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Meltzer's Musings:Mason Stonewalls Rangers in Game Four |
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The Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series between the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers is now a best-of-three. Riding a stellar 37-save performance by Steve Mason, the Flyers overcame an early deficit and an extremely shaky first period to capture a 2-1 regulation victory in Game Four at the Wells Fargo Center.
Dominic Moore opened the scoring with a wraparound goal at the 4:38 mark of the first period. Matt Read's first goal of the series knotted the score at 1-1 near the midway mark of the first period. On the play, Jason Akeson banked the puck off the end boards and it went directly to Read on the other side.
In the middle period, Jakub Voracek deflected home a power play goal at 7:22 for what proved to be game-winning tally. Brayden Schenn fired a low, deflectable shot on net from high in the zone, and Voracek tipped it upstairs over Henrik Lundqvist.
Lundqvist (23 saves) played a solid game in net for the Rangers. He had no chance on either Philadelphia goal and thwarted several good scoring chances when Philly had a chance to get an insurance goal. However, Mason was spectacular at the other end of the ice.
Over the course of the game, Mason did not just make a slew of clutch saves. He also used his puckhandling prowess to strong effect; clearing the zone a couple times on the penalty kill and even triggering a counter-rush on one sequence.
The first period easily could have been the Flyers undoing. The team was sloppy with the puck (five charged giveaways to zero for New York), and left themselves vulnerable to outnumbered rushes off turnovers. The gaps were too wide and Rangers buzzed the offensive zone with regularity.
Philly actually came out storming on their early shifts and first power play, but once again had trouble putting pucks on the net. Open scoring chances for Scott Hartnell and Brayden Schenn were shot wide of the net among the eight misses for Philly in the first period. They also had a half-dozen attempts blocked. Just six Flyers attempts actually got on net, but one was the Read goal.
At the other end of the ice, the Rangers got 16 shots on Mason's net in the first period while missing seven attempts. The Flyers blocked an additional five.
Getting the game to the first intermission tied was a boon for the Flyers. Thereafter, the team picked up its back-pressure and also started to get their forechecking and cycling games going with a little more regularity in the New York end. Even so, there were still plenty of hairy shifts where the Flyers had to work hard just to clear the zone or relied on help from Mason.
Apart from goaltending, the Flyers won the special teams battles and controlled the faceoff circle (35-for-61, 57 percent for the game, 11-for-17 in the first period alone).
Philly went 1-for-2 on the power play, generating better looks at the net as they worked the puck from different angles. It finally paid off in Voracek's goal in the latter part of their second power play.
The Flyers also went 3-for-3 on the penalty kill. That included a crucial 4-on-3 kill for 1:27 of game time, with 1:12 carrying over from the second to third periods. Throughout the kill, the Flyers showed strong positioning and got sticks in the passing lanes. Mason also made one tough stop on a rocket by Ryan McDonagh.
With Nicklas Grossmann lost to a lower-body injury early in the second period (he couldn't put weight on his right leg after going awkwardly into the boards and getting up very slowly), the Flyers had to go with five defensemen the rest of the way. They did a good job of stepping up.
Claude Giroux was held pointless in the game with two shots on goal. On the flip side, the Rangers top line, especially Rick Nash, was checked closely for most of the game. It canceled out in the end.
The Flyers' fourth line trio of Adam Hall, Michael Raffl and Zac Rinaldo played a strong game. At even strength, they forechecked and cycled the puck very well. Hall won a couple of crucial faceoffs, including a clean win during the 4-on-3 kill and one late in regulation with Lundqvist pulled for an extra attacker. The third line trio of Sean Couturier, Read and Akeson was also very effective for the Flyers.
Apart from the Grossmann injury, there were a few scary moments involving key players on both teams. On the Flyers' side, Giroux went down hard and got up gingerly after taking a big hit -- with heavy contact on his leg or thigh -- by the diminutive Mats Zuccarello. On the New York side, Ryan McDonagh was favoring his left shoulder at one point after contact with Rinaldo. Both players stayed in the game.
Moving ahead to Game Five, the Flyers still need to take a little better care of the puck. The final 13-4 count of charged Flyers giveaways to New York ones is open a recipe for failure. Mason saved the Flyers bacon on quite of a few of the unforced turnovers and New York counters. As the game progressed, the Flyers had a handful of their own odd-man rushes but many ended with shot attempts getting blocked or going wide.
Mason more or less stole one for the Flyers in Game Four, along with the special teams. Going forward, the Flyers need better 60-minute attention to detail if they are to ultimately win this series and advance.
The Flyers will hold an 11:30 a.m. practice at the Skate Zone in Voorhees tomorrow. Game Five will be at Madison Square Garden on Sunday at noon. The winner of that tilt will look to close out the series in Philadelphia on Tuesday. The losing side will need a win at the Wells Fargo Center to force a seventh and deciding game in New York the following night.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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