In the first three games of the season, Carter Hart has been at the center of the action. On Saturday night in Nashville, Hart had his finest performance of the season.

Hart made 31 saves and held the Predators off the board into the final three minutes of the game, as the Flyers bounced back from their first loss of the season with a 3-1 win over the Predators.

For the first time this season, the Flyers struck first. At 3:13 of the opening period, Joel Farabee set up Kevin Hayes in the left circle and he ripped a shot past Juuse Saros to make it 1-0.

The Predators settled into the first period from there, taking a 12-6 advantage in shots over the first 20 minutes. Hart made all 12 saves, and that opened the door for the Flyers to get another goal before the period was over.

With 1:24 remaining in the first, Zack MacEwen scored on a rebound to make it a 2-0 game.

Hart was again the star of the second period, making several great saves and stopping all 15 shots he faced to keep the 2-0 margin going to the third.

The Flyers added some insurance at 7:44 of the third. Off the rush, Farabee fired home his first goal of the season and recorded his third point of the game to make it 3-0.

With 2:18 remaining in the third, the Predators finally broke through on the power play. Matt Duchene scored to break up Hart's shutout bid and cut the lead to two.

Hart finished the game with 31 saves. Saros made 22 saves in the loss.

In addition to Farabee's three-point night, Hayes finished with a goal and an assist.

The Flyers return home to face the San Jose Sharks on Sunday night. Game time is 7 p.m.

Box Score

123T
Flyers2013
Predators0011

Scoring Summary

1st Period

  • PHI Kevin Hayes (1) (Joel Farabee) 3:13
  • PHI Zack MacEwen (1) (Egor Zamula, Farabee) 18:36

2nd Period

  • No Scoring

3rd Period

  • PHI Farabee (1) (Hayes, Ivan Provorov) 7:44
  • NSH Matt Duchene (2) PP (Filip Forsberg, Mikael Granlund) 17:42

Game Statistics

FlyersPredators
Shots2532
Power Plays0/21/3
Hits1938
Faceoff %28.6%71.4%
Giveaways57
Takeaways44
Blocked Shots2212
Penalty Minutes1614

Kevin Durso is Flyers insider for 97.3 ESPN and Flyers editor for SportsTalkPhilly.com. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.

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