Don't forget about Shayne Gostisbehere

It was Lucas Raymond's night, but a quick ode to the other guy that made it all happen.

Lucas Raymond, rightfully so, was the star.

He scored in the third period to tie it and then delivered in overtime to give the Detroit Red Wings a dramatic 5-4 victory against the Montreal Canadiens.

The Red Wings will play for a playoff spot in Game 82, and if they win and the Washington Capitals don’t, they’ll be playoff hockey in Detroit for the first time in eight years.

If results break the right way for Detroit tomorrow, Game 81 will be part of Raymond’s legacy. If they don’t, well, Detroit will now have the longest playoff drought in franchise history, even longer than the horrendous Dead Wings era of the 1970s.

Give Raymond his flowers, he deserves them. He’s also going to get a massive contract from Steve Yzerman sometime soon as well.

But it’s also a moment and a game, where Shayne Gostisbehere’s impact can’t be understated.

With Detroit chasing the game in the third period Gostisbehere played practically every other shift in the final ten minutes of regulation and in overtime. Gostisbehere played half of the final ten minutes, and in overtime he and Moritz Seider were the only defenders to see the ice.

Gostisbehere had three assists in that ice time, he also rang a shot in regulation off the post and drilled the crossbar in overtime.

Before Raymond’s tying goal, Gostisbehere made a leaping save at the blue line and then still kept possession and made a clean dish under heavy pressure to David Perron.

For Gostisbehere, this season has been a career renaissance after he struggled at the end of his tenure with the Philadelphia Flyers and had an awkward stint for a couple seasons with the Arizona Coyotes and then, briefly, with the Carolina Hurricanes.

In Detroit, now essentially re-cast as only an offensive specialist, Gostisbehere found his stride and has delivered a 54 points in 80 games. A player that was originally expected to be occasionally scratched as the Red Wings overloaded on veteran defenders, Gostisbehere will finish the regular season with more games than any Detroit defender not named Moritz Seider.

It’s also oddly fitting that Gostisbehere’s play effectively turned the screws on the Flyers, who had to pay extra to trade him away in 2021.

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I wasn’t originally planning on writing off tonight, but sometimes a game and moment demand it.

Tomorrow morning I’ll have an interview with Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill, that should be in your inbox early tomorrow. We’ll also monitor what happens in the Red Wings-Canadiens and Flyers-Capitals games to see what is worth writing about tomorrow.

Thanks for reading.