It could be a while before Steve Mason sees the Flyers' net again.
Michal Neuvirth did everything but score a goal during Saturday’s tightfisted, 1-0 overtime loss to the Kings.
Maybe if someone handed him a stick, the Czech goalie might have scored. He certainly did his part keeping pucks out of the net.
Neuvirth, who has an 0.99 goals against average and .958 save percentage in his last three games, faced 28 shots with a half-dozen outstanding saves.
He had Jeff Carter (eight shots), Dustin Brown, Tanner Pearson, Tyler Taffoli and the Kings, in general, mumbling to themselves with the saves he was making, including ones where he was down on the ice with an outstretched glove hand on Carter, Brown and Pearson.
“They’re always saying something,” Neuvirth said as the Kings would stop and mutter in disbelief. “I am not really paying attention too much, I am focusing on myself.
“They had great chances and they couldn’t score, they were getting frustrated for sure. But I had a piece of it on the overtime goal.”
NHL
That was Carter’s game-winning shot from the left slot.
No matter. Neuvirth earned a point for the Flyers and deserves to remain in the net.
He had not made consecutive starts since early November, although he had consecutive games in relief off the bench since then.
“It’s definitely huge,” Neuvirth said of consecutive starts. “Like I said so many times, the more I play the better I play, I felt really good out there.
“I am seeing the puck well, I was battling through traffic, penalty kill was really good once again. It would have been nice if we could win that game but, it didn’t happen.”
His outstretched save on Brown after a turnover in the second period was amazing. He reached behind him with Brown already past him.
“It kind of happened quick, it caught me off guard a little bit,” Neuvirth said. “I just stayed with it, had my eye on it the whole time and it was a big save for us.”
Sean Couturier appreciated his effort.
“Yeah he was great,” Couturier said. “He made a few big saves. Especially that open net there when he grabbed the glove.
“He did that a few times tonight where he saved us. That’s the type of thing we need from a goalie and it’s too bad we couldn’t respond for him.”
Loose pucks
This was the second time where the Flyers and their opponent went to overtime scoreless. The Flyers defeated Detroit, 1-0, back on Dec. 11 at Joe Louis Arena. ... Of the 29 blocked shots for the Flyers, Andrew MacDonald had five. Three other Flyers had four. … Radko Gudas led the Flyers with six hits while Ivan Provorov led with 24:08 of ice time. That’s his second consecutive game of more than 24 minutes. ... Claude Giroux was 13 for 19 (68 percent) on faceoffs ... The Flyers took just two penalties in the game. … Jakub Voracek was credited with five of the Flyers’ 17 shots.