With Michal Neuvirth out 4-6 weeks because of a lower-body injury, Steve Mason has become the Philadelphia Flyers' unquestioned No. 1 goaltender. "You never want to see anyone go down with an injury but it's part of sports, it happens," Mason said. "Just creates opportunities for other people." Mason's workload is about to increase but he's hoping for similar results to last season, when an injury to Neuvirth forced Mason to play 12 straight games, and his strong play during that stretch was a big reason the Flyers made the Stanley Cup Playoffs. "If anything it simplifies things," Mason said. "You want to play every single game and when you're not it's a mental grind. Here things are clarified a little bit." Mason has an .880 save percentage in 11 games this season but began to resemble the goalie who had a .926 save percentage in his late run last season when he replaced Neuvirth for the final two periods of a 3-2 defeat of the Wild on Saturday, including a spectacular save on Eric Staal with 7.7 seconds left in the third period. "He's had stretches of real good play and a little bit of inconsistency the first month," coach Dave Hakstol said. "He's got to clean up some of that inconsistency and hopefully the last two periods that he played was a really good sign as he snowballs that into a good performance today."
