The last time Shayne Gostisbehere was held off the scoreboard, it was Jan. 17, in a 2-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings. It certainly wasn’t for lack of trying, though: he had five shots on net in the outing, the most of any player on either team.
It has been almost a month since then. With 14 points, Gostisbehere has had a hand in putting the puck in the net for 11 straight games: the most a rookie defenseman ever has in the NHL.
The previous record holder was Barry Beck, who had two 10-game point streaks back in the 1977-78 season.
Remember when Ghost didn’t even make the Philadelphia Flyers out of camp to start this season? Remember how they’ve moved other players around him to keep him up?
Of course, you’d prefer all of these point streaks to come during wins, but this point streak is a nice consolation prize: especially considering he’s a 22-year-old rookie.
For any puritans of comparing different eras, only one of Gostisbehere’s points has come during overtime, and he had a regulation point in that game – a 4-3 victory over the Washington Capitals – too, so the entire point streak is legitimate when comparing it throughout all of NHL history.
Nine of his points through this streak have come on the power play, though, so there is a bit of help being received here – but hey, he’s the one scoring when no one else is, circumstances be damned, so this doesn’t take away from his achievement in the slightest.
And now he’s made history. For all Flyers rookies, and for every rookie defenseman to ever play the game.
(And yes – I was knocking on wood while writing this, don’t worry. Hopefully we get an entire month of Ghost scoring, and then some yet.)
