Shayne Gostisbehere's Historic 15-Game Point Streak In One Video, Plus Other Flyers News & Notes
I’ve been saying the same thing for a while now but Shayne Gostisbehere’s 15-game point streak was the best thing that could have happened to a rather mediocre Flyers season. Unfortunately that streak ended Tuesday night against Cam Ward and the Carolina Hurricanes, but the kid has made watching Flyers hockey an enjoyable experience despite the team most likely missing out on the playoffs for a 2nd consecutive year. Which is totally fine because nobody was expecting them to be a playoff team this year. The rebuild is already underway and next season will be the year it kicks off. But luckily Flyers fans had something to really root for over the past 15 games and it was Ghost putting together the 2nd longest point streak in the NHL this season. The longest point streak by a defenseman in the NHL since Chelios went 15-games in ’95. And the longest streak ever by a rookie defenseman. 5 goals and 13 assists in 15 games.
And you know what? It wasn’t even just the points that he amassed over the past 15 games that has been the most impressive. It’s how much confidence this kid has when the puck is on his stick. I get that he may not be getting anywhere close to the type of minutes that guys like Karlsson and Doughty get. But when Shayne Gostisbehere is skating with the puck, he is just as effective as either of those guys. The way he picks apart a forecheck from behind the net, the way he’s able to use his hips as he’s dicing his way through the neutral zone, and how he knows he has the greenlight to shoot the shit out of the puck whenever he wants. It’s fucking beautiful. Some people have PornHub. I just have the thought of what this team will look like once Ghost has guys like Provorov and Sanheim and Morin up on the blueline with him. Brighter days are ahead for the Philadelphia Flyers and it’s a kid from Florida who is leading the way. Quick shoutout to @JoeR35h93 for throwing this compilation together. If you’re a Flyers fan, I suggest hitting him with the follow.
The Flyers play Minnesota tonight. Both teams are still somewhat in the playoff hunt but honestly, I wouldn’t hate losing this game. Give Minnesota enough confidence boost heading into Monday’s deadline that they finally make a deal for Jonathan Drouin and keep the Flyers closer to a spot in the draft that they can work some magic in. Claude Giroux won’t be playing again tonight because of this hit from PK Subban the other night that that dickhead wasn’t penalized for.
Subban is out there concussing babies and concussing Claude Giroux’s. When the fuck are we going to kick this guy out of the league before he actually kills somebody??
Michael Raffl Extension
I’ll be honest, it was kind of surprising to see this news come this early. I guess the Flyers’ thinking here is that they’re going to want to have Raffl around just in case negotiations with Brayden Schenn don’t go so well this summer. I’ve been saying all season now that they Flyers need to pay Schenn this summer. A 2nd line of Konecny-Couturier-Schenn for next year just looks so sexy. So if the Flyers could hang on to Schenn somewhere between the Simmonds and Couturier contracts (so for around $4-4.25M) that they need to give him that kind of money. But if the Flyers can’t get him at that price, well then they’ll have to move on and that’s where Michael Raffl fills the void. I like Raffl a lot. Think he’s a solid player and brings a lot to the table that doesn’t end up in the blogs the next day. But the Flyers need to limit the term on this contract. 1-2 years tops I think.
Here’s what to expect from the Flyers at the Deadline from Tuesday.
