Philadelphia Flyers

The Philadelphia Flyers have clinched a berth in the NHL playoffs this year after missing out on the postseason last spring. The biggest question facing the team as it enters the playoffs is whether or not it can count on starting goalie Steve Mason.

Mason has been a big part of the Flyers' success this season. As of April 9, Mason has appeared in 60 games for the Flyers and has a 2.51 GAA and a .917 save percentage.

While those are slightly above-average numbers for an NHL goalie, the most important numbers are Mason's win/loss record. The Oakville, Ontario native is 33-18-7 so far this season.

That means he has made the big save for the Orange and Black when he needed to more often than not. The Flyers are not considered one of the stronger defensive teams in the league, and yet Mason has played well enough to make the Flyers consistent winners.

But while Mason has been fairly reliable during the regular season, the playoffs are another matter altogether. Most teams that go on long playoff runs rely on their netminder to steal a few games for them along the way, including some games they probably don't deserve to win.

Mason has only appeared in four playoff games in his NHL career. In 2008-09, his rookie season, Mason led the Columbus Blue Jackets to their first playoff appearance in franchise history. Unfortunately, the stay was a brief one. The Detroit Red Wings swept Columbus in four straight games.

Mason's numbers were anything but impressive. He was 0-4 with a 4.26 GAA and an .878 save percentage. Worse yet, only one of the four games was close, and that was a 6-5 loss, a game in which Mason was hardly at his best.

Despite his lack of playoff success so far, Mason is excited about the prospect of returning to the Stanley Cup playoffs. He recently told CSNPhilly.com's Tim Panaccio, "This is what we play hockey for. Situations where you are playing meaningful games this time of year. To be in the position we are after the start we had to the season says a lot about this time. It’s definitely exciting."

Mason feels it is important to keep himself in the same routine that has worked for him during the regular season even as the games become more intense and the playoffs get under way. "Everything’s status quo," Mason told Dave Issac of the South Jersey Courier-Post. "Just because games are becoming more meaningful and there’s less and less games coming up on the schedule, you don’t change anything."

The Flyers remain hopeful that things will be different for Mason in this year's playoffs than they were five years ago. For one thing, the 25-year-old has a lot more experience now than he did as a rookie. For another, his career was revitalized when he was traded to the Flyers.

"You have a new sense of excitement about being in a new organization, working with a new coach, new players on your team," Mason explained to Adam Kimelman of NHL.com. "As soon as the trade went through I had a thousand pounds lifted off my back and my brain. It's hard to explain the sense of relief."

Jakub Voracek, who has played with Mason in both Columbus and Philadelphia, also noticed the difference right away. Voracek told Kimelman, "Right away when he got traded you could see the fire in his eyes. When I saw him the first time [with the Flyers], it was like he got released from prison. He was excited to play hockey."

Mason also has worked well with Flyers' goaltending coach Jeff Reese, who moved the big goalie back further in his crease and helped revive his sagging confidence.

Reese believes in Mason right now. He told Kimelman, "This guy always had the talent, he always had skill, he can move well for a big guy, very athletic, handles the puck, has a great glove hand...That's the biggest difference, him getting out of there and getting to a new place where people believed in him again."

The question remains, will Mason be able to play well enough to help the Flyers win a round or two in the playoffs this year? The potential is clearly there, and there are reasons to expect he'll play much better this year than he did in 2009. Now he just has to go out and do it.

On Monday, the NHL Department of Player Safety announced that Philadelphia Flyers forward Zac Rinaldo has been suspended for the remaining four games of the regular season. Rinaldo will not be eligible to return to action until the opening game of the playoffs.

The suspension was due to Rinaldo’s hit on Chad Ruhwedel during Sunday’s home game against the Buffalo Sabres. Rinaldo received a match penalty for his actions.

The Flyers released a tweet with a statement from general manager Paul Holmgren:

"While we view the four-game suspension to Zac [Rinaldo] harsh, we respect the league's decision." -#Flyers GM Paul Holmgren

— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) April 7, 2014

Holmgren was clearly defending his player and trying to earn leniency for his team the next time a player comes before the department of player safety.

Some experts, such as Bleacher Report's Dave Lozo, thought Rinaldo deserved an even lengthier suspension:

Zac Rinaldo got four games. What a shock that that's how many games the Flyers have left this season. I'm sure he'll reform in no time!

— Dave Lozo (@DaveLozo) April 7, 2014

Rinaldo clearly deserved to sit out a few games for this play, as explained in the league’s official video announcing the suspension.

Without Rinaldo, the Flyers will be lacking some grit and toughness in their lineup. The 23-year-old native of Mississauga, Ontario, leads the Flyers this season with 153 penalty minutes (no other player has more than 106) and leads their forwards in hits with 231—41 more than second-placed Brayden Schenn.

Rinaldo is the personification of an energy-line player. He may not log a lot of minutes or put up a lot of points, but he makes the Flyers a much tougher team to play against.

His style also prevents opposing players from taking liberties with his teammates.

Coach Craig Berube explained Rinaldo’s value to Damien Romaine of CSNPhilly.com. “He takes the body, hits, he disrupts people. He’s a physical player with the skating,” he said.

But he also goes too far at times and takes foolish and unnecessary penalties. Rinaldo himself admitted to Rob Parent of the Delaware County Daily Times that the hit on Ruhwedel was not wise.

“I shouldn’t have done it. There was no need for it. We were up 4-0. There was no need for that hit but it is what it is,” he said.

In the meantime, the Flyers are fortunate that Steve Downie, another player who plays a checking role, will be able to return to the lineup.

Look for Downie to replace the suspended Rinaldo tomorrow vs. Fla. #Flyers

— Sam Carchidi (@BroadStBull) April 8, 2014

Downie will now have four games to play himself back into game shape and make his case for rejoining the lineup once the playoffs get underway next week. He has not appeared in a game since March 22.

Then, Craig Berube will have a choice as to whether or not to put Rinaldo back into the lineup. Obviously, once the playoffs start, Rinaldo cannot hurt the team by taking foolish penalties that create power-play opportunities for the opposition. He needs to walk that fine line between intense physicality and recklessness.

Rinaldo suspended but will be back for WHEN the Flyers are in playoffs. His intensity is great and they need it back #FlyersTalk

— Ryan Armstrong (@RyanCArmstrong) April 8, 2014

The Flyers are a better team with Rinaldo in the lineup, but only if he's under control and plays smart hockey. Whether or not he can do that may help determine how far the Flyers get in the playoffs this year.

The Philadelphia Flyers made one acquisition at the trade deadline: They picked up defenseman Andrew MacDonald from the New York Islanders for a couple of draft choices and minor league forward Matt Mangene.

Many fans were less than thrilled with the pickup, but overall, MacDonald has been what was expected of him: a solid, if unspectacular, third-pair defenseman who can help the team in some subtle ways. MacDonald will rarely make headlines, but that doesn't mean he isn't helping the team.

MacDonald's statistics are also solid but not outstanding. In 13 games with the Flyers, A-Mac has two assists and a minus-two plus/minus rating. He also has 18 hits and 33 blocked shots to go along with 14 shots on goal.

MacDonald's biggest strength is his versatility. He is pretty good in several areas without being outstanding in any of them.

Flyers' defenseman Mark Streit, who played with MacDonald on Long Island, told Sarah Baicker of CSNPhilly.com about MacDonald's strengths as a player:

...He’s good overall. He’s a good skater, plays well defensively and has a good first pass, which is a huge asset. Then offensively, he’s good too. He can play on the power play, and on top of that, he blocks a lot of shots.

He’s a team guy. He does everything for the team. Whenever you have the chance to get a guy like that on your team or on your side, it’s a big plus.

MacDonald has played on the third defensive pairing with Luke Schenn, but he is capable of filling in on either of the top two pairings. With the Islanders, MacDonald saw a lot of time on both the power play and penalty kill. With Philadelphia, he has not seen significant time on special teams, although the Flyers know he is able to fill in when needed.

MacDonald has averaged 21:13 of ice time since joining the Flyers after averaging more than 25 minutes per game with the Isles. On most nights, MacDonald plays between 18 and 23 minutes for Philadelphia. But, against the St. Louis Blues on April 1, A-Mac played 27:25. The Flyers did not yield a goal in 65 minutes during the game.

Flyers coach Craig Berube has been complimentary of MacDonald. He told Tim Panaccio of CSNPhilly.com that MacDonald is a "good skater, good puck mover, a smart guy. [He's] fluid. Plays lots of minutes.”

Defensively, MacDonald leads the NHL in blocked shots, with 231 total in 76 games. No other player has more than 194. In the playoffs, shot-blocking will become an even more important statistic as games get more intense, scoring chances tougher to come by and players become more willing to sacrifice their bodies.

Allan Muir of Sports Illustrated listed the Flyers' acquisition of MacDonald as a "winner" at the trade deadline. He explained that MacDonald's limited special teams time and third-pairing duties have made him "more effective during his heavy five-on-five rotation, and it’s helped him bring out a more confident performance from [Luke] Schenn. Together, they’ve provided a huge boost down the stretch."

But the two most important statistics since MacDonald has joined the team are these: The Flyers have allowed only 2.23 goals per game in the 13 games since A-Mac joined the club, well below their season average of 2.72. An average of 2.23 would put the Flyers fourth in the league. Over the course of the entire season, they are 16th.

Best of all, the Flyers have a record of 7-3-3 in the 13 games since acquiring MacDonald. That has them in solid position to make the playoffs and could set them up for a long run once they get there.

Goaltending remains one of the most critical question marks for the Philadelphia Flyers as the regular season draws to a close.

This isn’t a new sentiment; a particularly lazy columnist could have written something along these lines 15 years ago and simply re-issued the piece with a few names changed and a line or two added every spring since. Not since the days of Ron Hextall have the Flyers had a goalie they could really bank on tending the nets.

This year, Steve Mason is the man tasked with being the final line of defence, and to his credit, in a lot of ways he’s earned the opportunity.

Mason hasn’t appeared in a postseason game since 2008-09, his first year in the majors. He burst on to the scene in Columbus, posting a 0.916 save percentage en route to winning the Calder Trophy as the league’s most proficient rookie and further being honoured with a spot on the league’s second All-Star team.

The dream season ended with an incredibly disappointing playoffs. Mason averaged just over four goals against per game as the Blue Jackets were swept in the only postseason series in franchise history.

From that point on, Mason became part of the problem in Columbus. Given the majority of his team’s starts for the next three seasons, Mason hovered around the 0.900 save percentage mark and played a key role in ensuring the Blue Jackets didn’t get a chance to improve on their 0-4 postseason record. Finally, last season, he was traded to the Flyers.

He’s been remarkable since. As the starter in Philadelphia this season, Mason has matched the heights of his rookie campaign, posting a 0.916 save percentage and a 31-17-7 record. He easily brushed aside an early-season challenge from Ray Emery and was rewarded in January with a three-year contract extension:

Still, it’s hard to forget how badly Mason played the last time he appeared in the playoffs, particularly since in a lot of ways this season has followed the same curve as that one, with a hot start, a disastrous middle and a resurgence at the tail end of the year:

It’s probably not worth getting too worked up over what happened at the end of that 2008-09 campaign. The Jackets met a powerhouse Detroit team in the first round and got flattened, and besides that Mason was an awfully good playoff goalie back in his junior days. Four bad games in a horrible mismatch of a playoff series isn’t enough to indicate that he’s the kind of guy who underperforms in the postseason.  

What is worth worrying about is the likelihood that for all that Mason’s numbers have improved, he’s still the same kind of goalie he was on all those Blue Jackets teams that followed that first playoff series.

Back in December, impressed by Mason’s dramatic turnaround in Philadelphia, we went looking for historic examples of NHL goaltenders who had managed to improve to the same degree at around the same age. After looking at every season since the NHL started recording save percentage, this is what we found:

In other words, from the data we have, no goalie has managed to pull off the kind of transformation Mason did and use it as a springboard for improved play down the line. … The most likely outcome is that Steve Mason goes back to being the fringe NHLer he was when the Flyers acquired him.

At the time of that assessment, Mason had a 0.932 save percentage for Philadelphia, in sharp contrast to the 0.905 number he had posted in his five prior seasons. In the 37 games since, he’s been a 0.906 save percentage goalie. It seems likely that his hot start was an aberration, and that he’s back to being the same goalie he was in Columbus.

And the thought of that should terrify the people making decisions in Philly.

Unless otherwise noted, statistics are courtesy of NHL.com and current through the start of action on April 1. 

When is a demotion to the fourth line a step forward for all concerned? It certainly was for Philadelphia Flyers veteran forward Vincent Lecavalier.

Head coach Craig Berube moved Lecavalier to the fourth line prior to the game against the Toronto Maple Leafs last Friday. The results have been nothing short of spectacular for Lecavalier. In two games playing with Adam Hall and Zac Rinaldo, Lecavalier has three goals on 12 shots and a plus-two plus/minus rating.

The biggest reason for the move's success? It meant that Lecavalier returned to his natural position at center rather than playing left wing like he has most of the season.

"It felt great. It's just more of a moving game," Lecavalier told Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer after Sunday's game against the Boston Bruins. "Obviously I've played there my whole career. It just feels more natural."

Despite the fact that Lecavalier has spent nearly all of his career as a top-six forward and Hall and Rinaldo are role players, there has been solid chemistry between the new linemates.

"I think we were awesome as a line," Lecavalier told Frank Seravalli of the Philadelphia Daily News. "Wherever I'm going to be put, I'm going to do my best, but with Hall and Rinaldo I think the chemistry was definitely there. We were finding each other. We were making some good plays at the net. I love playing with them, for sure."

Berube agreed, although he almost seemed surprised. "For whatever reason, they've got chemistry," he admitted to Carchidi.

It wasn't surprising that Hall was excited to play with Lecavalier. The two were teammates with the Tampa Bay Lightning and did occasionally play on the same line. "He's a tremendous player, he's got tremendous abilities," Hall told NHL.com's Adam Kimelman. "He has that ability to create plays, create offense. He's got an amazing shot. ... Adds that extra little bit of ability [to the line]. I'm excited to play with him obviously."

Against a Boston club that has a very solid defense, Lecavalier had nine shots on goal, his best single-game performance in more than three years. His first goal was the 400th of his NHL career, making him the 90th player in NHL history to reach that milestone.

It seems odd that a career goal scorer like Lecavalier is comfortable playing with a pair of players who have 10 points total between them for the season, but so far, the combination has proved to be effective.

The move has barely altered Lecavalier's ice time, mostly because he is still playing on the Flyers' power-play unit. In fact, the veteran is averaging 2:32 per game while Philadelphia has the extra attacker. This allows him to see some ice time with more "creative" offensive players as well.

When he is out with the fourth line, Lecavalier creates matchup problems for opposing coaches because they cannot let down defensively regardless of which unit Berube sends onto the ice for Philadelphia.

A comfortable and productive Lecavalier would be a big asset for the Flyers in the playoffs.

"He is a key piece [of the team]," Berube told Carchidi. "I never thought he wasn't."