(Photo credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images)

Goaltender Carter Hart makes his much-anticipated return to Philadelphia on Thursday night when the Vegas Golden Knights face the Flyers.

Now the question is: Will Hart, a former second-round pick who won 96 games in six seasons with the Flyers, be in net for Vegas?

Hart signed a two-year, $4 million contract with the Golden Knights in October after he and four other members of Canada's 2018 world championship junior hockey team were acquitted in July of sexual assaulting a woman in their hotel room.

Hart was 12-9-3 with a 2.80 goals-against average with the Flyers in January 2024 when he and the other four players were placed on indefinite leave by the NHL until what became known as the Hockey Canada trial took place. Hart became an unrestricted free agent that offseason when Philadelphia didn't extend him a qualifying offer amid his legal situation, paving the way for his signing with Vegas after 22 months away from the sport.

Hart and Akira Schmid had been expected to alternate starts for the Golden Knights, but Hart made a surprise second consecutive start on Tuesday in a 5-4 shootout loss to the New York Islanders in Elmont, N.Y.

Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said Hart and Schmid would split the final two games of the team's five-game road trip, which concludes on Saturday at Columbus, but wouldn't tip his hand on who will start Thursday.

'We talked to Carter about the week ahead and that's the plan we came up with,' Cassidy told The Sporting Tribune. 'We have two more this week and each will play one, so we'll go from there.'

Vegas enters the game with a five-game point streak but saw a four-game winning streak ended when Emil Heineman scored past Hart's glove in the fourth round to win Tuesday's shootout. It was the ninth time this season the Golden Knights lost a game after regulation.

Vegas had rallied to force overtime with Hart on the bench for an extra attacker when Pavel Dorofeyev put in a rebound of a Mitch Marner shot with 12.1 seconds. The shootout loss put Vegas' record at 2-0-1 on the trip.

'Five out of six points so far on the road trip, that's a positive,' said Golden Knights defenseman Noah Hanifin, who scored a goal. 'Battling back again in the third period and getting that late 6-on-5 goal, that was huge. Unfortunately, we didn't get it done in overtime, but definitely some positives to take away from the game.'

Philadelphia, which has won five of its last seven games and went into Wednesday's play occupying the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, comes in off a 4-1 victory over visiting San Jose on Tuesday. Travis Konecny and Christian Dvorak each had a goal and an assist and ex-Shark Carl Grundstrom scored what proved to be the game-winner in the second period with a deflection of a Nick Seeler shot.

'You always want to beat your old team, that's for sure,' Grundstrom said. 'It feels really good.'

Konecny, who sealed the win with an empty-netter, also assisted on Dvorak's tying first-period goal for his 500th career point.

'For me, where I'm at in my career, those are good, but I want to be in the playoffs,' Konecny said. 'It's more about winning the game and keep building as a team.'

The win provided a nice bounce-back for the Flyers following a tough 3-2 home loss to league points leader Colorado on Sunday.

--Field Level Media