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FLYERS-PENGUINS WRAPUP: MASON SHINES AS FLYERS COMPLETE SEASON SERIES SWEEP
The Philadelphia Flyers completed a four-game season series sweep of the arch-rival Pittsburgh Penguins with a 4-1 win at the Wells Fargo Center in an intense Easter Sunday matinee at the Wells Fargo Center. The victory was the Flyers' eight consecutive win over the Penguins. With the win, the Flyers improved their home record this season to 22-9-7.
Pittsburgh dominated the first period of the game and much of the second period as well but grew increasingly frustrated. Despite a 22-4 shot advantage for the Penguins in the first period, the game was tied 1-1 at the first intermission. The Flyers went ahead to stay midway through the second period, despite a 14-9 shot edge for Pittsburgh. Philly played better defensively in the third period (although they got outshot, 11-7) and added to their lead.
The continued stellar play of Steve Mason was by far the biggest reason the Flyers won. The netminder turned back 46 of 47 shots, including numerous spectacular saves. The Penguins crashed the net and jostled Mason throughout the game but the goalie hung in tough.
With the win, Mason raised his overall season save percentage to .929 and lowered his goals against average to 2.19 on the season, and even up his won-loss record at 17-17-11. On home ice, he has a 15-5-5 record, 1.89 GAA, and .941 save percentage.
Special teams were the second big reason the Flyers won. Philadelphia went 3-for-4 on the power play, including their first two goals of the game. Pittsburgh went 1-for-2 on the power play.
Jakub Voracek (power play goal, assist), Brayden Schenn (power play goal, assist), Ryan White (even strength goal) and Michael Del Zotto (power play goal) tallied for the Flyers. Brandon Sutter (power play) notched the lone Pittsburgh goal.
With the Penguins in the second half of back-to-back games and given Marc-Andre Fleury's frequent career struggles against Philly, the Penguins opted to give Thomas Greiss the start in net. He was neither horrible nor especially good in stopping 16 of 20 shots. Greiss had no chance on either of the Flyers' final two goals and very little chance at stopping Voracek's goal.
1st Period
The Flyers were guilty of a few early turnovers, including one by Zac Rinaldo that led to Malkin setting up David Perron for a backdoor attempt at 3:25. Mason got over to his right for the save on the shot from the circle and held on for the stoppage.
Mason robbed Craig Adams of a seemingly surefire goal on a rebound of a Nick Spaling shot at the 5:51 mark. Shots were 4-0 Pittsburgh at this point.
The shot differential grew to 8-1 by the midpoint of the period as the Flyers iced the puck. There were a few near misses in the ensuing minutes as Malkin shot just wide of the long-side after taking a puck away from Nicklas Grossmann. Later, Mason made a quick pad save on Brandon Sutter at 12:45 on a deflected shot.
Mason made save number 13 on a Paul Martin slap shot at the 13:58 mark. The goalie held on for a stoppage. Shots were now 13-2 at the TV timeout.
The Penguins got their first power play at 14:36 on a marginal hooking penalty on Michael Raffl as Ben Lovejoy cut in on the net. On their 18th shot of the period, Brandon Sutter stepped out from the goal line to Mason's right and swept in his 19th goal of the season. Peron and Ian Cole assisted on the power play goal at 16:21.
With 2:12 left in the period, Giroux finally got the Flyers third shot of the period. Greiss stopped the shot from above the right circle and held on for a stoppage.
The Flyers got their first power play at 18:31 as Daniel Winnik took a cross-checking penalty on Sean Couturier in the neutral zone. The Flyers cashed in at 19:18. Voracek blasted a one-timer from above the right circle past Greiss to tie the game at 1-1 on his 22nd goal of the season. The assists went to Mark Streit (38th) and Brayden Schenn (27th).
Shots in the first period were 22-4 Pittsburgh. Faceoffs were 13-7 Pittsburgh.
2nd Period
The Penguins turned the puck over in their own zone early in the period. Couturier's shot was stopped by Greiss on the periods first shot.
At the 2:04 mark, the Penguins had a 2-on-1. Blake Comeau ran out of room and Mason ended up with a fairly easy save. Shots in the period were 3-2 Flyers through a stoppage at 5:50.
Streit received an interference penalty at 7:52. The Penguins went on their second power play. As they did on their first power play, the Penguins threw a lot of traffic at the net and Mason got jostled around. This time, the Flyers killed of the penalty.
Shortly after the expiration of the Streit penalty, Giroux had an open look from the high slot but shot high and wide of the net. Play swung the other way in transition but fizzled out on the Penguins. Shots for the game were 26-8 Penguins at a TV timeout at the 10:10 mark.
The Flyers went to their second power play at 12:02 as Blake Comeau was called for hooking Couturier up high in the Penguins zone. The Flyers once again cashed in to take a 2-1 lead.
At the 12:20 mark, a partially blocked Brayden Schenn shot popped high in the air, landed in the crease and trickled over the goal line for his 17th of the season. Assists went to Voracek (57th) and Streit (39th, second of the game).
The Penguin very nearly tied the game moments later in a scramble in front of the net. Mason did snow angles in the crease and somehow the puck stayed out of the net. Moments later, he gloved a shot off the faceoff for his 29th save and a stoppage with 6:58 left in the period.
Grossmann made an ill-advised decision to step up from the offensive blueline for a hit and the puck went past him, creating numbers for Penguins. Mason calmed things down with a glove save on a Comeau backhanded shot at the 16:06 mark. A TV timeout ensued.
Mason got bumped again as he covered up a puck off a faceoff shot with about two minutes left in the period. As the period expired, a scrum ensued behind the Penguins after Brayden Schenn crunched Ian Cole net but nothing escalated.
Shots in the second period were 13-8 Pittsburgh (36-13 Pittsburgh through two periods). Faceoffs were 15-6 Flyers (22-19 Flyers through two periods).
3rd Period
Nick Schultz blocked a Patric Hörnqvist shot attempt on 3-on-2 rush at roughly the 1:10 mark. The puck went over the glass and out of play.
After a long delayed penalty, the Flyers were about to go on their third power play at 5:39 on an offensive zone Beau Bennett tripping penalty on at. After the touchup, Chris Kunitz gratuitously shot the puck at the empty Flyers net. That touched off a ruckus at center ice as the Flyers ran at him. Claude Giroux got a roughing penalty and Voracek got a 10-minute misconduct. Teams skated at 4-on-4 manpower.
The Flyers did a lot of good boardwork and had continued strong puck support as the period neared the midway point.
With about 7:30 left, Malkin had a wide-open net staring at him from a fairly sharp angle and could not bury the puck. Shortly thereafter, Mason came up with a puck in traffic for his 43rd save of the game.
The Flyers got an insurance goal at 15:05 on a weak-side tally. Three defenders went at Couturier(20th assist) and White was left all alone in the right slot to bury his sixth goal of the season. Michael Raffl (7th assist) got the secondary helper.
Mason got crashed into yet again at the 17:22 mark. This time Bennett got nabbed on goalie interference. The Flyers went to their third power play. The Penguins, needing offense, sent a man out of the zone early repeatedly, looking for shorthanded rushes. The Flyers played it very defensively.
With 43.2 seconds left, Mason gloved a Crosby shot and got crashed into yet again. Hörnqvist got a goalie interference penalty and the Flyers closed out the game on their fourth power play. They also scored their third power play goal of the afternoon to make it a 4-1 final.
Del Zotto finished off a tic-tac-toe passing sequence off the line rush, going to the net and scoring his 10th goal of the season near the net. Brayden Schenn (28th assist) and Giroux (47th assist) got the helpers.
Shots in the third period were 11-7 Penguins (47-20 Penguins for the game). Faceoffs were 8-6 Peguins (28-27 Flyers for the game).
Postgame notes and quotes
* The Flyers have a complete off-day on Monday. They will host the New York Islanders on Tuesday night at the Wells Fargo Center.
* Saturday's game marked the final match for longtime NHL referee Paul Devorski. In a nice touch, younger brother Greg was one of the linesmen for the game. The reason why "Devo" was assigned this game between the cross-state Pennsylvania rivals: the Canadian-born official is a longtime resident of Harrisburg, PA.
* The Wells Fargo Center crowd initially booed when a congratulatory message to Devorski was posted on the scoreboard in the third period and gave a sarcastic cheer when it was announced this was his final game as an NHL referee. The partisans were still angry at the time about the penalty calls on the fracas started by Kunitz shooting the puck after the delayed penalty whistle. However, when a video tribute ran on the scoreboard and the Flyers (as well as Penguins) players stood up and tapped their sticks, the cheers became genuine. Devorski waved.
* Steve Mason made 46 saves for the second time this season he’s done that. He also made 46 saves in a 1-0 road shootout loss to the New York Islanders on Nov. 24. Per the Flyers and Elias Sport Bureau, his career-high is 47 saves; accomplished Nov. 19, 2000 as a member of the Columbus Blue Jackets (4-3 road win over Anaheim).
* Flyers defenseman Nick Schultz was credited with seven blocked shots; a game-high.
* Flyers captain Claude Giroux went 16-for-24 (67 percent) for the game.
* In 18 career regular-season games against Pittsburgh, Brayden Schenn now has seven goals and 12 points. Sean Couturier's assist was his 10th career point against the Penguins and is now plus-10 in 19 career regular season games.
* Overall, Pittsburgh had 83 shot attempts (47 on net, 20 blocked, 16 misses including a pair of shots that hit the post). The Flyers had 48 shot attempts (20 on net, 12 blocked, 16 misses).
* Flyers defenseman Nicklas Grossmann was plus-one with two hits and two blocked shots. For the season, he is plus-13 at home. Despite a minus-four on the road, his overall plus-nine rating leads the club.
* Ryan White on the Flyers-Penguins rivalry and Pittsburgh players stirring the pot at the end of Wednesday's game: "It’s my first year being here. From being here one year, you realize that we don’t like the Penguins. It’s good to beat them twice in the same week. That’s the only thing we can play for right now is try to put a damper on other teams' things. They had a few guys last week saying that they’re going to playoffs. Chirping after the game. So it was a good win for us.”
* White on whether the Flyers players discussed the Penguins' taunts in the days leading up to the game: "We didn’t have to talk about it. A Penguins game is pretty easy to get up for.”
* White in reference to the atmosphere in the building and a comment made by backup goaltender Ray Emery: "Razor said something after the first one (goal): “This is a taste of the playoffs here, boys.' It’s a fun atmosphere to play in. Even when they game out for warm ups they were booing. Good to be a Flyer today.”
* White on how the Flyers withstood being so heavily outshot, especially in the first period: "Having Mason is huge. Making big saves. He pulled one out of the net against Adams early in the first period. Countless big saves. We stuck together as a group. We tightened up defensively. Had a couple big goals. But our goalie played great tonight."
* Brayden Schenn on the same subject: "If it wasn’t for Mase playing well today, it would’ve been a different story. Unbelievable game by him. When your goalie is playing that well it gives you confidence. So hats off to him.”
* Giroux on playing the spoiler role: “As a team, we’re young and still learning, and this year we learned the hard way how to play. It’s important for us, the last few games here. We’ve got to make sure we keep playing hard and playing as a team and play together and get the chemistry, so it can hopefully build up next year.”
* Mason on the first period: “That’s the most shots I’ve faced in one period in a long time but it gets you into it. I was feeling good going into the second period. We gave up a lot of shots but to the guys’ credit right to the last minute they were blocking shots, sacrificing themselves. I give a lot of guys credit for that.”
* Mason on the Penguins' physicality around the net and all the times he got bumped or crashed into or had Pittsburgh players shoved into him accidentally: "It was an intense game; playoff type atmosphere. They were doing everything they could to maybe get under our skin but if anything it just gets you more into the game when you have people come at you. They’re fun games to be a part of, for sure.”
* Mason on the Flyers-Penguins rivalry and the clashing personalities: "You just see the anger that is out there from both sides. They don’t look like they like us much, either. Like I said earlier, fun games to be a part of.”
* Couturier on the Flyers' motivation heading into the game: "It’s sure motivation seeing them flipping down the standings here and beating them again to make their life harder to make the playoffs. Maybe they won’t make it, so we’ll see. It was for sure a little motivation today for us to beat them and make it harder for them.”
* Flyers head coach Craig Berube's game assessment: "In the first period we realized that it was a playoff game and obviously we gave up 22 shots and we recovered from it. Our goalie kept us in it for sure and played great and then coming out of there we realized the intensity of the game and what it meant to them. We talked about it before the game about what the game meant for them and they were a hungry team tonight. I thought we battled though, hung in there, and found a way to win. The power play was really good.”
* Berube on whether save percentage and the fact that Mason is near the top in that category is the best indicator of his performance this season: "It’s one of them, I’m sure Mase [would say] the best of that is wins. Right? But Mase, has played some great hockey for us and obviously today he was great again and he’s got a really good save percentage.”
* The Penguins still control their own playoff destiny. However, if the Ottawa Senators win on Sunday night against Toronto and then beat Pittsburgh in regulation at home when the two teams clash head-to-head on Tuesday night, the Penguins would then need outside help to make the playoffs. There is a chance the Pens could wind up needing the Flyers to beat Ottawa in the regular season finale in order for Pittsburgh to get in the playoffs. This is also dependent on how the Bruins fare in their final three games.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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