Subject :PHILADELPHIA -- Steve Mason and the Flyers are playing their best hockey of the season heading into
PHILADELPHIA -- Steve Mason and the Flyers are playing their best hockey of the season heading into the Olympic break. Calvin Johnson Jersey . Its a break team chariman Ed Snider would love to abolish. Mason stopped 38 shots, and Mark Streit and Michael Raffl scored goals, leading the Philadelphia Flyers past the Colorado Avalanche 3-1 on Thursday night. Mason blanked Detroit 5-0 on Jan. 28 and stopped the Los Angeles Kings 2-0 on Feb. 1. He was only 2:50 away from his fourth shutout of the season, and third in five games, when Nathan MacKinnon beat him for his 21st goal of the season. Mason stopped his first 33 shots. Mason, who signed a three-year extension last month, has been the key reason the Flyers have been able to hang around in the Eastern Conference playoff race. With one game left before the break, the Flyers recent spurt could stall because of the Olympics. "I hate them," said Snider, the Flyers founder. He added: "Its ridiculous, the whole thing is ridiculous. I dont care if it was in Philadelphia, I wouldnt want to break up the league. I think its ridiculous to take three weeks off, or however long it is, in the middle of the season. It screws up everything. .. How can anybody be happy breaking up their season. No other league does it, why should we? Theres no benefit to us whatsoever. If anything, I can only see negatives." Reminded the Flyers reached the Stanley Cup finals during the last Olympics in 2010, Snider laughed. "Maybe I like them," he said. "I forget about that." Claude Giroux, who scored an empty-netter with 20 seconds left, has plenty of time to rest during the break. He was snubbed Thursday by Hockey Canada when Martin St. Louis was picked as an injury replacement for his Tampa Bay teammate Steven Stamkos. Steve Yzerman, the Canadians executive director and Tampa Bays general manager, chose St. Louis over Giroux and Pittsburghs James Neal. "Its a farce," Snider said. "Hes one of the best players in the game. Its ridiculous. Hes better than half the guys on that team. "Anybody that thinks that Claude Giroux doesnt belong on the Canadian team, they dont know anything about hockey as far as Im concerned. Its politics, to a certain degree. He had to pick his own guy. His own guy is good, but Claude is better." The Avalanche, who lost 5-1 to the New York Rangers on Tuesday, couldnt solve Mason until it was too late. The Avalanche called timeout with 1:27 left and pulled goalie Semyon Varlamov in a last-gasp effort at the tying goal. It didnt work. The Flyers scored in the second period, when Streits shot from the blue line was deflected by a defenceman and wobbled past Varlamov for his eighth goal. Streit is heading to his fourth Olympics for Switzerland. The Flyers got a scare when centre Brayden Schenn was checked from behind into the boards by Patrick Bordeleau. Schenn quickly got on his skates, and his teammates went after Bordeleau behind the net. Bordeleau threw his right elbow into Schenns back and the Flyer thumped the board, and then hit the ice. Bordeleau was hit with 5 minutes for checking from behind and a game misconduct. Colorado coach Patrick Roy was red faced and furious as he argued with the officials that the hit didnt merit an ejection. Masons play picked up after a recent pep talk from Hall of Fame goalie Bernie Parent. Mason stopped 14 shots in the first period and made the save of the night in the second when he robbed Gabriel Landeskog with a glove save from his rear. "I think we didnt make it hard enough for him in the first 55 minutes," Landeskog said. "I think the last five, we were in his face, banging rebounds, and trying to bang one home there and made it hard on him. We started throwing pucks from different angles and tough angles and what not." Mason posted a 1.51 goals-against-average over his last four starts, stopped 95 per cent of his shots and had two shutouts. "The job as starting goalie every night is to make sure we provide stability back there, and thats what Im trying to do," he said. Raffls seventh goal of the season, off a nice pass by Sean Couturier from behind the net, early in the third was the insurance the Flyers needed to win their third straight. NOTES: The Flyers had a video tribute and a moment of silence for former coach and general manager Keith Allen. Allen died Tuesday. He was 90. "I love Keith Allen," Snider said. ... Lauren Hart, the daughter of longtime former Flyers broadcaster Gene Hart, sang "God Bless America," alternating lyrics with Kate Smith, who was on a video image. Smiths rendition of the song has been a rallying anthem for the Flyers since the mid-1970s. Cornelius Lucas Jersey .500 ball against teams with winning records, so they needed a huge lift from somebody Tuesday night in a matchup of division leaders. Michael Roberts Jersey . The 19-year-old Swiss centre back will initially have to impress in Uniteds reserve side to earn a spot in the first team. Veseli says "Manchester United has a long history of younger players coming through and hopefully I can follow and do the same.Chestnut Hill, MA (SportsNetwork.com) - Malcolm Brogdon scored 20 points and No. 2 Virginia pulled away late against Boston College to come through with a 66-51 victory over the Eagles. The Cavaliers unblemished record was temporarily placed in jeopardy when they trailed 38-33 early in the second half. However, Virginia put together a 13-2 run and dominated the final 14 minutes to prevent the upset bid. Though Justin Anderson, the Cavs leading scorer on the season, was held without a field goal, Anthony Gill amassed 11 points and 10 rebounds to help Virginia (17-0, 5-0 ACC) to its first 5-0 start in ACC play since 1980-81. London Perrantes added eight points -- all coming in the second half -- along with six assists. All of our guys stepped up and we played great team basketball, Anderson said. Boston College (8-8, 0-4) remained winless in conference games despite Olivier Hanlans 18 points and six assists. Patrick Heckmann finished with 15 points for the Eagles. After falling behind by five after Hanlan scored in transition with under 14 1/2 minutes to play, the Cavaliers got it together from that moment on. Virginia held the Eagles scoreless over the next six-plus minutes while netting 10 consecutive points to move ahead to stay. Two Hanlan free throws ended Boston Colleges drought and brought the Eagles within 43-40, but Perrantes knocked down a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession and Virginia never led by less than four thereafter. When youve got five guys out there who can make plays, youre hard to guard, Eagles head coach Jim Christian said of Virginiaa. Ricky Wagner Jersey. And theyre hard to guard. The Cavs put it away behind an 11-0 surge, which Perrantes began with another triple with less than five minutes remaining, that opened up a 64-48 advantage entering the final minute. We all showed a lot of heart, a lot of composure -- even when things werent going our way to start the game, Anderson remarked. Boston College trailed 27-24 at intermission before Heckmann led the Eagles on a 10-4 run to begin the second half. The senior guard dropped in seven points during the flurry, the last three coming on a long-distance jumper that snapped a 31-31 tie less than four minutes into the period. Virginia shot just 37 percent during an inefficient first half in which the teams were tied at 22-22 following a corner 3-pointer from the Eagles Will Magarity with just over four minutes to go in the frame. Marial Shayok countered with a trey of his own on the other end to put the Cavs back in front, with the two sides hitting just a pair of free throws each over the remainder of the stanza. Game Notes Anderson ended 0-of-8 from the field but went 8-of-9 from the foul line ... Virginia also improved to 6-0 on the road for the first time since the aforementioned 1980-81 campaign, in which the Cavs began the season with a school-record 23-game win streak ... BCs 0-4 start in the ACC is the programs worst in league play since it dropped its first nine Big East games in 1998-99 ... The Cavaliers had lost in four of their previous five visits to Chestnut Hill, with the lone win coming in 2008. Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys China NFL Cheap Jerseys ' ' '
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