Mason builds a brick wall, barely beatable by Kings in Jets 2-1 win

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This article was published 23/11/2017 (2850 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LOS ANGELES – Steve Mason continues to resemble the goalie the Winnipeg Jets desperately wanted, wooed and, ultimately, won over in the summer.

The 29-year-old netminder, making his first start in five games and just his sixth of the season, stopped 38 shots as the visiting Jets knocked off the Los Angeles Kings 2-1 Wednesday night.

Rebounding from a 5-3 defeat to the Nashville Predators on Monday, Winnipeg upped its record to 13-5-3 and retain the second spot in both the Central Division and the Western Conference. The Kings (12-8-2) have dropped six of their last seven.

Winnipeg hasn’t lost back-to-back contests in regulation time since starting the 2017-18 NHL season with losses to the Toronto Maple Leafs and Calgary Flames.

Mason looked every bit the elite netminder the Jets were banking on back on July 1 when they signed him to a two-year deal worth US$4.1 million per season. Now 2-3-1 this season, he denied the Kings on several quality scoring chances in the first period, a harbinger of things to come in the second and third periods when he was nearly unbeatable.

“I think early on I was able to feel the puck, so that was good for me. After being off for a week and a half, to feel the puck early on and start feeling good about the game and feel a bit of a rhythm was important, and push that through to the rest of the game as well,” said Mason.

Though he’s practised and prepared the usual way, there’s no way to replicate the feel of genuine game action, he said, adding that’s been the most difficult thing to overcome as Connor Hellebuyck has received the lion’s share of the starts since the second week of October.

“You might think you feel good, but as soon as a game rolls around everything happens that much faster. So, it is a mental grind to tell yourself you put the work in and just to focus on stopping the puck,” he said. “It’s not fun sitting out but you make the most of it when you can.”

Jets centre Adam Lowry hit the scoresheet with just eight seconds left in the first period, while Patrik Laine beefed up the lead on a power-play goal with only 59 seconds left in the second.

Up 2-0, the Jets were guilty of three offensive-zone stick infractions in the third period and L.A. converted on one of their power-play chances. Tyler Toffoli tipped in a point shot by Oscar Fantenberg at 5:26 of the final frame with Brandon Tanev in the box for high-sticking.

Mason’s stops on Kings captain Anze Kopitar from in tight with just under three minutes left and Tanner Pearson from the slot with 29 seconds remaining were game-savers.

He’s allowed just four goals in his last three starts (2-0-1) after earlier defeats to Toronto, Calgary and Columbus — games in which the guys in front of him weren’t sharp.

Jets head coach Paul Maurice said the recent body of work by Mason, a bona fide starter in Columbus and Philadelphia and a former Calder Trophy winner as the NHL’s rookie of the year (2009), is no great revelation to anyone in the organization.

“I think he’s been here. I don’t think we gave him any help. He tried to play that game in the first two (against the Leafs and Flames) and we just didn’t allow that to happen,” Maurice said. “Since then, he’s been really good. We need that now. Our schedule this month is our toughest month of the year. We need our goalies to both play well, and they have.

“We haven’t given the young man a lot of run support. We haven’t scored a lot of goals when he’s been in and he’s played really well.”

Tanev was sporting the wounds of a warrior afterward as he walked with a limp in the dressing room, with an ice bag taped to his arm – visible reminders of several blocked shots on two critical penalty kills in the final period.

“For a guy who doesn’t block a lot of shots, it hurts me as well seeing that. But it’s huge for us,” said winger Nikolaj Ehlers, who set up Laine’s 11th of the season. “That one at the end from Tanev, if that goes to the net it might go in. They did really well. They can keep doing it.”

Outshot for the 15th time this season, the Jets had a couple of glaring defensive gaffes, including an ill-advised pinch by Jacob Trouba in the first period that gave the Kings a two-on-one break that was snuffed out by Mason. Trouba bobbled the puck a couple of times but major damage was averted on strong recoveries by his blue-line partner, Josh Morrissey.

Trouba’s minutes were reduced, as Maurice paired up Morrissey with Byfuglien at different times in the game.

“We just wanted to change up the matchup,” the coach said, cracking a coy smile. “Jake Trouba is transitioning with Josh Morrissey to play against the other team’s best. You saw it in the last two games. That’s not an easy assignment and some nights it’s there for you and some nights it’s not.

“We just felt at the 10-minute mark of the first period it didn’t look like it was going easy for him, and you can’t play against Kopitar and not be on your A-game so we made the adjustment.”

Though he wasn’t rewarded with a goal, rookie left-winger Kyle Connor was a factor in the offensive zone, creating a number of chances, and continues to demonstrate his worthiness on the top line with Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler.

As for the one-game Lowry family feud, son Adam got in the first swipe against dad Dave, an assistant coach with the Kings. He notched his third goal of the year on a back-hand effort after Andrew Copp carried the puck from deep in his own end to the high slot.

“I couldn’t have asked for anything more, score a goal and win the game,” said Adam. “Any time you can score going into the intermission, it tends to carry over to the next period.”

Mason was credited with the second assist on the game-opener, tying him with his puck-stopping partner, Hellebuyck, who also has a helper this year.

L.A. goalie Jonathan Quick, meanwhile, did everything and more to maintain a slim deficit for the Kings through the better part of two periods. But he was helpless on Laine’s power-play tally. Possessing the puck below the goal line, the Danish-born Ehlers feigned a move behind the net and deftly flipped a pass in the other direction to Laine.

Quick made 25 saves for the hosts.

Winnipeg has split the first two games of its four-game swing to Tennessee and California. The Jets play a rare mid-week afternoon game Friday – the day after American Thanksgiving – against the Anaheim Ducks and then return to the ice Saturday night in San Jose against the Sharks.

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell