Bruins Fall To Steve Mason, Flyers 3-2 In Shootout

Steve Mason made 45 saves through overtime and stopped eight of nine attempts in the shootout to lift the Philadelphia Flyers to a 3-2 home victory over the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night.

Bruins Fall To Steve Mason, Flyers 3-2 In Shootout

Shayne Gostisbehere scored the deciding goal in the ninth round of the shootout, and then Mason secured the win by making a glove save on David Backes’ backhand attempt.

Philadelphia led 2-0 before Bruins forwards David Krejci and Brad Marchand scored just 1:18 apart in the third period.

“It’s nice to come out on top after a tough game and blowing a two-goal lead in the third period,” Mason said “We can’t be giving up leads like that in the third. It’s tough to gain momentum back after that. But we found a way tonight.”

The Flyers were quick to credit their goalie for their victory. Mason made saves on all 19 shots he faced in the first period, and the Bruins’ 47 shots were the most allowed by Philadelphia since the Columbus Blue Jackets had 53 before defeating the Flyers 3-2 in a shootout on March 22.

“He made some pretty amazing saves,” Flyers captain Claude Giroux said. “Without Mason, we’re not in this game. He did a good job keeping us in this game.”

Giroux and Michael Del Zotto scored for Philadelphia, who won consecutive games for the second time this season. They defeated the Calgary Flames 5-3 on Sunday.

“Is two games a winning streak?” Mason said. “We’ll take it. We have to find a consistent level of play that enables us to pile up the wins. We’ll take the two points tonight and move on.”

Krejci scored from the spot at 4:26 following two nice plays by defenseman Torey Krug to keep the puck in the Flyers zone, and then Marchand scored on the rebound of Krug’s point shot at 5:44.

The Bruins continued playing aggressively on offense, outshooting the Flyers 6-1 in overtime, although Mason ultimately stood strong.

“[Mason] was the best player on the ice tonight,” Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said. “He’s got two points tonight; it was a heck of a performance from him.”

Del Zotto opened scoring for the Flyers at 13:56 of the first period, and then Giroux made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 15:28 of the first.

It was the first power-play goal allowed by the Bruins in eight games, thus ending a streak of 16 straight successful penalty kills.

Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask made an incredible save with six seconds remaining in overtime. Rask jumped across to make a right-pad save on Giroux’s one-time shot from the left face-off circle off a Del Zotto cross-ice pass.

The Bruins will next host the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday, while the Flyers will visit the Ottawa Senators on Thursday.

PHILADELPHIA, PA – NOVEMBER 29: Steve Mason #35 of the Philadelphia Flyers celebrates after he made the game winning save in the overtime shootout against the Boston Bruins on November 29, 2016 at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.The Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Boston Bruins 3-2 in an overtime shootout. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)