Carter Hart won’t start for Knights in return to Philadelphia

Akira Schmid will start in net for the Golden Knights when they face the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

That means goaltender Carter Hart will not face his former team in his return to Philadelphia.

Hart has started three of the past four games and the past two — a 3-2 overtime win against the New York Rangers on Sunday and a 5-4 shootout loss to the New York Islanders on Tuesday.

This will be Schmid’s first start since posting a 24-save shutout Friday against the New Jersey Devils.

“Carter wants to play every game,” coach Bruce Cassidy said. “He’s a very competitive guy. We discussed coming out of the Ranger game he wanted to get right back in the net. That led to the decision on Long Island. We discussed it with him, but that was more us making the decision that Akira had to get back in soon coming off a shutout, so that’s how we landed on it.”

Cassidy said Hart will start Saturday against the Columbus Blue Jackets to wrap up the Knights’ five-game road trip.

Hart was drafted in the second round by the Flyers in 2016. He spent parts of six seasons with the team and was the starter for Philadelphia in its last trip to the playoffs in 2020.

The 27-year-old went 96-93-29 with the Flyers. His final start with them came Jan. 20, 2024, at home, where he gave up five goals on 15 shots against the Colorado Avalanche.

Hart was formally charged with one count of sexual assault 10 days later, after taking a leave of absence with the Flyers, when he and four others were accused of sexually assaulting a woman during a gala celebrating Canada’s World Junior championship in 2018.

All five players were acquitted in July.

Hart joined the Knights on a professional tryout deal Oct. 16 and signed a two-year, $4 million contract eight days later.

Hart, 2-0-1 in three starts with the Knights since being eligible to play Dec. 1, was not made available to the media in Philadelphia.

Schmid is 4-1-2 in his past seven starts with a .915 save percentage and 1.97 goals against.

This is a developing story. Check back later for updates.

Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.