On a night the Philadelphia Flyers lost 4-1 to the Washington Capitals, and fell behind 2-0 in the first-round series, goalie Steve Mason held himself accountable for a disastrous goal allowed in the second period.
Jason Chimera was officially credited with the goal -- it turned out to be the winner -- after he deflected the puck in on Mason from the neutral zone. Less than a minute before that, Mason had made an unbelievable save, doing the full splits to keep it a one-goal game at that point.
But then the unthinkable happened for Mason and the Flyers, as the Chimera deflection from the Washington side of center went right through the legs of the Philadelphia netminder.
“You just have to have a short memory,” said Mason, as per the Philadelphia Inquirer. “It sucked. It’s a crappy feeling. I just completely messed up on it. It should have been a simple play for me. I messed up.”
He continued: “My fault, obviously. I put the team in a tough position after that. Just a bad goal.”
Ovechkin on Mason gaffe: "we'll take it."
— Stephen Whyno (@SWhyno) April 17, 2016
Others were a little more sympathetic. That includes Capitals star, and fellow member of the goaltending fraternity, Braden Holtby.
“You never want to see it as a goalie,” said Holtby, as per the Washington Post, after a 41-save effort for the Game 2 win.
“As a competitor, you don’t want to see it, you feel for the other guy. He’ll come back and he’ll come back hard.”