Steve Mason had meniscus removed from both knees

PHILADELPHIA — There are two thin white pieces of tape covering the small wounds from arthroscopic surgery on either side of Steve Mason's right knee.

The 26-year-old goaltender doesn't walk any different, but might feel more symmetrical.

Six and a half years ago, he had the same procedure on his left knee. And also five months before that. When Mason went under the knife last week for a scope, he also had a meniscectomy, removing 60 percent of his meniscus.

A day prior, he had to leave a game against the Washington Capitals when his knee buckled on him. It wasn't during play, either. He was standing at the bench during a TV timeout and suddenly had to leave.

"It was a nothing thing, really," Mason said. "I turned to go back to the net, opened my knee up to push out and the meniscus flipped up and got caught in between the joint there. That's a pretty fluke accident there."

Mason had been playing through other issues in his right knee this season. He missed six games in January when he left a game against the Boston Bruins with an injured knee. He didn't want to have the surgery then, rested a few days and played through it for five consecutive games before having to bow out again.

Now that he's had the surgery, he thinks he won't have to worry about it again because nothing bothered him after having surgery on his left knee in September 2008. That was a similar situation when Mason thought he could play through it, but had his knee buckle.

It was the Columbus Blue Jackets third-round pick's last year in juniors when he was playing for the Kitchener Rangers and made a routine move pushing off his left foot to go from one goalpost to the other.

"My knee buckled and I went in for surgery a couple days later," Mason said. "Originally with that one they tried repairing the meniscus and that was a four-month recovery. My second time skating back, I tore it again. They just don't have much success repairing meniscus for athletes, especially with goaltenders. There's very little blood supply to it so it's not easy to heal itself. We ended up taking the meniscus out of my left knee and now my right knee.

"I've never had a problem – knock on wood – with my left knee. I don't forsee any problems with this one in the future. I'm just looking forward to, like I said, we know that we've found the problem and dealt with it and just getting back to games hopefully sooner rather than later."

That may come soon. Mason worked out Thursday, but off the ice. He was on-ice Wednesday in full pads for the first time since the surgery doing light work with goalie coach Jeff Reese. Mason figures he'll probably have another one or two sessions like that before he can start facing shots from teammates.

"I'm planning on traveling with the team to Carolina and Toronto," Mason said. "Who knows? Maybe I'll play one of those games."

The Flyers face the Hurricanes Tuesday and the Maple Leafs Thursday. While Mason has been out, Ray Emery has performed admirably in relief, posting a .905 save percentage and 2.64 save percentage in the fave games Mason's been absent for.

At 32 years old with a balky hip, the Flyers don't want to test Emery's durability. They're hoping Mason, who has the fourth-best save percentage in the league at .925, can return soon.

"Now I know we're in the home stretch of putting this (knee injury) behind us for good," Mason said. "It's never fun sitting out, especially in an important stretch of the season. I'm just trying to do everything to get back as soon as possible."

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