ST. LOUIS — Two days after calling out the team for a lackluster effort in a 2-1 loss to the Dallas Stars, goalie Steve Mason nearly led the Flyers to victory Thursday in a much-improved effort against the St. Louis Blues.
He pitched a shutout in regulation and overtime, as the Flyers duplicated their effort of last season at Scottrade Center.
But alas, just like last year, the Flyers fell, 1-0, in a shootout, scoring a moral victory against the only team they have beaten this month in six games (see Instant Replay).
“It was good game overall, I was happy with that,” Mason said. “Got some help from the posts, which you need sometimes.”
He also got a hand from defenseman Nick Schultz.
“Schultzy made a big save there in the third period — that helped out," Mason, who stopped 35 shots — 19 after the second intermission — en route to earning the second star, said.
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As for helping the effort by calling out the team, Mason demurred and declined comment.
Flyers coach Craig Berube indicated the effort was much better, though.
“I thought it was a very good effort — tough building, tough team,” he said. “I thought we did a good job against them. It was a hard game. Both goalies played well.”
Blues goalie Brian Elliott made 28 saves and stopped both Flyers shots in the shootout — a sliding toe stop on Jakub Voracek and the final stop on Wayne Simmonds. T.J. Oshie and Vladimir Tarasenko lit the red lamp against Mason in the postgame-skills competition.
The Flyers did earn a point to improve to 70 on a record of 28-27-14. They needed two points, though, with both Boston and Ottawa winning on Thursday. Boston has the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with 80 points. The Senators are among two teams ahead of the Flyers outside of the playoffs. Florida is the other.
Still, a moral victory is better than none at all, as the Flyers extended to seven their unbeaten-in-regulation streak against playoff bound teams.
“We're playing one of the top teams in the league and it comes down to a shootout,” Berube said. “Other than a few shifts in the third period, I thought we played an all-around hard game. We knew it was going to be a tight, tough game, and we were competitive.”
Captain Claude Giroux agreed: “It’s a tough building to play in, but Mase played solid tonight. He kept us in the game. We’ve got to find a way to get a goal, but we were moving the puck and did some good things.”
The Flyers were scoreless on four power plays, including three in the first period.
“Pucks were around the net, we were playing as a team and we had our chances,” Giroux said. “We had pucks on the net. We’ve got to find a way to put it in.”
“A loss is a loss. We got a point, but we want two. We had our chances.”
Now the Flyers return home to play Detroit on Saturday before going on the road for a four-game trip.
“Overall, it was a real solid game to continue to build off,” Mason said. “Just got to keep moving.”