You could feel it coming.
The Flyers, trailing 1-0 late in the second period, were bearing down hard on the Tampa Bay Lightning, peppering backup netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy with shots from every angle.
Vasilevskiy originally appeared as if he was going to be unbeatable Monday night.
That was until he received his first dose of rookie sensation Shayne Gostisbehere. Then it was game over.
Gostisbehere scored a momentum-shifting goal late in the second and later added a crucial power-play tally in the final frame as the Flyers snapped Tampa’s nine-game winning streak with a 4-2 victory at the Wells Fargo Center (see Instant Replay).
The Flyers capped off a successful homestand with a 5-1-0 record and climbed to within two points of the Detroit Red Wings for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. The Pittsburgh Penguins, who currently sit in the top wild-card position, are three points up on the Flyers in the playoff chase.
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"It’s huge for us to get points in every game we’re playing right now," Gostisbehere said of the win. "Every game is a playoff game to us. It’s very important to get those points."
Gostisbehere, who was called up in mid-November, now has 14 goals in his first extended stay in the NHL. He surpassed Behn Wilson, who had 13 markers in 1978-79, for the Flyers' franchise record for goals by a rookie defenseman in one campaign.
"It’s a tremendous honor," Gostisbehere said. "There’s a lot of history, especially with our team. It’s a good feeling."
Despite limiting the Lightning to just three shots in the first period and playing sound defense, the Flyers actually trailed, 1-0, heading into the second. That was when they amped things up.
The Flyers fired 22 shots on Vasilevskiy in the middle frame and finally broke through on their 30th offering of the game when a pinching Gostisbehere deposited a loose puck in front to the back of the net at the 16:51 mark.
Gostisbehere gave his club a 2-1 lead early in the third, when he fired a hard one-timer from Claude Giroux on the power play past Vasilevskiy.
"Very tired of talking about him," Giroux jokingly said of Gostisbehere. "No, he’s clutch. That’s what he does. The power-play goal was a big goal. Even that five-on-five goal, we were getting a lot of shots but they weren’t going in.
“He’s learning fast and he wants to learn. He listens. When a young player comes in and wants to get better and listens to the people around him, good things are gonna happen.”
Giroux wasn't the only Flyer to have some high praise for Gostisbehere in the locker room. Brayden Schenn, who scored the game-winner with his 22nd of the season, is also impressed by what he's seen from the 22-year-old.
"Obviously, he’s clutch," Schenn said. "He’s got that shot from the point and he finds those openings. He’s been great ever since he stepped into our lineup and we’re only gonna need him to get better here in the last 18 games."
Tampa made things interesting when Vladislav Namestnikov scored less than a minute after Schenn in the third period, but the Flyers remained active on the attack and continued to press until the final minute. They were rewarded for the effort as Wayne Simmonds notched an empty-netter.
"We played a really good, sound defensive game tonight," Gostisbehere said. "We want to be a tough team to play against. We don’t want teams to come in here and think it’s going to be an easy game."
Gostisbehere continues to be one of the best stories in hockey this season. He's collected 37 points in just 47 games and recently set team and league records for a rookie defenseman with a 15-game point streak.
Even Gostisbehere is surprised by how his first year at the highest level has unfolded thus far.
"You learn a lot as experience comes," he said. "It’s been a fun ride. I’m learning more and more every day. I’m a sponge and I’m gonna keep learning and hopefully get better.
"I didn’t expect anything like this to happen. It's about taking everything in stride and staying within yourself."