Flyers Quarter Season Grades
By Bryan
Flyers Quarter Season Grades: Goaltending
In a word, wow. The dueling goaltenders aesthetic seemed like little more than an interesting experiment at first gasp, but Emery and Mason have played lights-out all season. Where Emery struggled behind a shell-shocked team in some early outings (recovering after beating a reluctant Braden Holtby to a pulp), Steve Mason is looking more and more like a Vezina trophy candidate each game. Part of that is thanks to the tightened defense, but he’s covered enough lapses to maintain him for sainthood. Better yet, the two goalies seem to enjoy a solid rapport.
It goes without saying that none of credit for this goes to goaltending coach Jeff Reese, who has statistically done little to improve the play of any goaltender for whom he’s been responsible. This year’s system was supposed to be a competition between two good goalies to see who could take the reins, and Mason is the man between the pipes. Though an uncertain future awaits with his contract negotiations, and most Flyers goalies seem to have stellar freshman campaign before falling apart their sophomore year, the blue paint has been the area of least concern for this season.