News Article: Can Flyers' Mason overcome humiliating goal?

[baudib1]

Ovi is great.

Mason isn't.

What's the point?

Ovechkin's goal in Game 2 can be blamed on the defense leaving him wide open.

Mason's given up 11 other goals this series, none of which were really unstoppable, and range from "softish" to "all-time horrifically awful."

 

[Curufinwe]

That's some Milbury-level analysis.

 

[blinds]

Now you guys are trying to rationalize Ovechkin's first goal last night? It wasn't a hard shot, it wasn't screened, that's a goal you can't give up in the playoffs. It doesn't matter that it's Ovechkin shooting, that's a shot you need to save. It wasn't a difficult shot, Mason just missed with his glove. That goal wasn't because Ovechkin's shot was good, it was because Mason was bad. That should have been a routine glove save, it wasn't even that well placed. Mason just whiffed.

Feel the need to qualify this by saying I don't think Mason is bad, just that he let up a bad goal at a crucial time. Again.

Seriously? An unscreened wrister from above the circles and you guys are trying to excuse that? C'mon.

 

[Rebels57]

Now you guys are trying to rationalize Ovechkin's first goal last night? It wasn't a hard shot, it wasn't screened, that's a goal you can't give up in the playoffs. It doesn't matter that it's Ovechkin shooting, that's a shot you need to save. It wasn't a difficult shot, Mason just missed with his glove. That goal wasn't because Ovechkin's shot was good, it was because Mason was bad. That should have been a routine glove save, it wasn't even that well placed. Mason just whiffed.

Feel the need to qualify this by saying I don't think Mason is bad, just that he let up a bad goal at a crucial time. Again.

Seriously? An unscreened wrister from above the circles and you guys are trying to excuse that? C'mon.

Im with you on that goal. Im pro-Mason but the 2nd and 3rd goal (bad bounce or not) were both inexcusable and changed the course of the game.

 

[CanadianFlyer88]

I'll change that to "Mason has yet to play an entire series for us, let alone win one."

Sample size? Basically there are a lot of goalies in the league who have won a playoff series, and have similar or better regular season stats. Saying Mason is in a class with Holtby or Lundqvist or any number of other goalies is just silly. It's possible he could be as good as them, it's possible he'll win a series for us by himself somewhere down the line.

It hasn't happened yet, and given the question marks, it's fair to withhold judgment.

You're the one who brought up Lundqvist and Holtby; I replied to you. And I don't think Mason is in their class at the moment, but I would like to see Mason behind a competent defense. Even Holtby only reached a 0.500 playoff win record in these playoffs, and has only won two series to this point, so even he has a lot to prove.

Since all the apologists say it's ok since he carried us, and he's probably tired, then not having a postseason resume is really disturbing. If he's not capable of being the man down the stretch without having remarkable mental and physical breakdowns then he's not the answer.

Mason did carry the workload for the Flyers and he likely has burnt out. The schedule didn't help the Flyers down the stretch... 6 games in 9 days; Mason played in 5 games in 8 days, including two back-to-backs. Losing Neuvirth for that critical period didn't help, either.

It helps when your team is good enough to bank points in October and November so you don't have to play every game in April just to get your team to the playoffs.

Can you seriously not see how things out of his control contributed to him getting tired? Luongo is whining about 3 games in 4 nights in the playoffs. The Flyers played 4 in 5 just to get into the playoffs.

 

[Bernie Parent 1974]

Now you guys are trying to rationalize Ovechkin's first goal last night? It wasn't a hard shot, it wasn't screened, that's a goal you can't give up in the playoffs. It doesn't matter that it's Ovechkin shooting, that's a shot you need to save. It wasn't a difficult shot, Mason just missed with his glove. That goal wasn't because Ovechkin's shot was good, it was because Mason was bad. That should have been a routine glove save, it wasn't even that well placed. Mason just whiffed.

Feel the need to qualify this by saying I don't think Mason is bad, just that he let up a bad goal at a crucial time. Again.

Seriously? An unscreened wrister from above the circles and you guys are trying to excuse that? C'mon.

i havta agree. you need stud netminding in the playoffs. you havta make all the routine saves & sprinkle a few 10 bell stops .... a few goals just hadta be stopped.


i like Mason & he deserves credit for the stretch run, but hes gotta make the routine saves

 

[baudib1]

You're the one who brought up Lundqvist and Holtby; I replied to you. And I don't think Mason is in their class at the moment, but I would like to see Mason behind a competent defense. Even Holtby only reached a 0.500 playoff win record in these playoffs, and has only won two series to this point, so even he has a lot to prove.

Mason did carry the workload for the Flyers and he likely has burnt out. The schedule didn't help the Flyers down the stretch... 6 games in 9 days; Mason played in 5 games in 8 days, including two back-to-backs. Losing Neuvirth for that critical period didn't help, either.

It helps when your team is good enough to bank points in October and November so you don't have to play every game in April just to get your team to the playoffs.

Can you seriously not see how things out of his control contributed to him getting tired? Luongo is whining about 3 games in 4 nights in the playoffs. The Flyers played 4 in 5 just to get into the playoffs.

Since the start of February, Mason has played 28 games, Holtby has played 30. Holtby and Mason both took off the last Sunday of the year.

Quick has played 30, too. Dubyk has played 31.

There isn't anything at all unusual about Mason's workload. If he isn't capable of playing at the same workload as the top goalies in the league, he's not a top goalie.

Holtby has a career postseason GAA of 1.82 in 37 games. That's top 5 in NHL history.

If you are skeptical of Holtby and think he has something to prove, then you should be 10 times more skeptical of Mason.

 

[Tripod]

It's as if people disregard the team playing in front of goalies.

Last year...Mason .928 SV%.....yet goes 18-18-11
This year...Holtby .922 SV%....yet goes 48-9-5

Mason has not stood on his head, but he has gotten NO HELP from his PK that justs sits there and allows slap shots to be taken at will.

Christ....the Caps had the puck in our zone for almost 3 straight minutes before scoring. And after giving up 6 PP goals in less that 3 games, you would THINK a coach would say...." This game is done anyways, let's try pressuring them on this 5 minute PP and see if THAT works". Nope...play passive for 3 minutes to allow another goal. Then....after allowing the 7th PPG....next PK....passive again resulting in a goal.

If I am Mason, I am pissed that they keep doing the same **** that isn't working. Re watch how casual the Caps were passing near our guys. It was like a beer league PRACTICE. I credit Schultz for sacrificing his body to try and block Ovi's shot. Everyone else was trash.

Mason has messed up...yup. But he has allowed 4 goals at ES...one the fluke to Holtbys 2. So at ES, our goaltending is comparable. Stay off the PK to give us a chance to win a game.

 

[baudib1]

It's as if people disregard the team playing in front of goalies.

Last year...Mason .928 SV%.....yet goes 18-18-11
This year...Holtby .922 SV%....yet goes 48-9-5

Mason has not stood on his head, but he has gotten NO HELP from his PK that justs sits there and allows slap shots to be taken at will.

Christ....the Caps had the puck in our zone for almost 3 straight minutes before scoring. And after giving up 6 PP goals in less that 3 games, you would THINK a coach would say...." This game is done anyways, let's try pressuring them on this 5 minute PP and see if THAT works". Nope...play passive for 3 minutes to allow another goal. Then....after allowing the 7th PPG....next PK....passive again resulting in a goal.

If I am Mason, I am pissed that they keep doing the same **** that isn't working. Re watch how casual the Caps were passing near our guys. It was like a beer league PRACTICE. I credit Schultz for sacrificing his body to try and block Ovi's shot. Everyone else was trash.

Mason has messed up...yup. But he has allowed 4 goals at ES...one the fluke to Holtbys 2. So at ES, our goaltending is comparable. Stay off the PK to give us a chance to win a game.

The lengths people go to show that Mason is equivalent to some other obviously superior goalie is just absurd.

Mason's .928 last year is the highest of his career by a wide margin. And once again, it's in a workload that's considerably smaller than what the top goalies in the league play.

Holtby's .922 is basically what he's done his entire career (.921), and he did it in 66 games, not 48.

A 4-2 goal difference over 3 games is pretty enormous.

No one thinks the Flyers and Caps are comparable in terms of talent.

However, if you're talking ES play, the Flyers have actually had the better of scoring chances. Mason has given up some bad goals there, and Holtby hasn't.

In addition, Holtby made several ridiculous saves on the PK, especially in Game 2 when the Flyers were threatening to blow the Caps out of the water (it was 19-5 in shots when Mason gave up the 100-footer). Mason has been a total sieve on the PK.

I mean, strip everything away and make as many excuses are you want...Mason has been bad. Holtby has been great.

 

[JXC]

Ovechkin wrister was a bad goal. It pretty much ended the series. It is possible to concede that without saying Mason sucks. He's carried a heavy load a long way for the Flyers this year.

 

[Tripod]

The lengths people go to show that Mason is equivalent to some other obviously superior goalie is just absurd.

Mason's .928 last year is the highest of his career by a wide margin. And once again, it's in a workload that's considerably smaller than what the top goalies in the league play.

Holtby's .922 is basically what he's done his entire career (.921), and he did it in 66 games, not 48.

A 4-2 goal difference over 3 games is pretty enormous.

No one thinks the Flyers and Caps are comparable in terms of talent.

However, if you're talking ES play, the Flyers have actually had the better of scoring chances. Mason has given up some bad goals there, and Holtby hasn't.

In addition, Holtby made several ridiculous saves on the PK, especially in Game 2 when the Flyers were threatening to blow the Caps out of the water (it was 19-5 in shots when Mason gave up the 100-footer). Mason has been a total sieve on the PK.

I mean, strip everything away and make as many excuses are you want...Mason has been bad. Holtby has been great.

Yet we should ignore Mason being at .921 over the last 3 years?

Of our shots, how many were "great scoring chances"? Weak wristers from the side boards all day long. The caps actually have shooters and scorers. We do not. Our best scorer gets then from rebounds. Theirs gets them from great shooting.

And I have YET to see anyone tell us who in hell we are supposed to get that is an upgrade? Go ahead. Tell us should is better that we can get?

 

[JXC]

Yet we should ignore Mason being at .921 over the last 3 years?

Of our shots, how many were "great scoring chances"? Weak wristers from the side boards all day long. The caps actually have shooters and scorers. We do not. Our best scorer gets then from rebounds. Theirs gets them from great shooting.

And I have YET to see anyone tell us who in hell we are supposed to get that is an upgrade? Go ahead. Tell us should is better that we can get?

I am not sure I have seen any more that one or two Ten Bell Saves by Holtby this series. You can count the number of Flyer odd man rushes on one hand, on half of one hand.

And I'd bet three quarters of Flyer shots have been blocked, wide, or unobstructed from beyond the circles.

 

[baudib1]

Yet we should ignore Mason being at .921 over the last 3 years?

Of our shots, how many were "great scoring chances"? Weak wristers from the side boards all day long. The caps actually have shooters and scorers. We do not. Our best scorer gets then from rebounds. Theirs gets them from great shooting.

And I have YET to see anyone tell us who in hell we are supposed to get that is an upgrade? Go ahead. Tell us should is better that we can get?

I'm ignoring nothing.

Holtby performs at better than .921 over the course of his career, which is a much longer sample than Mason's Flyers career.

In addition, he plays many more games per season. That matters, especially since everyone wants to say Mason's been carrying a heavy workload.

He's not. His workload is nothing at all unusual for an NHL goalie.

Furthermore, even after playing more games every year than Mason, Holtby plays even better in the playoffs.

Mason hasn't proven he can do any of these things.

************************************************
I don't have anyone to replace Mason. I'm not suggesting he needs to be replaced. I said he was a slightly above average goalie. In the playoffs, with no weak teams, he's probably well below average.

I mean, I'm willing to entertain the notion that he's better than Martin Jones or Brian Elliott or MAF, but that's probably it.

I'm saying it's ridiculous for anyone to defend Mason this series, he's been the worst goalie of the playoffs, he's given up the most soft goals of anyone in the playoffs, and he's given the Flyers no chance to win the last two games.

I'm fine with Mason/Neuvy next year, and sorting through Lyon/Stolarz/Sandstrom et al and see what shakes out.

I think, if the Flyers get into the playoffs again next year, they need to stop pretending that Mason is some true No. 1/Vezina type goalie, and play him 3 of 4 games while working in Neuvy at least once a series.

 

[baudib1]

I am not sure I have seen any more that one or two Ten Bell Saves by Holtby this series. You can count the number of Flyer odd man rushes on one hand, on half of one hand.

And I'd bet three quarters of Flyer shots have been blocked, wide, or unobstructed from beyond the circles.

The Flyers outchanced the Caps in every situation in Game 2 and had 14 high-danger scoring chances.

Holtby made more great saves in the first period of Game 2 than Mason has the entire series (not saying much). He was the 1st star of the game both nights!

Odd-man rushes? The Caps are scoring on 40-to-100 footers with no obstruction.

 

[PensBrony 6 9*]

Have you seen Ovechkin play a lot? He brutalizes goalies with that shot. Clear lines of sight, flat out beats them. Repeatedly.

OV's snapshots are still incredibly fast. The guy has, easily, the best wrist shot/snap shot in the league.

Bro, just watch that replay and try not to feel embarrassed about what you just posted. Of course ovechkin is good, but that specific shot was nothing special and it should have been stopped, just like plenty of others in this series. Mason had a meltdown. If they trot him out again in game 4, even though it's too late to matter either way, I really have to question the coach. I literally don't even think Mason himself would make the excuses you're making for him.

 

[StateOfHexcellence]

Mason is exhausted like the rest of them. They expended every ounce just to make it for Mr. Snider. It's the law of physics. Caps are killing us with a speed / heavy bag. They look like they'll wipe away everyone....but not convinced they get all the way to 16 wins.

 

[blinds]

You guys really think gunning for the playoffs down the stretch exhausts you that much more? Every team plays 82 games. Other teams top players played as much as ours. 20 minutes in a game that isn't as important vs 20 minutes in a game that's needed, it's still 20 minutes either way. Guys in the NHL don't exactly take nights off. Like someone above posted, many goalies still in the playoffs played as much as Mason down the stretch and haven't imploded like him.

I just think this "oh, well, they're tired so they aren't playing well" is the worst excuse people are coming up with. Seems like some people can't accept our players have played poorly, especially Mason, and need to make excuses all over the place.

How long is enough to get over that exhaustion? 5 days? They got that before the start of the playoffs. More? No other team gets a break, I don't understand why our guys are any different than any other team that was competing until the last few games.

We were competing until the end in 2010 and that didn't seem to slow our team down. Does it only apply when we're losing?

 

[StateOfHexcellence]

You guys really think gunning for the playoffs down the stretch exhausts you that much more? Every team plays 82 games. Other teams top players played as much as ours. 20 minutes in a game that isn't as important vs 20 minutes in a game that's needed, it's still 20 minutes either way. Guys in the NHL don't exactly take nights off. Like someone above posted, many goalies still in the playoffs played as much as Mason down the stretch and haven't imploded like him.

I just think this "oh, well, they're tired so they aren't playing well" is the worst excuse people are coming up with. Seems like some people can't accept our players have played poorly, especially Mason, and need to make excuses all over the place.

How long is enough to get over that exhaustion? 5 days? They got that before the start of the playoffs. More? No other team gets a break, I don't understand why our guys are any different than any other team that was competing until the last few games.

they had several injuries to key guys along the way. They're just an average team with many deficiencies. They're gassed. If you can't see it, can't tell you otherwise that the season is a grind even more so when they had the hardest schedule and route to get in. Many back to backs the last month. FLyers had no breaks, they pushed hard and they're gassed. They have played poorly because they're up against a tougher team, but they're totally tired.

 

[baudib1]

If you really think that Mason can't handle this many games in this short period of time then you believe the Flyers need a different goalie to compete in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

It's the first freaking round. If he's tired already what's he going to do if we make it to the Finals?

Mason's played 57 games this year. When Hextall won the Conn Smythe he played 92 games, 26 in the final two months of the playoffs.

 

[blinds]

they had several injuries to key guys along the way. They're just an average team with many deficiencies. They're gassed. If you can't see it, can't tell you otherwise that the season is a grind even more so when they had the hardest schedule and route to get in. Many back to backs the last month. FLyers had no breaks, they pushed hard and they're gassed. They have played poorly because they're up against a tougher team, but they're totally tired.

How long does it take to get un-gassed? Our top guys got a week off before the start of the playoffs. That's not enough time to heal some injuries, but it's enough time to recover from exhaustion and regroup. I don't buy that they're just tired.

 

[StandingCow]

Ever since Mason made that insane split save....he hasn't done well. I have to think he is hiding an injury?

 

[PALE PWNR]

You guys really think gunning for the playoffs down the stretch exhausts you that much more? Every team plays 82 games. Other teams top players played as much as ours. 20 minutes in a game that isn't as important vs 20 minutes in a game that's needed, it's still 20 minutes either way. Guys in the NHL don't exactly take nights off. Like someone above posted, many goalies still in the playoffs played as much as Mason down the stretch and haven't imploded like him.

I just think this "oh, well, they're tired so they aren't playing well" is the worst excuse people are coming up with. Seems like some people can't accept our players have played poorly, especially Mason, and need to make excuses all over the place.

How long is enough to get over that exhaustion? 5 days? They got that before the start of the playoffs. More? No other team gets a break, I don't understand why our guys are any different than any other team that was competing until the last few games.

We were competing until the end in 2010 and that didn't seem to slow our team down. Does it only apply when we're losing?

Good teams can get away with not playing with their hearts out of their chest in the beginning of the year and still be in great positions because their talent can carry them and steal some games. The Flyers are not "good". We sucked, at one point in the year we had a 2 percent chance at making the playoffs, and then played at a level that only the elite of the elite play at for a solid 2-3 months to get in.

 

[Larry44]

Ever since Mason made that insane split save....he hasn't done well. I have to think he is hiding an injury?

He's not hiding it. He admitted months ago that he's got an injury he's been playing through. For a while, Neuvirth got all the starts, but then he got hurt too, so Mason's been playing. He's been getting up gingerly every time he does the splits for at least two months. I don't know if it's a groin, sports hernia or knee, but something is definitely ailing him. That he's toughing it out is to his credit, not that I expect him to get any for it.

 

[StandingCow]

He's not hiding it. He admitted months ago that he's got an injury he's been playing through. For a while, Neuvirth got all the starts, but then he got hurt too, so Mason's been playing. He's been getting up gingerly every time he does the splits for at least two months. I don't know if it's a groin, sports hernia or knee, but something is definitely ailing him. That he's toughing it out is to his credit, not that I expect him to get any for it.

I am sure that aggravated it. Dude is probably taking all sorts of injections.

Hopefully we give Neuvirth a chance soon.

 

[PensBrony 6 9*]

If Mason was injured, he needed to realize he wasn't doing anyone a favor by playing hurt. He should have realized that after game two. The same goes for if he's too tired. It's not like he's just playing averagely, he's playing badly. I find it hard to believe he wouldn't have told the trainers after the shocking performance in the second game. If that was the case, that he's hurt or run down, he ruined any shot the flyers had at winning by sticking it out. Playing hurt is admirable until it negatively effects your team and he should have realized that. Meanwhile, as other people have said, he didn't play that many games in the grand scheme of things. The guy is a professional athlete and he shouldn't be out of gas after game 82.