NEW YORK — One game into his team’s season-defining road trip, Steve Mason proved he was ready to handle the heavy workload he’ll likely face down the stretch.
The Flyers’ goalie played to near-perfection in their 4-1 win over the Islanders on Monday night, managing traffic in front of his crease well and making a number of key saves to bail his teammates out after they started sluggishly.
The victory pulls the Flyers (35-24-12, 82 points) within three points of the Islanders (38-24-9, 85) for the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference and one back of idle Detroit for the second wild card.
A sprawling Mason save — made while moving cross-crease from left to right — to deny Brock Nelson’s rebound try on the penalty kill led to a momentum shift in the second period. After the Flyers cleared, Brandon Manning emerged from the penalty box, picked up the puck and rifled a wrist shot up high past Thomas Greiss on his glove side with 6:59 to go in the second period, the third-pair defenseman’s first career goal.
That was all the Flyers needed, as they held the Islanders scoreless in the third to improve their record to 24-1-1 when leading after two periods. They added an insurance goal 4:22 into the third when Sean Couturier fed a pass through Greiss’ five-hole to Sam Gagner for a tap-in. Giroux finished into the empty net with 26.1 seconds to go.
Nick Cousins opened up the scoring 2:24 into the second period, corralling a nifty cross-ice feed from Jakub Voracek from the goal line into the high slot — but the lead was short-lived. 90 seconds later, Kyle Okposo tied it up, poking in his own rebound while surrounded by three Flyers in a scrum in front of Mason.
NHL
The Flyers got off to a sluggish start, committing five turnovers in the first period. They struggled to establish any sort of presence in the Islanders’ offensive zone and didn’t record their first shot on goal until 9:40 had gone by. Mason bailed them out time and again, making eight saves.
Goalie report
Mason was challenged almost immediately following the game’s opening faceoff, as Nikolai Kulemin bore down on him with a breakaway chance just 15 seconds in the game that he denied with a slick extension of the left pad on a backhand try. He was forced to make six saves in the first five minutes.
He didn’t record his fifth shutout of the season — one of which happened to come against the Islanders — but Mason was more than good enough on Monday. He finished with 23 saves on 24 shots.
Greiss made 23 saves on 26 shots, falling to 1-4-1 since he was thrust into the Islanders’ primary goaltending role after Jaroslav Halak went down with a lower-body injury on March 8.
Power play
The Flyers entered having scored nine power-play goals during their 8-2-1 streak entering Monday, but came up empty on four chances with the man advantage.
New York’s power play units came in scuffling, having scored once in their last six games. Monday was no better, as the Islanders went 0 for 3.
Penalty kill
The Flyers went a perfect 3 for 3 on the penalty kill, making them a sterling 18 for 19 with a man down in the month of March (entered Monday 15 for 16).
Injury report
Chris VandeVelde served the second game of a two-game suspension he earned for an elbow to the Blackhawks’ Jonathan Toews back on Mar. 16.
Jakub Voracek was a full go in his second game back after missing nine contests with a lower-body injury.
R.J. Umberger, Jordan Weal and Evgeny Medvedev were all healthy scratches.
Michal Neuvirth is out for three weeks with what a source told CSNPhilly.com’s Tim Panaccio is a torn meniscus in his left knee.
Up next
The Flyers will head to Columbus and face the Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena for the second leg of the back-to-back.
Puck drop is at 7 p.m. on CSN.