Instant Replay: Flyers 2, Rangers 1

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The Flyers needed a hero Friday night in Game 4 of their playoff series with the New York Rangers.

And they got one in goalie Steve Mason, who was nothing short of brilliant in his Flyers playoff debut with 37 saves in a 2-1 win over the Rangers that tied the series, 2-2.

Game 5 is Sunday afternoon in New York.

Mason made his fifth career playoff start -- he made four with Columbus -- while coming off a whiplash/concussion injury suffered in Pittsburgh on April 12.

It was his first career playoff victory.

Mason was challenged in a wild, north-south track meet of a first period in which he faced 16 shots. He tracked them well, but not all of them stuck to him, which left some dangerous rebounds in the paint and near the slot.

The Flyers were badly outplayed in the first period and were lucky it was a 1-1 game at the intermission. Jakub Voracek's goal at 7:22 in the second period gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead and Mason didn't give it up.

Mason gave them a chance to win, and that's all you can ask of your goaltender.

Injuries
Nicklas Grossmann suffered a right knee injury in the second period when he got tangled up in the corner with Rangers forward Derrick Brassard (see story).

Great start
Despite a good start in which Zac Rinaldo drew a penalty at 2:26 in the first period, the Flyers did not get a single shot on it and had two shots blocked. Even worse, Dominic Moore, who took the penalty, scored after leaving the box to rub it in, giving New York a 1-0 lead at 4:43. He followed up his shot off the rush with a wraparound to the far post.

Talked it, tried it
The Flyers talked about doing different things to generate scoring chances, such as banking pucks off the backboards for rebounds in front. Jason Akeson did just that at 8:55, firing a puck toward the right boards where Matt Read got the rebound at the post with a one-timer on Henrik Lundqvist to tie the game, 1-1.

Special teams
The Flyers were 1 for 2 on the power play; the Rangers were 0 for 4.

Power play
The Flyers tried a new setup with Voracek as the dish-man, funneling pucks from the right side of the ice toward Claude Giroux to free up his linemate for shots. Scott Hartnell had an open shot that missed the net.

Shots
In the first period, the Flyers were outshot, 16-5. They tried different things in the period to get shots such as soft passes into the slot for one-timers. That didn't work. 

Penalties
Moore crosschecked Giroux early in the second period to set up the Flyers' second power play and the penalty burned the Blueshirts. Brayden Schenn took a Mark Streit pass down the slot, fired it and Voracek had a perfect tip for his second goal of the series and a 2-1 Flyers lead.

Great save
Mason made quite a few, but none larger than his second-period stop on Ryan McDonagh (see video). In the final minute of the second stanza, Mason had an incredible sprawling stop on McDonagh, as the latter was being hooked from behind by Read with both teams playing 4-on-4. The Rangers got a power play that extended into the third period.

Penalty kill
The Flyers more than held their own in that department and were missing Grossmann. They didn't surrender one PP goal.

Scratches
Defensemen Hal Gill and Erik Gustafsson; forwards Jay Rosehill, Tye McGinn, Steve Downie (post-concussion syndrome) and Chris VandeVelde; goalie Cal Heeter.

Black Aces
Defensemen Brandon Manning, Oliver Lauridsen and Mark Alt; forwards Scott Laughton, Ben Holmstrom, Nick Cousins, Brandon Alderson, Petr Straka; goalie Yann Danis.

Loose pucks
The Flyers broke out a duet video with Lauren Hart live and Kate Smith (video) signing “God Bless America.” I was told the club wasn’t going to do that this year in the playoffs.

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