Shayne Gostisbehere to return on Saturday against Rangers

The Flyers rookie phenom is set to return.

GM Ron Hextall confirmed on Thursday that defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere will return to the lineup on Saturday when the Flyers host the New York Rangers. Gostisbehere missed the last two games with a lower-body injury.

Gostisbehere said he could have possibly played on Wednesday had it been a playoff game.

"I believe I could have played for sure," Gostisbehere said. "You've got to be careful with injuries. You don't want to have them nag or hurt them again. You've got to be smart about it."

The Flyers have dodged a bullet with Gostisbehere in more ways than one. Gostisbehere's injury came at a time when the Flyers had three games in the course of eight days, not a lot of game action for the rookie to miss. Additionally, the team picked up two wins without the phenom in the lineup.

"It doesn't look like they're missing much," Gostisbehere said. "Two wins is good for us. The power play is going to come. Sometimes when it's not coming, you've got to get it going a little bit. It's a great character win last night. Coming back in the third, it was huge for our team. It was great to see.

"It's a good part of the schedule. You never want to get hurt, but I think it happened at the right time. There's not a game every other day. It was good for our whole team to get a couple days of rest in."

Gostisbehere has seven goals and nine assists in 23 games with the Flyers this season.

The Flyers, meanwhile, are currently on a four-game winning streak and have also won six straight games on home ice. They host the New York Rangers at 1 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.

Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.