How Long will Gostisbehere be in Philly?

PHILADELPHIA – Ron Hextall usually likes to watch warmups. The Flyers general manager sits in his suite and watches his players, studies their tendencies before the game.

Saturday night, there was a new player to watch wearing No. 53.

Defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere was called up to replace injured blueliner Andrew MacDonald, out four weeks with an injured right knee, although Hextall would rather have seen Gostisbehere on a TV with a feed from Binghamton, N.Y.

"I didn't want to do this," Hextall said of calling up the Flyers' most prized defensive prospect for his NHL debut. "Trust me."

Gostisbehere, 21, had played all of three games with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms before the Flyers had to call him up. The Phantoms faced the Binghamton Senators Saturday night, which would have been Gostisbehere's second game of the weekend. Instead, he made his NHL debut with the Flyers against the Detroit Red Wings, playing 5:36 less than any other defenseman on the team.