Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Good Flyers show up vs. Pens
Mason stellar in 46-save performance
PHILADELPHIA >> In keeping with the spirit of their season, the Flyers kept a confounding run of what-ifs going Sunday at Wells Fargo Center.
Despite a slow start against a suddenly desperate Pittsburgh Penguins team, the Flyers nonetheless rode a pair of early powerplay goals by Jake Voracek and Brayden Schenn and a brilliant 46-save showing by Steve Mason to a 4-1 victory. This despite the Penguins pummeling Mason with the most shots on goal any Flyers opponent had mustered all season.
Brandon Sutter had the lone Penguins goal, coming at the 16:21 mark of a first period the Penguins simply dominated. Pittsburgh outshot the Flyers 22-4 in that opening frame, but by the end of the period had precious little to show for it. That’s because Voracek wound up on a one-timer and drilled a shot off the crossbar and in for a 1-1 tie with just 42 seconds left in the period.
That had to sting the Pens a little.
“They came hard at us,” Mason said after raising his saves percentage to .929, tied for second-best in the NHL. “They had something to play for and we were happy to take it away from them.”
The Penguins are now nervous. With a pair of losses to the Flyers in the last five days, Pitts-
burgh (42-26-11, 95 points) is tied with Boston for the last two playoff spots, but Ottawa (92 points heading into game with Toronto Sunday night) was breathing down their necks and the Senators host the Penguins Tuesday night.
“It’s the only thing we can play for right now, trying to put a little damper on the other team’s dreams,” Ryan White said. “They had a few guys last week saying they were going to the playoffs and they were kind of chirping after the game. So this was a good win for us.
“After the game (Wednesday) they were saying we’re going to be done in a week. Of course, we are. But they had a couple of stumbles this week and it was nice to put another nail in their coffin, too.”
Despite a second nonplayoff campaign in three years, the Flyers swept all four games they played this season against a Penguins team that started the season looking like the best team in the East. Pittsburgh was 22-6-4 on Dec. 20.
With this Easter surprise, the Penguins are in serious danger now of falling out of a playoff position before this final week is out.
Hence the happy feelings of vengeance for the Flyers.
“It kind of stuck with me a little bit,” White said about the post-game chatter he heard from Penguins he said he’d rather not name. “I just wanted to make sure we put a little pressure on them today.”
As they draw close to season’s end, meanwhile, the Flyers (32-29-18, 82 points) are also keeping their odd streak(s) alive. They are 11-1-4 in their last 16 games against teams that started those games in a playoff position. They are also 0-6-5 in their last 11 against teams not in a playoff position.
Once they drew even after one period, the Flyers still had trouble keeping up with the Pens up and down the ice. But they made good use of their little time in the offensive zone.
Brayden Schenn (three points) tipped a shot up into the air, and the puck fell behind Penguins goalie Thomas Greiss at 12:20 of the second for a 2-1 Flyers lead. Still the Penguins kept coming, and Mason kept stopping them.
“That’s the most shots I faced in one period in a long time, but it gets you into it,” Mason said of the first-period barrage. “I was feeling good going into the second period and we gave up a lot of shots. But to the guys’ credit right to the (end) they were blocking shots and sacrificing themselves.
“It was an intense game; a playoff-type atmosphere, and they were doing everything they could to get under your skin. But if anything, it just gets you more into a game when they have people coming at you. It’s a fun game to be a part of, for sure.”
The theme of Mason fending off waves of physical Penguins generally held deep into the third period, until White slammed the lid with a slam-dunk shot. He converted on a wonderful turnaround pass into the Pittsburgh crease by Sean Couturier (and where’s that been the last half-season?), giving the Flyers a 3-1 lead with just 4:58 left to play. It took the steam out of the Penguins, who vented their frustrations at the end by sending a couple of guys to the box.
Michael Del Zotto appreciated that, enabling him to close the scoring with a power play goal.
Only then, perhaps, did Mason feel he could relax.
“Our fate is sealed, but that doesn’t mean we can’t ruin other people’s (playoff chances),” Mason said. “That was kind of what we were trying to do today.”