If there is one criticism you could make about goalie Steve Mason, it’s been his approach to shootouts.
For most of his time as a Flyer, he’s stayed close to the net and tried to play conservatively in the shootout.
He doesn’t like the shootout, and the fact the Flyers are the very worst team in the NHL at it (28-56) certainly doesn’t give him reason to be confident.
Even his coach, Craig Berube, admits that most times Mason feels he has to be “perfect” in a shootout because he knows his team won’t be scoring any goals for him anyway.
So Mason and goalie coach Jeff Reese decided to try a new tactic: Copy someone else. See what other guys are doing to get shootout wins.
Maybe they found something everyone can live with.
The Flyers defeated the Ottawa Senators 2-1 on Tuesday at Wells Fargo Center in a shootout, their first shootout win in six tries this season (see game recap).
Mason was largely responsible for the win with 41 saves, three excellent ones on Clark MacArthur. And four saves in the shootout, too.
“Felt great and it’s been a long time since we felt that feeling after a shootout,” Mason said. “It’s nice to come out on top after working at it a little bit in practice. It’s not always fun practicing things you are not good at. We put a little extra work into it.”
He put some extra video into it with Reese, watching different goalies and techniques.
Mason was noticeably aggressive in challenging Ottawa’s shooters and getting out of the net instead of retreating into it. He studied video of Pittsburgh’s Marc-Andre Fleury and Colorado’s Semyon Varlamov, not just this season, but several years' worth.
“There’s a lot of tape on them,” Mason said. “Fleury kind of waits for shooters to get over the blue line a couple steps and he explodes out. It kind of gives the shooters a different look.
“They see a lot of net with him in the back of the net and he fires out and takes it away. Just something we tried tonight … It just went our way.”
This was Mason’s first win since Dec. 13 against Carolina. He’s had nothing but tough luck this season, going 0-3-2 with a no-decision in six games since then until Tuesday night.
The victory is just his seventh this season (tying Ray Emery). You could say he’s the best seven-win goaltender in the NHL who deserves a lot better.
“I try to keep things in perspective,” Mason said. “It be easy to get frustrated. You look around the league and starting goaltenders are just piling up wins. Pekka Rinne is leading the pack right now with over 20. And you look at my wins.
“That’s the toughest thing. Keep it in perspective. Wins are an important step. You can control what you control. That’s what Reeser has tried to nail down with me. Focus on what I can do. The rest takes care of itself. Continue to work hard.
“It'd be easy when things aren’t going your way to let things like that affect you. But you keep going and put the work in. You get rewarded for that. It may have taken longer than I like, but it feels good right now.”
Berube would agree.
“He did a good job,” Berube said. “I thought he really looked good in there. He was aggressive and he made some big saves for us.”
Rarity
As CSN’s John Boruk pointed out, it’s pretty rare to have the top two draft picks from an older draft -- 1998 -- playing in the same game 16 years later, but that’s what unfolded with the Flyers' Vinny Lecavalier (No. 1 overall) and the Senators' David Legwand (No. 2) in this game.
Shootout
This was the Flyers' first shootout victory since Dec. 30, 2013 against Vancouver.
Career log
Wayne Simmonds had his fifth career shootout goal. He is now 5 for 15 lifetime.
Few goals
This was just the Flyers' fourth win of the season in a game in which they scored fewer than four goals. It was just the second win of the season in seven games that have ended with a 2-1 score, either in regulation, overtime or the shootout.
Shots
Claude Giroux had eight shots, which was 23.5 pct of the team’s total of 34. The Flyers blocked 27 shots, including six of Bobby Ryan’s shots.