Shayne Gostisbehere Does It Again In Philadelphia Flyers Win

Ghost Bear nets game winning goal in Philadelphia Flyers win, extending his point streak to 15 games.

In what is quickly becoming a trend, Philadelphia Flyers rookie phenom Shayne Gostisbehere netted the game winner tonight against the Toronto Maple Leafs, extending his point streak to 15 games. He already owns the longest point streak by a rookie defenseman after netting a goal against the New Jersey Devils that extended it to 11 games.

After tonight’s outing Shayne can add two more impressive feats in his extremely young career:

• He’s the first rookie to score FOUR overtime goals in a season
  • Steven Stamkos owns the record with five overtime goals
• Ties Chris Chelios for longest point streak for a defenseman since 1995-96

Shayne has been a revelation for this team not only in the scoring department but with his energy and passion. He’s brought with him an intensity that the rest of the Flyers seem to feed off.

Don’t believe me?

Gostisbehere has recorded a point in 28 games for the Philadelphia Flyers this season, including tonight. The team has only lost in regulation nine times in those games. So if Shayne scores, there is a good chance that Flyers will leaving with at least a point.

At this point it’s pretty clear that the Flyers have a special player here and when comparing him to his peers, he stacks up rather nicely.

The criteria I used for the chart above are as follows:

• ≥ 500 time on ice
• 18-25 years old
• stats are from all situations (5v5, PP, etc)

What makes Ghosts production even that more remarkable is that he has played this well while having been paired with a multitude of defenseman.

Shayne hasn’t shared more than 36% of his total ice time with any defenseman on the Flyers. For comparison, the Dallas Stars John Klingberg has spent 87% of total time on ice with Alex Goligoski. Having spent that much time with another defenseman really allows for those players to build a working relationship where they can anticipate each other’s movements. Shayne has not been given that luxury be it because of injuries or lack of organizational depth.

He’s been able to persevere through a carousel of partners because of his tremendous speed and exceptional on-ice awareness. Both of which were on display tonight when he scored the game winning goal.

As soon as Shayne saw Jake Voracek break out along the boards he booked it to the far post, beating three Leafs on his way after starting from between the Flyers faceoff circles. An effort rewarded with a brilliant pass from Jake that Shayne skillfully deposited into the back of the net.

Gostisbehere, even before last night, should’ve been on a lot of people’s short lists for a Calder Trophy nomination. He’s planted himself among some of the best defenseman in the game.

Since the calendar turned over to 2016, Shayne Gostisbehere has been the most prolific scoring defenseman in the NHL. Beating out current NHL stars like Erik Karlsson, P.K. Subban, and Drew Doughty.

This is however a small sample size, so we would be wise to pump the brakes a little bit. He is after all, human. I think. He’s young and still has a lot to learn about defensiveassignments, spacing, and defending away from the puck. But boy, is a he something to watch.

The Philadelphia Flyers end their road trip Tuesday against the Carolina Hurricanes then begin a six game homestand against some bad teams that include the Flames, Oilers, and Coyotes. This is going to be a great chance for this team to not only grab some points to keep themselves in the playoff hunt, but more importantly give Gostisbehere a good chance to extend his point streak.

I’m only half kidding about that last sentence.

Data mined from War-On-Ice and Hockey Viz.