Mason's stellar shutout leads to fourth straight victory

PHILADELPHIA – Flyers goalie Steve Mason only met his idol once.

After his rookie season, in which he had 10 shutouts, Mason was added to Team Canada's orientation camp in August 2009 for the 2010 Olympics.

Martin Brodeur was a shoo-in to make the squad and signed a stick and a jersey for Mason before he went back to Columbus to prepare for his sophomore season.

Although they didn't meet and shake hands this time, both were in the building Saturday night as Mason earned his 25th career shutout, blanking the Toronto Maple Leafs 1-0 in his 100th game as a Flyer.

"I didn't (know he was there)," Mason said. "I think he's got 100-plus shutouts on me. I don't think he's too worried about it."

Brodeur officially retired from the game Thursday, ending a (future) Hall of Fame career with a cup of coffee in St. Louis with the Blues.

The 42-year-old goalie now sips his java as a Blues front-office executive after playing 1,259 of his 1,266 games for the New Jersey Devils.

Saturday night's game, looked like vintage Flyers-Devils the way the Maple Leafs are playing these days. They don't give up much. The Flyers amassed only 18 shots, their lowest since a season-low 16 that was good enough to beat the L.A. Kings back in December.

It's far more defensive than the Maple Leafs are used to playing…and it's not helping. The Leafs end January with a 1-12-1 record. When the month began, they had the most goals in the NHL. Entering Saturday night's action, they dropped to 11th.

"I think they're a little different now obviously with the coaching change and a bit of a different look for them," said Michael Del Zotto, who scored the game's only goal and is riding a career-high six-game point streak. "It wasn't as emotional of a game as the Pittsburgh game, but as I said before, we found a way to win because we need these points."

The goal came only 4:05 into the contest. It's an example of why the Flyers have liked Del Zotto's game recently: he's picked his spots of when to jump into the rush and when to avoid the risk.

"It's just a matter of reading the play," Del Zotto said. "Sometimes you're gonna get caught. It's a game of mistakes. You've never gonna be perfect out there. It's just a matter of admitting those times, though."

Speaking of mistakes, Mason had a feeling he could make exactly none of them. Toronto got the better chances, none surpassing Nazem Kadri's point-blank chance with 1:54 left in the first period back-door on Mason. The Flyers goalie made the best of his 30 saves, stopping him with his right arm.

"That was the vibe I was kin of getting right from the start," Mason said. "It was almost like one goal was gonna be enough and that's what it turned out to be. For a goaltender you just kind of have to focus on the next shot and not look at the big picture. If you do that, you're probably gonna make mistakes thinking about it too much. For myself it was just to make the next save and it turned out all right."

He needed to be sharp again in the second period when Peter Holland had a shorthanded breakaway and Mason kicked the puck away with his right pad.

"Unbelievable," Del Zotto said of his goalie. "He's been great for us since he's been back. Made some huge saves, obviously got us the win tonight."

With the victory, the Flyers extend their win streak to four for the first time all season. They end the month of January 8-6-0 and are nine points out of a playoff spot. Clearly four straight games isn't good enough to make a serious dent.

"It's a great start, but there's still room for improvement," Mason said. "Obviously, we're going to lose games down the stretch, but we can't be losing two, three, four, five games. We have to get right back at it after a loss and make sure we can put together these stretches were we slowly are climbing in the standings."

As for climbing the shutout ladder and catching Brodeur, who has a 22-shutout lead on Terry Sawchuk for most all-time with 125, Mason isn't even trying.

"After my first year, I was," Mason joked, "but I slowed down the pace. But I'll take 25 at 26 years old."

Reach Dave Isaac at disaac@courierpostonline.com. Follow him on Twitter @davegisaac.​