Steve Mason is playing his best hockey yet, and has helped lead the Flyers to a record well above .500.
If you haven’t already, it’s time to start paying attention to the Flyers.
After a 3-1 win over Montreal back on Wednesday gave the team its tenth consecutive win at home, the Flyers (23-17-4) are playing perhaps the best hockey in the entire NHL.
The offense and defense are each firing all cylinders as the team has outscored opponents39-17 in the 10 game upswing, halfway to a franchise record for wins at home in a row.
“Earlier in the year, we were finding ways to lose games,” Flyers forward Sean Couturier said in an interview after he contributed a goal to the Flyers second win over the Canadiens this season, “and now we’re finding ways to win games.”
Overall, the Flyers are 8-2 in their last 10, many of those wins coming on a 5-1 road trip in the Western Conference. Good enough to put the Flyers in second place in the Metropolitan Division, behind the red hot Penguins.
“We’re not always going to play our best hockey,” Flyers head coach Craig Berube told reporters, “but we’re squeezing wins out.”
The Flyers have proven they can be road warriors, and with more home games than any other team in the NHL ahead of them on the schedule, the Bullies have a distinct advantage as the second half of the season arrives.
Steve Mason could be a key player to keep an eye on. Though Claude Giroux’s exclusion from an Olympic roster was clearly a snub, Mason is another very deserving Flyers sitting out Sochi.Mason is 18-10-4 with a 2.35 GAA and .922 save percentage.
The Flyers will put their home winning streak on the line Saturday afternoon when the Lightning come to town.
Tampa has played very good hockey lately itself, going 7-2-1 in the last ten games and holding onto second place in the Atlantic Conference. They have 56 points to the Flyers 50. The matchup will, for the second time this season, put Flyers forward Vincent Lecavalieragainst his former team.
The game will surely be the toughest test for the team yet during its home-win streak, the puck drops at 1 p.m. at the Wells Fargo Center.
