Gostisbehere scratched amid 27-game goal drought

The "Ghost Bear" will be invisible during Thursday's game against Montreal.

Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere, along with rookie forward Travis Konecny, will be scratched for Thursday's game against the Canadiens.

The 2016 Calder Trophy runner-up has not scored in 27 games, but is most frustrated with his play in his own zone.

"It’s definitely frustrating, but it’s more frustrating to be on the ice for goals against," Gostisbehere said Wednesday, per Dave Isaac of the Courier-Post. "I really don’t care about points or scoring goals. My first job is to play defense. Sometimes the way the pucks are going in the net I feel like I have bad luck, but again I can’t just use that as an excuse. I just look at that and say I can do a lot better myself."

Gostisbehere is well off the 17-goal, 46-point performance recorded in 64 games as a rookie last season, but it's not for a lack of effort. His shot rate is identical, but his shooting percentage is way down.

In five-on-five play, Gostisbehere is a positive possession player, with a Corsi rating of 53.69, highest among all Flyers defensemen. Meanwhile, his Goal For percentage sits at 33.96, the lowest among Philadelphia players at his position.

Add it all up, and the Flyers are routinely recording more shot attempts then the opposition with Gostisbehere on the ice, but are also getting drastically outscored.

Certainly there's some bad luck at work there, and the hope appears to be a night in the press box will give him a fresh view of what's going on during the game.

Gostisbehere, by the way, will be honored Friday at the Philadelphia Sports Writers Award Dinner as local athlete of the year while the Flyers are clinging to the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

(Advanced stats courtesy: Puckalytics)