Mason makes 45 saves as Flyers beat Bruins in shootout

In what has become the latest Wells Fargo Center fad, Ric Flair-like "woooooooos" echoed around the arena for most of Tuesday night, especially when Flyers goalie Steve Mason made a key save.

Mason gave them lots of reasons to go hoarse.

Making his seventh start in the last eight games, Mason made a season-high 45 saves as the Flyers, despite being badly outplayed, outlasted the Boston Bruins, 3-2, in a shootout.

Shayne Gostisbehere scored the winner in the ninth round of the shootout. Mason allowed just one goal in the shootout.

"Mase was the best player on the ice tonight," said coach Dave Hakstol after the victory gave the Flyers just their second two-game winning streak of the season. ". . . We didn't win many races tonight, we didn't win many puck battles, and it's a snowball effect from there, but our goaltender was great and found a way to walk away with two points.

"We certainly can't rely on that too often."

Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask got a piece of Gostisbehere's shot, but it fluttered into the net.

"I noticed his hands were low, so I said I'm going to go in there and just chip one high," said Gostisbehere after the second shootout attempt of his career and first this season. "Thankfully, it worked out."

Mason then made a glove save on David Backes and did a little jig and thrust his stick into the air joyously.

The Flyers, though outshot by a 47-21 margin, had survived.

The even-keeled Mason said he was more emotional than usual because the Flyers had blown a 2-0 third-period lead and he missed a chance to end it when Brad Marchand beat him in the fifth shootout round.

"It was just nice to finish it off," Mason said.

Boston lost despite an 80-44 advantage in shot attempts, which includes those that missed the net or were blocked. The Flyers know the feeling. In recent losses to Tampa Bay and the New York Rangers, they had 70-29 and 78-39 advantages in shot attempts, respectively.

With about 1:40 left in overtime, Mason made consecutive saves on close shots by David Pastrnak and Brandon Carlo. Boston had six of the seven overtime shots.

Rask robbed Claude Giroux with 6.9 seconds left in overtime, denying him on a blast from the left circle.

Earlier, David Krejci cut the Flyers' lead to 2-1, scoring on a right-circle one-timer with 15:34 left in the third. Just 1:18 later, Marchand, left all alone in front, knocked in a rebound to tie it at 2-2 with 14:16 remaining.

With 13:37 left, Jake Voracek was awarded a penalty shot after being held by Joe Morrow as he went in on a breakaway. But Rask stopped Voracek on the penalty shot, keeping the score tied at 2.

Boston played without injured veteran defensemen Zdeno Chara and John-Michael Liles, but it was the Flyers who allowed quality chances all night. The Flyers surrendered a season-high 47 shots, and they managed just 21.

But Mason stole them the two points, pushing their record to 11-10-3.

Despite being outshot by a 19-9 margin, the Flyers left the ice after the first period with a 2-0 lead. Mason was the reason.

Mason made a handful of impressive first-period saves, none better than consecutive stops on a Bruins two-on-one. Mason first stopped Ryan Spooner, then made a more difficult left-pad save on Colin Miller's rebound with 11:19 left in the first.

Michael Del Zotto (screen shot from the point) and Giroux (power play) scored 1:32 apart late in the period to put the Flyers in front, 2-0. Giroux converted a slick pass from Voracek.

"I guess we got a little bit lucky there," Giroux said of his fifth goal, including four on the power play. "One of their players broke his stick" - Riley Nash headed to the bench to get another one - "so the lanes were open and Jake did what he does best."

Mason did the rest.

"He made some unbelievable saves; some of those backdoors, full splits," said Gostisbehere, whose team is now 3-2 in shootouts this season.

scarchidi@phillynews.com

@BroadStBull