Skip to content
Flyers
Link copied to clipboard
Link copied to clipboard

Flyers ‘minus’ Gostisbehere for third consecutive game

Coach Alain Vigneault says the veteran needs to be more dependable on the defensive end.

Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere has been a healthy scratch the last three games.
Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere has been a healthy scratch the last three games.Read moreYONG KIM / Staff Photographer

A booming shot and offensive prowess can only take a defenseman so far in Alain Vigneault’s eyes. If he can’t trust you to stop the opposition, you get a seat in the doghouse. That’s where Shayne Gostisbehere is residing these days.

“Ghost, I mean, he’s got to be dependable,” Vigneault said. “We understand, and we see the qualities that he has as far as puck-moving ability and that good shot that he has.”

We’re halfway through the season and the Flyers’ back end, so consistent in its pairings a year ago, is still searching for stability. Vigneault is keeping the same group — Ivan Provorov, Justin Braun, Travis Sanheim, Phil Myers, Nate Prosser, and Erik Gustafsson — for a second consecutive game. They were excellent for the first 48 minutes against the Islanders on Thursday, but scrambled for most of the final 12.

“[Gostisbehere’s] got to put it together consistently like the rest of our team and that’s been a challenge for our group,” the coach said.

» READ MORE: Sam Carchidi hands out his first-half grades

Gostisbehere gave a jolt to the Flyers’ power play early in the month, but had a three-game stretch March 11-15 when he was a minus-8. He was a healthy scratch for the St. Patrick’s Day massacre at Madison Square Garden when Sanheim and Myers each posted a minus-6, tying the worst single-game rating for a Flyers player in the last 40 years.

Gustafsson went in the lineup in Gostisbehere’s place for that 9-0 loss to the Rangers, and stayed in as the Flyers hung on to beat the Islanders on Thursday.

“We gave [Gostisbehere] the opportunity on a couple of occasions to redeem himself, but after his last game [March 15], we felt that it was time for ‘Gus’ to get back in. Gus was all right, but wasn’t great,” Vigneault said.

» READ MORE: Lindblom helps Flyers overcome New York nightmare

“But we thought that he needed the opportunity — just like Travis and just like Phil after the New York [9-0] game, an opportunity to redeem himself. They played well the last game here against the Islanders, so I’m sticking with the same lineup.”

Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but what do you expect for a team that came into Saturday 30th in the league in goals allowed? Ugh.

This & that

  1. The only team allowing more goals per game than the Flyers (3.46) is the Senators (3.91).

  2. Carter Hart will get the start Saturday night for the second consecutive game.

  3. The Islanders are favored at -130 tonight. Over/under of 5.5 goals is -120.

  4. The Flyers and Islanders will conclude their three-game series Monday in Philadelphia. The Islanders had been scheduled to fly to Boston immediately after Monday’s game, but their game Tuesday against the Bruins has been postponed because of a COVID-19 outbreak among Boston players. Thus, they avoided playing three games in four nights in three different cities.

Quoting

“Good teams don’t lose three games in a row and three games against the same team. We haven’t beat Philly this year. It’s a big challenge in front of us, but we’re up for it.”

— Islanders center Jean-Gabriel Pageau