smart to not just toss Hart aside like yesterday's trash. Just imagine all the predatory calls that a rookie GM must get regarding a struggling, but talented young goaltender. Briere could have gotten absolutely robbed on the trade market, but he smartly elected to hold pat with Hart to see what he has before making any irreversible mistakes.