Steve Mason had to wait three games for his next opportunity. The last game before that was one to forget: three goals allowed on 10 shots to the New York Islanders.
Mason had to wait nine days to get back between the pipes, and in his first start since, he was not only the star of the game, but the Flyers owe the two points they got on Thursday to the true No. 1 netminder on their squad.
"It was nice to see some shots put up on the board there and get a feel for it early on," Mason said. "It’s easy to overthink things when you haven’t played in a while, so to get a feel for the puck early on was nice.It was nice to see some shots put up on the board there and get a feel for it early on. It’s easy to overthink things when you haven’t played in a while, so to get a feel for the puck early on was nice."
Mason stopped all 36 shots he faced from the Canucks for his second shutout of the season, as the Flyers improved to 7-2-1 over their last 10 games.
"I think we’re playing better as a team," Claude Giroux said. "When it comes down to the end of the game I think we don’t panic, we don’t change anything, and we keep playing the way we want to play. You can just feel on the bench that guys are more confident then at the start of the year."
In this game, however, the Flyers spent more time on their heels than on the attack. The first period was forgettable up until Michael Raffl's goal at 16:45. The second period saw no scoring, but several near misses, none bigger than Mason's dazzling glove save on Alexander Edler.
"He made a nice pass there and if you keep your eyes on the puck that’s a desperation save you might make once every 30 times, but that’s why you make the extra effort," Mason said. "Sometimes you make them. It was a big save at the time, those are the kind of saves that we need."
In the third, the Flyers finished weathering the storm and played a much better period of defensive hockey, finally putting the icing on the cake with Sean Couturier's goal in the final three minutes of play.
There were essentially three takeaways from the game. Again, it was far from the best effort from the Flyers. They still won, 2-0. That says a lot about where this team is now.
Go back to early November when the Flyers were on the road in Vancouver and just starting on what looked like a perpetual free fall. They lost to the Canucks, 4-1, that night.
And finally, it was that Steve Mason is still this team's leading goalie, no matter how good the numbers are for Michal Neuvirth, it's been Mason's team from the beginning.
"He did a great job," head coach Dave Hakstol said. "He supported his teammate while Neuvy was going and playing well. He went out and worked hard every day and kept himself ready. Obviously tonight his focus was outstanding.
"I think in terms of our team it’s an important area to have depth in. These two guys are pushing each other, and they’re working hard every day. Whichever guy is in there is giving us an opportunity to win. So I think it’s an area of strength."
And if it's going to be Mason's team, he's going to have to deliver. On Thursday night, he delivered a brilliant performance from start to finish.
Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.
