Image courtesy of Amy Irvin
Despite the New York Rangers scoring early in the contest, the Philadelphia Flyers responded and won 2-1 to even the series at 2-2. Jakub Voracek had the game-winning goal and Matt Read had the game-tying goal, while Steve Mason made 37 saves.
For New York, Dominic Moore had the team's lone tally, while Henrik Lundqvist allowed two goals on 25 shots.
Mason came through in his first start of the series, as he outplayed Lundqvist. It wasn't anticipated coming into the series, but the Flyers' netminder helped the squad steal a game where they were heavily outshot. Mason kept the Orange and Black in a 1-1 game after a first period where they were dominated and came through with several big stops in the final 40 minutes to help Philly even the series.
Even though he didn't play the majority of the last four games for the Flyers, Mason immediately shook off the rust with his play in the first period. The Orange and Black unintentionally gave their goalie plenty of reps in the opening frame, as the home team was on their heels for the majority of the first 20 minutes. Philly started to respond in the middle frame and took the lead before managing to hold on in the third period.
Along with the play of Mason, the Flyers' power play was much better tonight, as they went 1-for-2 on the man advantage. With far less opportunities on the power play, the Orange and Black moved the puck much better and provided the game-winner with the 5-on-4 situation. The first unit was able to provide relentless pressure and effortless puck movement during the two power plays, while the second unit worked enough to set up Brayden Schenn's game-winning play to Voracek.
Although they could have done more to help Mason out, the Flyers' defense came up big tonight despite Grossmann leaving the game in the second period with what appeared to be an ankle injury. The five-man group did well to prevent New York from connecting on a single one of their offensive chances to send the game to overtime. Braydon Coburn had a great game against Rick Nash and New York's top line, while Mark Streit looked strong throughout the game and had an assist on the game-winner.
The second line for Philly played poorly again at even strength, but the younger Schenn brother did show up this evening. On top of his wonderful play to set up Voracek's goal, Schenn also hit Vincent Lecavalier for a multi-line pass to send the forward on a breakaway in the third period.
As for the Rangers, they couldn't have done more at even strength, but the power play failed to convert on any of their four chances in the loss. Not only did they fail to score on the man advantage, the Rangers didn't have any attempts that were close to going past Mason. It's really a minor problem for New York if they continue to dictate play at five-on-five over the next few games in the series.
In net for the Rangers, Lundqvist didn't play that bad despite being the losing netminder. His first goal against to Read was an unusual bounce off the boards, while the second goal was just an amazing redirection by Voracek. Other than those two shots, Lundqvist made the saves he needed to in between the Rangers' cycling sessions.
The very beginning of the game was better for the Flyers, but the Orange and Black still found themselves down early thanks to a tally from Moore.
After the Rangers' killed off Moore's hooking minor, Moore forced Andrew MacDonald into a turnover at New York's blue line. The play caused an odd-man rush for the Rangers, as Moore took a shot from the circle to Mason's right. The attempt created a rebound that Moore was able to pounce on and beat Mason on a wraparound attempt, as the puck hit Mason's left skate and crossed the line just 4:38 into the tilt.
A little over four minutes later, a shot from Jason Akeson led to Read's game-tying goal. With a shot that went wide from Akeson, the puck bounced off the boards behind Lundqvist and came out to the circle to the goalie's left. Read was able to jump on the loose puck and beat Lundqvist near post for his first goal of the postseason.
The Flyers managed to escape the period tied at one despite being outshot 16-6. New York not only outshot Philly, they provided strong samples of cycling and forced their way into odd-man rushes thanks to strong play in the neutral zone.
In the second period, the Flyers managed to get the advantage in play and took a 2-1 lead thanks to a redirection in front by Voracek.
With Dominic Moore back in the box for cross-checking, Akeson won a board battle before sliding the puck a few feet back to Streit at the point. Streit found the younger Schenn at the top of the slot, which led to the forward slapping a pass that Voracek tipped past Lundqvist's right shoulder and under the bar to put the Flyers up by a goal 7:22 into the second period.
The Blueshirts came out swinging in the third period and applied a lot of pressure to nearly tie up the game, but the Flyers managed to hang on similar to how they did in the Game 2 victory.
The teams will meet at Madison Square Garden on Sunday for Game 5.
NOTES: Tonight was Mason's first career NHL playoff win. It also marked the first team he has had a lead in the postseason, as he went 0-4 with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2009…Coburn, Sean Couturier, and Voracek each had a team-high three shots on goal…This is the Flyers' first win in a Game 4 of a series since the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals. They had lost four straight Game Fours before tonight…Grossmann left tonight's game in the second period with an apparent ankle injury…Lundqvist had a save percentage of .920 tonight (23/25) to drop his save percentage in the series to .927…Tonight marked the fourth time all season where Mason was forced to stop 37 shots or more. It also marks his career-high in saves in single playoff game.
