Flyers Notes: Flyers' Mason itching to return

Steve Mason, benched the last three games while Ray Emery has excelled in the nets, is getting antsy, but he says he understands why he has been sitting.

"It's getting boring just practicing," said Mason, one of eight players to participate in an optional skate Wednesday in Voorhees. "You work to play games, and I haven't played in a while, but that's something that's out of [my] control right now, and you can't argue when the team is doing well. You just have to bide your time and wait for it."

Coach Craig Berube strongly hinted that Emery (4-0-1, 2.44 GAA, .924 save percentage) would start Thursday night in Tampa. Mason will likely play Saturday against the Florida Panthers.

"We've got a goalie that's going good, and like I said, the schedule permitting, I'll go with what's best for the team," Berube said. ". . . We haven't had much success on this Florida trip [in past years], and that's what I'm thinking of right now."

Mason (0-3-1, 3.83, .878) has been working long hours on the ice with goalie coach Jeff Reese.

"Until that time comes when Chief [Berube] says it's my game, you just have to respect the process," Mason said, adding that Emery and the team have played extremely well. "There's no reason to change things up. Why mess with something that's working so well?"

The Flyers have lost six straight in Tampa since 2011.

"We've got to play better in that building. If the team doesn't play better, it doesn't matter who's in the net," Berube said. "We have to have a better mind-set going into that game, a defensive mind-set."

Chris VandeVelde scored his second NHL goal - and first as a Flyer - in Tuesday's 3-2 overtime win over Los Angeles. Berube likes what he has seen from the fourth-line center since he was recalled from the Phantoms.

"He's playing big, and we need size," Berube said of the 6-foot-2, 190-pound forward.

When Vinny Lecavalier returns from an injured left ankle, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare will be bumped down to the fourth line, which also figures to include VandeVelde and Zac Rinaldo. Jason Akeson will probably come out of the lineup.

Lecavalier skated again at practice, but is not expected to play Thursday against his former team in Tampa Bay.

Many of the Flyers' fathers will accompany them on the two-game Florida trip.