Steve Mason bails out Flyers against Wild

PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia Flyers have been waiting for one of their goaltenders to make a big save in a big moment, and Steve Mason did just that in the final seconds of their 3-2 win against the Minnesota Wild at Wells Fargo Center on Saturday.
The Wild were pushing for the tying goal when Eric Staal got the puck at the bottom of the right faceoff circle and had an open net. But Mason leapt across and got his left pad on the low shot with 7.7 seconds remaining in the third period.

"There's been some big saves throughout the year; they just haven't come frequently or at the most opportune times," Mason said.
Mason made 19 saves on 20 shots after replacing injured starter Michal Neuvirth to begin the second period.
WATCH: All Wild vs. Flyers highlights
Neuvirth made six saves in the first period but did not come out for the second. The Flyers did not reveal the nature of the injury but said he would be re-evaluated Sunday.
"[Mason] has to come in and he makes some stellar saves, especially at the end there," Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds said. "… Pretty much won the game for us. We just tried to battle in front of him."

Brayden Schenn's power-play goal at 8:43 of the third period was the game-winner, and Jakub Voracek and Michael Del Zotto scored to help the Flyers (7-7-2) end a three-game losing streak (0-2-1).
Philadelphia, which lost 6-3 to the Toronto Maple Leafs at Air Canada Centre on Friday, is 4-0-1 in the second game of back-to-back sets but 2-3-0 in the first.
"We've got to take the second game and apply it to the first game," Simmonds said. "You can't get overly crazy about [Friday]. It wasn't positive, wasn't the greatest, but we had another game today, come back and be mentally tough, and I thought we were mentally tough."
Schenn scored the winner after a spectacular through-the-legs pass by Simmonds.
"I looked before I got the puck," Simmonds said. "That's a play that we have if teams are pinching down on the walls. … Took a look before I got the puck, so I knew what was going on and [Schenn] was wide open."
Nino Niederreiter and Mikael Granlund scored for Minnesota (7-5-1), and goaltender Devan Dubnyk made 33 saves.

Wild coach Bruce Boudreau was disappointed at the effort Saturday after what he felt was their best game of the season in a 4-2 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday.
"Tonight, we'd go in [on the forecheck], and we'd be one and done because there's only one guy going," Boudreau said. "If you're not tenacious enough, bad things happen."
The Wild took a 1-0 lead 21 seconds into the game on Niederreiter's goal off a Flyers defensive-zone giveaway. Voracek redirected defenseman Brandon Manning's point shot through traffic to make it 1-1 at 12:27 of the first.
Granlund put the Wild ahead 2-1. Mikko Koivu made a great move in the slot to get around Del Zotto, but his backhand went off the crossbar. Granlund scored on the rebound.
Del Zotto got the goal back when he finished a give-and-go with Michael Raffl at 17:45 of the second.

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Goal of the game

Niederreiter found just enough space between Neuvirth's shoulder and the crossbar on the short side 21 seconds into the first period.

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Save of the game

Charlie Coyle made a great pass through the slot to set up Staal for the potential game-tying goal, but Mason pushed over and denied him with 7.7 seconds left in the third period.

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Unsung moment of the game

Raffl was a healthy scratch Friday but made an impact on the Flyers' first goal Saturday. He dumped the puck into the Wild zone, beat defenseman Matt Dumba to it, and then held off Dumba and Ryan Suter to get the puck out to Brandon Manning.

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Highlight of the game

Simmonds was facing the boards when he cut off Voracek's rolling puck behind the Wild net on a Flyers power play. He one-touched it between his legs in front to Schenn, who skated through the crease, deked Dubnyk down and scored the game-winner.

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They said it

"If Eric [Staal] gets the puck up, it's in the net. Give [Flyers goalie Steve] Mason credit for that, was a great save coming across." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau on the final save of the game
"I knew I needed to make a play to get the team back into it. I knew I had let them down, and I was fortunate to have it go in." -- Flyers defenseman Michael Del Zotto

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Need to know

It was the first time in nine games Dubnyk allowed more than two goals. … . Minnesota forward Chris Stewart had nine hits, the most in his NHL career, and Philadelphia defenseman Radko Gudas had seven, the most by a Flyers player this season.

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What's next

Wild: At the Ottawa Senators on Sunday (5 p.m. ET; TVA Sports, TSN5, FS-N, FS-WI, NHL.TV)
Flyers:Home against the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; CSN-PH, RDS2, TSN5, NHL.TV)