Maybe it helps knowing you’re the man of the hour for the foreseeable future.
For Flyers goalie Steve Mason, it began Tuesday night as he is expected to carry the load for at least a month in Michal Neuvirth’s absence.
Mason looked ready for the challenge for much of the game until he allowed Kyle Turris to tie things with 1:59 left in regulation on a wraparound goal.
Coming off a tight win over Minnesota over the weekend, the veteran Mason had an impressive performance with 24 saves, but the Flyers still lost to the Ottawa Senators, 3-2, in a shootout at the Wells Fargo Center.
Erik Karlsson had the shootout game-winner.
This was the first of three home games this week for the Flyers.
NHL
Notable goals
Derick Brassard’s neutral zone turnover gave Nick Cousins a breakaway at 5:14 of the first period. Cousins buried his chance on Craig Anderson for a 1-0 lead.
First goals
Cousins’ goal was just the sixth time in 17 games this season the Flyers have scored first.
Goalie report
The Flyers had a slow start, but Mason was up to the task with four saves in less than five minutes. Mason had some quality stops on Ryan Dzingle, Chris Wideman and Mike Hoffman right at his doorstep.
Power play
It was a poor effort on the Flyers' initial one that carried over to the second period. There was too much indecision and searching for the perfect shot. The only one good chance came from Jakub Voracek. The Flyers tried to get too precise in this game. Bad passing and being greedy saw them go 0 for 4.
Penalty kill
Fortunately for the Flyers, they didn’t have many penalties to kill. Ottawa came into play 0 for 12 in its previous four games and finished 0 for 2 in this one.
Injuries
Mason avoided injury in the final minute of the first period on a net collision with Bobby Ryan, who had to hurdle over him and picked up a goalie interference penalty in the process. Mason got up very slowly. Matt Read hit his head on the ice midway into the game but returned.
Scratches
Defensemen Andrew MacDonald (left knee) and Nick Schultz (healthy), forwards Boyd Gordon (back spasms) and Roman Lyubimov (healthy) and goalie Neuvirth (knee).
Up next
The Flyers practice at 11 a.m. at Skate Zone and then host the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night at the Wells Fargo Center.