The Philadelphia Flyers seem to be peaking at exactly the right moment, but that doesn't mean an NHL playoff berth is assured.
With their victory Monday night over the New York Islanders the Flyers upped their playoff chances to 61 percent, but there's a lot left to be done if the Flyboys want to find themselves in one of those Eastern Conference wild card spots come mid-April.
First up on the docket for Philly are the Columbus Blue Jackets and former members of the orange and black, forward Scott Hartnell and goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.
But for the Flyers it won't be Bobrovsky, the one-time heir apparent to the starting gig in Philadelphia, who will be key to their possible postseason berth. It'll be "Money" Steve Mason's ability to earn his moniker by withstanding three back-to-backs, including Tuesday night's game, in the season's final weeks.
"One down, 11 to go," Mason said Monday. "You just keep moving day by day."
After netminder No. 1A Michal Neuvirth went down with what has been termed a meniscus tear, the spotlight fell squarely on Mason with the Flyers one point behind the Detroit Red Wings for the final wild card spot in the East.
The Flyers have a game in hand on the Wings.
Mason (18-16-8) was outstanding against the Islanders on Monday night, who hold a three-point led on the Flyers for the first Eastern Conference wild card spot. Mason made several impressive saves, including a sprawling save on Brock Nelson down low in the second period, and finished with 23 saves on 24 shots in the Flyers' 4-1 victory.
"Money" Mase will have to find a way to conjure that same kind of effort against a Blue Jackets looking for revenge on Tuesday.
"When we went into [the Flyers'] building they embarrassed us," Columbus forward Brandon Saad said. "We're home now so we need to play well against a team that's doing very well right now."
The Blue Jackets are on the precipice of being eliminated from playoff contention - not that they have a chance of reaching the postseason - on Tuesday and will likely come out charging after a 6-0 loss to the Flyers on March 5.
But the Flyers, now 9-2-1 in their last 12 games, very much control their own playoff destiny at this point. Finding a way past the Blue Jackets will come down to continuing their recent stretch of strong play and another quality outing from Mason against his former team.
