Flyers don't need a No. 1 goalie, they should just play guy who's hot

STEVE MASON'S stick lay beside the right post, ignored, for the moment, as the Oilers fought for possession to keep their power play in the Flyers' end.

Mason lost the stick moments before in a battle in the crease, but the killers couldn't clear, and he didn't dare retrieve it. Suddenly, the puck came loose . . . and drifted toward the middle of the Flyers' zone. Mason squared himself.

Nail Yakupov fired.

Mason split. His right pad fired out, and Yakupov's shot went wanting, just like his other six.

The Flyers cleared. Mason picked up his stick. Play died on an offside call.

At the stoppage, the Flyers on the bench pounded their sticks against the boards. There came a louder sound.

Ray Emery was pounding the glass.

Emery is, technically, Mason's backup. Emery is, really, Mason's other half.

The Flyers have a goalie co-op. It might be unusual, but is the only way it can work with this team.

After enduring a lousy start and a four-game benching, Mason, starting in his second consecutive game, finally won . . . for the first time since April 29. Stat geeks don't seem to understand that pitchers, quarterbacks, goalies and their coaches care most about wins.

"You try not to think of the losses that are mounting, but it's definitely nice to walk off the ice and have that winning feeling," said Mason, now 1-4-1 after the 4-1 decision over Edmonton. "You train all summer to win hockey games. Since the last playoff game we won, it's been quite a few months since I won. It starts to wear on you a little bit."

How big was Mason's win?

So big that Flyers chairman Ed Snider made a special trip to the locker room to congratulate him.

"Fantastic," smiling Ed said as he shook Mason's sweaty hand over a cart full of Mason's goalie gear. "I'm really happy for you."

It was Game 16 last season, Nov. 9, against the same Oilers, when Claude Giroux finally scored his first goal. The Flyers entered that game 4-10-1, and Giroux had seven points. They went 38-20-9 from that point. Giroux scored 79 more points.

Maybe Mason can cause a similar surge for his team, now 5-5-2. He stopped 35 of 36 shots. He was the best player on a 4-for-4 penalty-killing unit that stopped the Flyers' ugly little two-game skid. He has maybe played a little bit better than 1-4-1. Emery is 4-1-1, and while he has been good, he hasn't been quite that good.

Together, they have guided the Flyers to respectable mediocrity. With a little better defense and a little bit of luck they could become a real playoff threat in a few months - if the goalies remain effective.

Certainly, they will remain supportive.

"He made a bunch of great saves there during that kill," Emery said of his heartfelt glass-pounding. "I'm the only guy on the team who knows what it's like to be in his shoes . . . I know how it feels to come out on the wrong side of things to start a season, and how hard it is to battle your way into playing like you can. It's great for our team."

Indeed.

Mason is notoriously streaky. Emery, 10 hard seasons in, is, unfortunately, worn. This can work, as long as too much isn't made of which is the No. 1.

For better or worse, the goaltender position is treated with a mystic wonder reserved for few other positions in sports.

No; usually, it's for worse.

Certainly, when a goalie has earned the right to the crease with a long and venerated body of work, his position should be sacrosanct. His preferences should be accommodated: how often he wants to work; which arenas he prefers; sometimes, which teams he feels comfortable facing.

These sorts of goaltenders are few. They always have been.

Too often, though, hockey coaches try to create a No. 1 goalie. They hope that coddling him a bit will result in his playing his way to top-dog status.

Fortunately for the Flyers, Craig Berube does not seem to be such a coach.

"It is important to have a No. 1 goaltender, but there are tandems that have worked in the past," Berube said.

This tandem is working now; by design.

"Ray has done a remarkable job of coming in and working with Mase - a young guy; mentoring him a little bit," Berube said. "Mase is still young, still learning. You've got a guy like Ray who's won a Stanley Cup, been around, battled back from injuries - Ray's got a lot of character."

Mason showed a lot of character working as he waited for that first win.

"Sometimes when things aren't going your way, it's tough to go to the rink and have that desire to work your tail off when you haven't been rewarded for anything yet," he said.

He watched while Emery played the best he's played in years. He beat the Penguins, hockey's No. 2 offensive team, in Pittsburgh, and he didn't lose until he faced the top-scoring team, the Lightning, in Tampa.

He gave up four on Florida's Gulf Coast; an indication, perhaps, that his 10 injury-riddled seasons were slowing him.

And, so, to Mason.

The common thinking is, of course, that one goalie should be deemed the alpha. The danger is deeming one the alpha without proper credentials.

When Mason plays as he played last night, the credentials seem overwhelming.

He had little chance when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins charged past Mark Streit and past Zac Rinaldo midway through the second period, but when Mason did have a chance, he made the most of it: David Perron in the second, Jeff Petry in the first, Yakupov all night.

Mason has found his zone. For now, the net is his.

"If you have two guys who are capable of playing every single night, I think it's a good thing," Mason said. But yes, he wants to play, and to win, and to hear the crowd and his goaltending "partner," as he called Emery, making that raucous din.

"For a goaltender, that's kind of like scoring a goal. Those are feel-good moments," Mason said. "It's something to build off of. It's nice to finally have a good feeling after a game."

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