Flyers Update: Patrick, Hart Nearing Return, Gostisbehere Plays After Missing Ten

Flyers Update

Shayne Gostisbehere

Shayne Gostisbehere joined the team Thursday night against New Jersey for his first game since January 7th. He’d been battling a knee injury that required minor surgery and kept him out for a total of 10 games. Though “Ghost” is having a rough season so far compared to previous years, his presence has still been missed on the blue-line. Despite being mostly absent in the points department this year, Gostisbehere is a phenomenal skating and passing defenseman who consistently provides outlet passes and offensive zone entries which look much easier than the rest of the Flyers d-core’s attempts. In particular, they’ve been noticeably weaker at gaining the blue line on the power play, something that Ghost helps with quite often. In Thursday’s contest against the Devils, Shayne played 18:23 minutes of ice time and was a -1 with 3 shots on goal.

Nolan Patrick

The most encouraging news of coming out of the many Flyers injuries as of late is that Nolan Patrick has been spotted practicing with the team in a full-contact jersey. Patrick has not played yet this season, missing all 54 games so far. He was diagnosed with migraine disorder before the season started. Though the Flyers have done well to bring in other young players from the Phantoms and elsewhere, they’ve certainly missed him. A particularly bright spot among his replacements has been Joel Farabee, who was riding 6 points in his last 6 games, including 4 goals before missing Thursday night’s game with an illness.

Patrick is only 21 years old, and this would’ve been his third year in the NHL. He not only brings secondary scoring to the high-powered offense but is also a strong defensive presence. We’ve seen flashes of brilliance from Patrick, but he’s yet to stay consistent. The still very young Canadian forward continues to develop, and this season would’ve been a big stepping stone for him. Just as Travis Konecny has finally broken out this year, we can continue to look forward to the development of Patrick as he works on being 100% healthy.

Carter Hart

The Flyers also have starting goaltender Carter Hart out with an abdominal injury. He’s missed 8 games with the injury but is feeling much better. He is expected to make a return in any of the next few games, but the team is being quite cautious as Brian Elliott and Alex Lyon have been more than serviceable in his stead.

Having three very important players from all positions returning to the lineup could be the massive kick in the pants the orange and the black need to get going headed into the latter part of the season. Though, they’ve gone 5-2-1 without Hart in the lineup.

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Flyers Update