Mason injured as Flyers fall to Bruins

The Flyers lost more than a hockey game Saturday afternoon at the Wells Fargo Center.

A lot more.

They lost the services of talented goalie Steve Mason for an undetermined amount of time.

Mason, who took the league's fourth-best save percentage (.933) in even-strength situations into the game, suffered an apparent injury to his right knee in the opening period of the Flyers' 3-1 loss to the tight-checking Boston Bruins.

The Flyers would say only that Mason suffered a lower-body injury and would be reevaluated Sunday.

Mason has been bothered by back and leg injuries recently. He collapsed to the ice on his back and left the game with 12 minutes, 53 seconds left in the first period Saturday and was replaced by Ray Emery.

The 6-foot-4 Mason made a routine right-pad save on Craig Cunningham's long shot, then fell to the ice. He tried to push off on his right leg, but was unable to do so.

Earlier in the week, Mason said he "tweaked" an injury - believed to be his right knee, which supposedly had a clean MRI on Wednesday - in Thursday's 3-2 overtime win over Washington. He said he felt better at practice Friday.

Entering Saturday, Mason was 8-12-6 with a 2.48 goals-against-average and .919 save percentage.

"Obviously it sucks, but I think we played a pretty good game after that," said winger Wayne Simmonds, whose team allowed just 18 shots, equaling its low for the season.

"We had some chances, and I thought we played smart defensively," defenseman Michael Del Zotto said. "We were happy with our game, and I think if we play like that, most nights we're going to get wins."

Boston, which has points in its last seven games (4-0-3), capitalized on its few scoring chances. The Bruins had three goals on 13 shots against Ray Emery.

Rookie David Pastrnak, playing in his seventh NHL game, scored the first two goals of his career to lead the Bruins. He became the first 18-year-old to score two goals against the Flyers since Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby on Dec. 23, 2005.

Selected in the first round (25th overall) of the 2014 draft, the young Czech scored on a power-play rebound with 8 minutes, 37 seconds left in the opening period. Defensive breakdowns by Braydon Coburn, Nick Schultz, and Sean Couturier contributed to the goal.

Pastrnak got behind Scott Laughton, took a slick pass from David Krejci, and scored from out front to make it 2-0 with 15:03 left in regulation.

About five minutes later, Chris Kelly, on a two-on- one, deposited a shorthanded goal to increase the lead to 3-0.

Claude Giroux snapped Tuukka's Rask's shutout by scoring a power-play goal from the left circle with 5:47 left. Jake Voracek notched an assist, giving him an NHL-high 50 points.

The Flyers managed 25 shots and were 1 for 6 on the power play.

"We need to find a way of doing a better job of getting in front of him," Giroux said, referring to Rask. "He was able to see a lot of pucks five-on-five pretty good."

Goalie Rob Zepp, who played one game with the Flyers last month, is expected to be recalled from the AHL Phantoms. The Flyers have a busy week, playing Tampa Bay on Monday, at Washington on Wednesday, Vancouver on Thursday, and at Buffalo on Saturday.

On Dec. 21, Zepp became the oldest goalie (33) to win his NHL debut since 1926.

With the loss, the Flyers fell 11 points behind Boston for the Eastern Conference's last playoff spot. If Mason is out for a considerable amount of time, the playoffs figure to be out of reach.

Breakaways. Kimmo Timonen, who has been sidelined all season by blood clots, said he was optimistic he would play again, but added he wouldn't know until he visited a specialist within the next 10 days. The defenseman, 39, will be honored Friday as winner of the good guy award by the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association at the Crowne Plaza in Cherry Hill. . . . Seven seconds into Saturday's game, Boston's Adam McQuaid pounded Nick Schultz in a fight; it was Schultz's first bout since 2010 . . . Former Flyer Dennis Seidenberg was plus-2, with five hits and three blocked shots in 25:54.