Mason Carries Flyers to Shutout Win Over Rangers

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

In overtime on Sunday, it was a save by Steve Mason that set the stage for Claude Giroux's heroics. Mason's follow-up performance was a lot more than a couple clutch saves.

Mason made 34 saves in a shutout win for the Flyers, who defeated the Rangers, 2-0, at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night.

The Rangers controlled the early play in the game, but Mason was stellar making 16 saves in the first period. The Flyers managed eight shots in an eventful period for them, having to defend the Rangers chances for much of the period, with Henrik Lundqvist making all eight stops.

The second was more of the same with the Flyers having to kill off the only two penalties of the game to that point and Mason coming up big with timely saves. The Flyers turned things up offensively in the period in terms of possession, but still only managed eight shots to the Rangers 11 in the period. Through 40 minutes, the game remained scoreless.

Just past the five-minute mark of the third period, the Flyers got their first power play of the game and made the most of it. A shot by Jake Voracek made it through and the rebound sat in front of the net as a scramble ensued. Wayne Simmonds found the loose puck and lifted the rebound over Lundqvist to give the Flyers the 1-0 lead. It was the All-Star's 20th goal of the season.

As the period approached the halfway point, a great individual effort by Voracek resulted in an insurance goal. Voracek powered through the slot and threw a turnaround shot toward the net. The chance deflected twice, hitting of Lundqvist's pad and then hitting Michael Grabner before bouncing past the Rangers netminder to make it a two-goal game.

Mason stood tall the rest of the way and the Flyers locked down the defensive zone, limiting the Rangers to seven shots in the final period.

In all, Mason made 34 saves for his first shutout of the season. Lundqvist stopped 24 shots in the defeat for New York.

The Flyers return to the ice on Thursday night at home, playing host to the Toronto Maple Leafs at 7 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• No Scoring

2nd Period

• No Scoring

3rd Period

• PHI Wayne Simmonds (20) PP (Brayden Schenn, Jake Voracek) 6:09
• PHI Voracek (14) (Sean Couturier, Claude Giroux) 9:45

Game Statistics