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Mason calls out Flyers after loss: 'We need a better effort'

Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports / Reuters / USA TODAY Sports / Reuters

The Philadelphia Flyers continued their 2016-17 slide Tuesday night, dropping a 3-2 contest to the Winnipeg Jets to earn the 13th loss of their past 20 games.

Flyers goaltender Steve Mason didn't mince words after the loss, calling out his mates for failing to capitalize on the Jets' shorthanded blue line - Winnipeg played with six defensemen sidelined by injury.

"It was up to us to make them feel uncomfortable," Mason said after the game, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer's Sam Carchidi. "We're also facing a goaltender who hadn't had a start in two months, and I don't think we made it hard enough for him.

"We need a better effort."

The Flyers fired 26 shots at Jets netminder Michael Hutchinson, putting just two behind him (the second tally coming in the final two seconds, with the game all but sealed up). Mason faced 33 shots in total, stopping 30.

But it wasn't just the Tuesday-night loss that irked the veteran netminder.

"We keep playing like this and we'll be mathematically eliminated before you know it," Mason said. "We've got to stop this win-one-lose-one (habit). We have to have some growth on the team here."

With the loss in tow, the Flyers rank second-last in their division with 74 points. They haven't been eliminated just yet, as they sit seven points out of the East's final wild-card spot with 10 games remaining on their season.

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