Photo by Kate Frese/Flyerdelphia
Philadelphia Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol’s goaltending carousel has largely been a case of playing the hot hand. But with the team locked in a playoff hunt, the time is now to pick a netminder and stick with him.
While Michal Neuvirth has made an impressive case to be the main man, Hakstol should roll with Steve Mason.
For the last few seasons, the Flyers have taken a nice respite from goaltending controversies. That's because after acquiring Steve Mason from Columbus at the 2012-13 trade deadline the goalie has taken control of the starting job.
But this season has been quite different. For starters, Mason doesn’t have the likes of Ray Emery or Rob Zepp as a back-up. Instead, Neuvirth was signed to push Mason but has seized nearly every one of his opportunities. This is especially true of late, as Neuvirth started seven of eight from mid February to early March prior to Mason’s last two starts.
During that time, Mason didn’t sniff the ice for a game since he took himself out of his Feb. 20 start against Toronto. This may have firmly placed the goaltender in Hakstol’s doghouse. However, if Mason was on his coach's bad side before he has earned some leeway in his past two performances after being idle for so long.
Saying Mason deserves the job more could be a tad unfair though considering Neuvirth is having a spectacular campaign. His current single-season save percentage would be the fourth best in team history if the season ended today. Yet, that’s becoming something typical for this current crop of netminders.
Last year, Mason put together the third best single-season performance by a goaltender since the days of Bernie Parent. His .928 save percentage in 2014-15 trails only Doug Favell’s .931 effort in 1967-68 and Parent’s franchise best .933 in 1973-74.
But Mason isn't a one-season fluke. Quite frankly, he's the best individual goaltender this city has seen since Roman Cechmanek. Mason’s .921 save percentage in the Orange and Black trails only Cechmanek among multiple season starting goaltenders.
His career totals show that Mason has been quite capable of carrying this team for long stretches, but it should be noted he's not at the same level this year. Prior to his starts against Columbus and Tampa Bay, Mason allowed four goals or more in eight times in 37 games. He surrendered the same amount in 51 contests in the previous campaign. Neuvirth, on the other hand, has two games with four or more goals allowed.
Those numbers can be misleading though. The players in front of Mason have actually played better when Neuvirth has been in goal.
Comparing Neuvirth and Mason’s game logs this year, both have nearly the same amount of games where they finished with a save percentage of .920 or higher. However, while both have nine wins when playing great, by save percentage at least, the Flyers have lost more games with Mason than Neuvirth when the goaltenders are solid. Mason is 9-2-5 in those contests while Neuvirth is 9-3-2. That’s the Flyers squandering two more games under Mason than Neuvirth.
Also, when both goaltenders have save percentages under .910, the Flyers are 7-4 with Neuvirth and 3-10-2 with Mason. That means when the netminders have an off night, the Flyers are more adept at bailing out Neuvirth than Mason.
Furthermore, the Flyers are 6-6 with Neuvirth when they allow more three or more goals while they are 3-13-1 under the same circumstances with Mason.
This is all while Mason has endured a more strenuous workload in his starts than Neuvirth. Mason has played in 11 games that featured him facing 35 shots or more while Neuvirth has six. Moreover, Mason is 4-4-3 in those games while Neuvirth is 2-4.
The Flyers also perform slightly better offensively when Neuvirth is in net. In the Czech goalie’s 30 games, the team has kicked in 70 goals for an average of 2.33 goals for. On the other hand, Mason gets about 2.29 goals per game from his offense, prior to the games against Columbus and Tampa.
That seems like a trivial comparison until you note that Mason has received two goals or less 19 times this season compared to Neuvirth’s 13. Not only that, but Neuvirth has one less game (eight) with four or more goals in support than Mason (nine) and two of those came in the last couple outings.
However, these past two games seem to be an indication that Mason will get that support he has sorely lacked. Be it the 10 goals in two games or holding one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference to nine shots through two periods and 18 total.
If that is the Flyers team Mason will have in front of him, then he will be free to replicate his stellar 2014-15 form. And if the Orange and Black want to do any kind of damage in their last 17 games and beyond, they’ll need that kind of goaltending. The kind Mason has provided ever since he first became a Flyer.
Dan Heaning is a contributing writer for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Dan_Heaning.
