Will the real Chris Mason please stand up? He might have Saturday night at home in a thrilling 4-3 shootout win over the Washington Capitals.
Mason stopped 31 of 34 shots in regulation and overtime and all four attempts in the shootout. The skills competition could have gone 10 rounds and I'm not sure if the Capitals could have scored on him. This was the Chris Mason that carried the Blues to the playoffs last season.
"Great game by the guys. The only thing we did was we probably took a few too many penalties. It's tough putting a team like that on the power play, but five on five, the guys did a tremendous job," Mason told Fox Sports Midwest's Jim "The Cat" Hayes on the Blues postgame show. "(The key to the shootout) is just patience. I'm starting to feel more comfortable. We've had a few lately. Just patience and not committing too early, especially with guys like that. They're full of deception and such high skill. I was just fortunate to hold my ground tonight.
"We've been so up and down lately. We lost there in Colorado and it seemed like we were far from it. Couple big wins here for us, especially on home ice and we're right back in it."
What Mason is talking about is the standings. After the two points from the win, the Blues have 65 on the season, just three points out of eighth place. Amazing. This team was dead, out of it, giving up on Monday in Colorado. And now they enter the ill-timed Olympic break playing their best hockey of the season.
T.J. Oshie had a goal and assist. Patrik Berglund played a strong, dangerous game offensively scoring the first goal of the game for the Blues. His play earned him the first shot in the shootout. Even Eric Brewer showed some feistiness late in regulation. And at the end of the game, you could see the excitement and jubilation of the players as they stormed the ice after the win. Exciting stuff, people. Exciting stuff. The Blues just sold a bunch of tickets tonight with that effort.
No matter what, it's all about the goaltending. Mason had the shutout Friday night against Toronto and then turned around 24 hours later and shut down the highest scoring team in the NHL when the game was on the line.Easily his best efforts of the season.
Hello turning point. Where the fuck have you been?