Shayne Gostisbehere returns to Flyers’ top defensive pair after three-game benching

Defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere went from the doghouse to the Flyers’ top pairing.

Benched for three games because of defensive shortcomings, the player they call “Ghost” returned to the lineup Monday against the visiting New York Islanders and was paired with Ivan Provorov.

The Flyers allowed a total of 18 goals in the three games Gostisbehere missed. On Monday, he replaced Nate Prosser, who was minus-3 with three giveaways in a 6-1 loss Saturday to the Isles.

Gostisbehere was a combined minus-8 in his previous three games. On the flip side, he had five goals in his previous 11 games.

The Flyers are happy with his offense but not his missed assignments.

Coach Alain Vigneault said he needed more defensive consistency from Gostisbehere and the team. He wants Gostiebehere to have a tighter gap and be better in one-on-one situations when a forward is coming at him with speed.

“Ghost was defending real well in the beginning [of the season], and I think that enabled him to be good [on] five-on-five and the power play,” Vigneault said before Monday’s 2-1 overtime loss to the Islanders.

Gostisbehere played nearly 21 minutes and had three blocked shots and three giveaways. He and teammate Joel Farabee couldn’t connect on a pass in overtime, and it led to the winning goal.

Earlier in the day, Gostisbehere was excited to be back in the lineup.

“When you’re playing with confidence offensively, you can tell,” Gostisbehere said after the morning skate in Voorhees. “You’ve got to play with confidence defensively as well. You’ve got to be hard on pucks, you’ve got to win one-on-ones. I don’t think I was really doing that and obviously I learned from it and I’m going to move on.”

Gostisbehere, 27, said “you never want to be out, but I think I have to look at some positives -- I can use the rest [he had] and I’m going to go from there.”

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The Flyers went into the night allowing 3.55 goals per game, 30th out of the 31 teams -- and almost a goal per game more than at a similar point last season.

“I think it’s a bunch of things,” Gostisbehere said. “We’re dealing with a little adversity right now. We’re turning over pucks and making it harder on ourselves. I wouldn’t say we’re playing that bad. We’re just turning over pucks and the next thing you know it’s in the back of our net. We’re not helping our own cause, so I think if we just get back to being responsible and giving everyone certainty in knowing what you’re doing with the puck, I think we’ll be fine.”

Gostisbehere conceded that one’s confidence can take a hit when being benched.

“You never want to be out, but I’m the type of guy who doesn’t let it affect me when I come back,” he said. “I just try to play to the best of my ability and have a good game. Do the things that make me a special player and have a positive effect on the game. For myself as a player, I’m pretty offensive and I can bring that to the team. I just want to help this team win.”

Top-line center Sean Couturier returned to the lineup after missing one game with a hip issue. Carsen Twarynski came out of the lineup.

Couturier had six shots (three on net), two hits, and won 92% of his faceoffs (12 of 13) Monday.

Slumping goalie Carter Hart stayed after the morning skate Monday and did extra work with goalie coach Kim Dillabaugh. That’s not usually done if a player might play that night, so Hart did not dress for the game against the Islanders.

Instead, Alex Lyon served as Brian Elliott’s backup.

“Because of our schedule, we don’t have a lot of practice time, so this will give us the day” for Hart to do some work, Vigneault said.

Hart, who will start Tuesday against visiting New Jersey, has seen his goals-against average climb to 3.83 and his save percentage drop to .875.

Kevin Hayes tied a career-high with six hits Monday. ... Defenseman Justin Braun led the Flyers with five shots.