Carter Hart is human after all.

Pulled for the second time in as many games Thursday after allowing three goals in roughly 10 minutes of action on just nine shots in what would become a 5-1 Flyers loss to Montreal, people are starting to question what’s wrong with Hart?

Is he tired?

Is it mental?

Does he need a break?

Stop it. Every last one of you.

You want to know what’s wrong? Nothing. Nothing’s wrong. He’s a 20-year-old goalie playing in the best hockey league in the world. There’s going to be an adjustment period. The more he plays the more teams are going to find perceived weaknesses in his game. The more they do that, the more Hart will counter by making adjustments to his game.

It’s cat and mouse. It’s no different than a pitcher vs. a batter, or disguising defenses in the NFL against certain quarterbacks, or mixing up your serve in tennis against a specific opponent. It’s all part of the game.

Hart has played in 22 games in the NHL. He’s been excellent in a lot of them. Four of the last five haven’t been great, but overall, he’s been pretty darn good.

In those 22 games Hart has saved at least 90 percent of the shots he’s faced 14 times and been below that the other eight times. In the 14 games he’s saved 90 percent of the shots faced, he’s 11-2-1. In the eight he hasn’t he’s 2-6-0.

So, now we see what the cut off line should be, right? And it isn’t surprising because that’s usually what it is for any goalie in the NHL. Yeah, a save percentage of .900 is kind of mediocre, but it at least gives your team a chance to win. Anything less, and you’re likely going to be on the losing end.

Pretty simple math there.

But what specifically is leading toward such a sharp downturn after Hart won an NHL record-tying eight straight games for a goalie under the age of 21?

How about the fact there’s a book on him now?

In the last 200 minutes of hockey he’s played, which is equivalent to 10 periods, Hart has allowed 15 goals.

In the eight game winning streak that preceded this recent downturn, Hart allowed just 19 goals in roughly 480 minutes.

That’s a big difference.

It’s also a big difference when teams get to see him a second time.

Three teams have had a chance to go against Hart a second time, and in each instance, they were more successful against him than the first time they played him.

In Hart’s defense though, losing to Montreal was the first time he lost to a team he had seen more than once. And, for the one team who’s seen him a third time (Detroit), Hart bounced back with one of his best games to secure a win for the Flyers.

Here’s how those “repeat” games have broken down:

Detroit Red Wings

GA     SvPct     W/L

2      .909        W

5      .868        W

1      .974        W

Boston Bruins

3     .929        W

2     .920        W

Montreal Canadiens

2     .943        W

3     .667         L

This is all a very small sample size for sure, but the point is that there’s a trend here. Teams are finding ways to dent Hart’s armor. Detroit employed a lot of effort at redirection. Boston tried to harass him with a constant net-front presence. Montreal tried to come at him with a lot of speed and then combine that with skill to keep him moving laterally.

The strategies all are different, but the league is still trying to figure him out.

Hart should wear that as a badge of honor. He’s not just another goalie who teams figure they can just throw a lot f shots at and eventually a few will get through. No, Hart is too good at dealing with the mundane. Ergo, teams have to find different ways to have success against him.

That should bode well for Hart long-term as he is mature beyond his age when it comes to dealing with pressure and adversity. Because Hart isn’t the type of player who’s just going to sit back on his laurels and let teams try to figure him out. He’s going to keep working at his craft and keep adjusting to his opponents as well. He’s that type of competitor.

Just use Detroit as an example.

His first NHL start was against the Red Wings, and they weren’t able to generate much at all in that game. The Flyers kept them to the outside mostly, and not a lot of tough shots came Hart’s way. It was really noticeable how many shots were right at him and how he often had a clear look.

In the second game between the two, Detroit played a lot more east/west, keeping Hart moving and finding a lot of success tipping and redirecting shots. They looked a lot like me when I used to play NHL 94. Wait for a guy to crash the net, pass it to him and hit the shoot button as soon as the puck got to his stick for the easy one-timer goal for two feet away.

In the third game between the teams, Detroit tried all of that again, only this time Hart was prepared for it. He did a great job anticipating when the passes were coming and where they were going to go. He simply stole a win for the Flyers in Detroit last Sunday because of it. He countered the strategy the Red Wings has deployed against him. That’s good goaltending.

And while Thursday in Montreal wasn’t exactly good goaltending, nor was it Tuesday against Tampa, marking the second and third times Hart was pulled in an NHL start, all three coming in the first period after allowing three goals on either nine or 10 shots, it’s not a time for panic. It’s not a time to question if he’s being overused, or if he needs a mental refresher.

This is part of being a 20-year-old goalie. You want him learning on the fly in the NHL? Well, this is what it looks like. Get used to it, because he’s going to have stretches of brilliant play and stretches of not-so-brilliant play.

The Flyers just hope the former happens more regularly than the latter.