Photo Gallery: Steve Mason all but stood on his head in Flyers' shootout win

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Steve Mason continues to make the Philadelphia Flyers relevant. In the box score, it was another ho-hum 34-save night that carried the orange and black to a 3-2 shootout victory in Nashville on Saturday, but as you can see from these photos, the effort was far from routine.

Mason kicks, pokes, swats, dives and sprawls to make one incredible stop after another, including on all three of the Predators’ shootout attempts. AP photographer Mark Humphrey got some outstanding shots of the acrobatics.

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The Flyers’ number one goaltender has only allowed more than two goals in a game once over his past nine starts for a 6-1-2 record, blocking in excess of 30 shots in five of those. He hasn’t surrendered more than three markers in an appearance yet this season.

Not surprisingly, Mason is steadily climbing the NHL leaderboards as a result. The 25-year-old is up to 11th with a 2.09 goals against average, and he’s cracked the top 10 in save percentage, up to eight with a .934.

Claude Giroux and Sean Couturier scored Philadelphia’s goals in regulation, while Vinny Lecavalier put the Preds away in the shootout. The Flyers’ offense continues to languish toward the bottom of the league, their 2.15 goals per game good for 27th.

Mason is holding down the fort for now though—not to mention building his case for a contract extension. The Flyers are just a couple of points out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference thanks in large part to his stellar play between the pipes.

Although he wasn't one of this contest's three stars.

>> Mason carries Flyers to shootout win over Preds [CSN]
>> Box Score [Yahoo!]

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