Carter Hart to miss Flyers game with an illness; Sam Ersson to make fourth straight start

NEWARK, N.J. — Carter Hart once again will not dress.

Coach John Tortorella said the Flyers goalie is out against the New Jersey Devils because of illness shortly after the team announced it had recalled goalie Cal Petersen, who will serve as the backup in New Jersey, and centerman Rhett Gardner from Lehigh Valley.

Hart has been dealing with an undisclosed illness for most of the season that he said “just kind of comes on and off periodically.”

“I guess it’s been going on for a while, and I used to never get sick and now I get sick; I think I’ve been sick three times in the last month,” he said after the team’s optional morning skate on Saturday. “So something’s going on, and it’s good we got to the bottom of it and figured it out. Now I can take the right steps to treat it and fix it and feel better going forward.”

The 25-year-old goalie served as the backup in the Flyers’ 1-0 win against the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday. Hart did not dress in the 4-3 shootout win against the Washington Capitals on Thursday and has not started since Dec. 9, when he made 36 saves in a 5-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche.

He also missed two games during the team’s West Coast trip because of food poisoning, but in hindsight said it could be related as “it’s been similar symptoms to what’s been going on the last few times.”

» READ MORE: Flyers’ Carter Hart now has answers to illness that has ‘been going on for a while’

Sam Ersson will get the start in net once again for the Flyers and will make his fourth straight start. In his past three starts, he went 2-0-1 with a 1.95 goals-against average, a .929 save percentage, and a 32-save shutout of the Red Wings.

“For myself, I’ve been getting more and more confident,” Ersson said after the win.

Indeed.

Ersson started off the season 0-1-1 with a 5.91 goals-against average and a .760 save percentage in October. Since then he’s gone 7-2-1 with a 1.89 GAA — third-best in the NHL among goalies who made at least seven starts during that span — and a .924 save percentage with two shutouts.

The Swedish netminder was not in net the last time the Flyers faced the Devils, a 4-3 overtime loss on Nov. 30, that saw the Flyers battle back with two goals in the last five minutes to tie things up. The Devils have been playing inconsistent hockey and, despite being 5-2-0 in their last seven games, lost 5-1 to the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday.

“Play. Be ready to start the game and play. I think they lost big here the last game, and they’ll be ready to play tonight. All it is for me, as I said the other day, is readiness,” Tortorella said.

The overtime loss to New Jersey kicked off the current eight-game point streak for the Flyers (6-0-2).

The Flyers are riding an eight-game point streak. ... Olle Lycksell was sent down in a corresponding move to Lehigh Valley on Tuesday. He played in one game during his time with the big club. The moves come just hours before the NHL Holiday Roster Freeze goes into effect at 11:59 p.m. It runs through Dec. 28 at 12:01 a.m. ... Marc Staal will be the odd man out with Travis Sanheim returning to the lineup after missing one game because of illness. ... The Flyers’ home game against the New York Rangers at 3 p.m. on Feb. 24 now will be exclusively on ABC and ESPN+.