It’s normal for a team’s captain or locker room leader to speak out about his team’s performance or effort after a disappointing loss. When it’s the goaltender that calls out his teammates -- well, that’s a bit more rare.
The St. Louis Blues surrendered yet another third period to the Nashville Predators on Thursday, and wasn’t happy about the players in front him. Per Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, here is what Mason had to say after the game:
“I’m definitely not going to single anybody out, but some guys showed up and worked as hard as they could and some guys didn’t,” Mason said. “When you’re in a desperate situation like we are, we need everybody to come and compete, and we didn’t have that.”
“Definitely,” he said. “Mase made some big saves when we needed them. He was there; he was pretty solid. There were some times, some opportunities, we didn’t battle hard enough. He’s a guy that battles every night. He’s got a right to say that. He’s not a yeller or screamer or anything, but he tries to get his point across. He definitely speaks up when he needs to.”
I know some fans would just hope that the players wouldn’t air dirty laundry in public like this, but there are times when publicly calling out the team is needed. Besides, if you were the goaltender and doing anything and everything possible to keep your playoff hopes alive, and the team in front of you looked like they could care less -- you’d be a bit angry yourself.