When the Flyers need a spark, you know who the team is gonna call.
Rookie Shayne Gostisbehere scored twice to break Behn Wilson's team rookie goal record for a defenseman and helped the Flyers complete their season-long, six-game homestand with a 5-1-0 mark after a 4-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday.
Gostisbehere's game-winner came at the 7:21 mark of the third period with the Flyers up a man. He fired a rocket one-timer from Claude Giroux past Lightning backup Andrei Vasilevskiy for his 14th goal of the season (see goal).
Vasilevskiy was nearly the story in this tilt. The 21-year-old was virtually unbeatable early on, turning aside the Flyers’ first 29 shots of the game.
Tampa arrived in Philadelphia riding a nine-game win streak, which pushed the team to the top of the Atlantic Division.
Meanwhile, the Flyers climbed to within two points of the Detroit Red Wings for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. Pittsburgh, which sits in the top wild-card position, is three points ahead of the orange and black. All three teams have played 65 games this season.
NHL
Notable goals
Lightning forward Ondrej Palat opened the scoring nearly six minutes into the game after the Flyers failed to capitalize on a power play. It was his 11th marker of the season.
Tampa’s Tyler Johnson threw a puck toward the Flyers' net but it deflected in front to a waiting Palat in the slot. It was an unfortunate bounce for Steve Mason, who was already down in the butterfly, and he didn't have much of a chance on Palat's quick one-timer, which soared over his shoulder.
Gostisbehere’s game-tying marker came on the Flyers’ 30th shot of the night (see goal). Sean Couturier made a nice feed to Michael Raffl in front, but the puck wound up bouncing to a pinching Gostisbehere, who emphatically placed it in the back of the net.
Brayden Schenn scored what turned out to be the game-winner for the Flyers with just under six minutes remaining in the third period. It was his 22nd goal of the season.
Vladislav Namestnikov made it interesting with a late goal for Tampa off a great pass from Johnson during a Lightning odd-man rush.
Wayne Simmonds, however, sealed it with an empty-netter. He has a team-high 24 goals in 2015-16.
Goalie report
Mason was not a busy man by any means. He faced just nine shots through two periods.
The 27-year-old’s biggest stop came early in the third period, when he made a sprawling glove stop on Killorn to keep the game knotted at 1-1.
Vasilevskiy, however, almost stole the spotlight at the Wells Fargo Center.
The Russian netminder was first tested at the 8:40 mark of the first period, when Simmonds and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare came crashing in on a two-on-none rush. Simmonds dished the puck to Bellemare but Vasilevskiy, going post to post, quickly slid over to get a pad on Bellemare's offering.
In the second period, Nick Cousins made a beautiful cross-ice pass through the middle to a breaking Matt Read but Vasilevskiy again showed off his athleticism to make a brilliant stop. Twenty seconds later, he turned aside Simmonds with a nice glove save on a two-on-one Flyers rush.
Power play
The Flyers had two power-play chances early in the first period but couldn't do anything with either of them.
On the first man advantage, the top unit got set up and was moving the puck nicely, but Gostisbehere flubbed a pass at the blue line and the Flyers failed to put any pressure on the Lightning in the remaining minute or so of the power play.
A wide-open Giroux had a golden opportunity on the Flyers' second PP of the evening when he ripped a hard shot from the point but the attempt hit Schenn in the midsection and Tampa cleared.
Gostisbehere’s third-period marker snapped an 0-for-15 skid on the power play for the Flyers. They finished the night 1 for 5 on the man advantage.
Penalty kill
Giroux went off for hooking 7:51 into the first period but the Tampa PP was short-lived.
Radko Gudas, attempting to clear an intercepted pass, drew a hooking penalty on Alex Killorn 27 seconds into the kill to even things up at four-on-four.
Gudas was later whistled for holding at the end of the second period, an infraction that carried over into the third, but the Flyers were able to bail him out.
Scratches
Winger Jakub Voracek (lower body, out one more week), defenseman Michael Del Zotto (wrist surgery, out for season) and forward Jordan Weal (upper body, day to day) are all injured.
Forward R.J. Umberger and defenseman Evgeny Medvedev were healthy scratches.
Next up
The Flyers have three days off from game action before they travel to Florida for a weekend back-to-back set. First up is a rematch with the Lightning Friday night (7:30 p.m./CSN), followed by a clash with the Panthers on Saturday (7 p.m./CSN).