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Mason gets the Flyers to even, Toews lifts the Blackhawks to another OT win and Getzlafs return helps Ducks pull away from the Stars. Also, notes on Richards, Leddy, Horcoff and more. FREE MASON Steve Mason, making his first start of the playoffs, stopped 37 of 38 New York Rangers shots to lead the Philadelphia Flyers to a 2-1 win in Game Four, evening the series at two games apiece. It was the first postseason win in six career playoff appearances for Mason, who last started April 12 when he suffered an upper-body injury. The Flyers defence had some possession extremes. The pairing of Braydon Coburn and Kimmo Timonen were on for better than two-thirds of the 5-on-5 shot attempts, while the duo of Andrew MacDonald and Luke Schenn were at the other end of the spectrum. Rangers C Brad Richards had all kinds of opportunities, generating a playoff-high 14 shot attempts, but their only goal was scored by Dominic Moore early in the first period. Flyers D Nicklas Grossman was forced to leave early after suffering a lower-body injury. If hes not able to get back in the lineup for Game Five, then Erik Gustafsson or Hal Gill will be available to join the lineup. Now that the series is even, the goaltending battle between Mason and Henrik Lundqvist will be in the spotlight. That figures to be an advantage for the Rangers, but it wasnt in Game Four. CAPTAIN SERIOUS WITH THE WINNER After Blackhawks RW Patrick Kane pulled the trigger on the overtime winner in Game Four, Blackhawks C Jonathan Toews managed the feat, with a backhand deke on a breakaway to win the game in OT. Blackhawks RW Marian Hossa had a strong game, scoring his first goal of the series and registering a game-high seven shots on goal. Blues C David Backes, who missed the past two games with a concussion, returned to the St. Louis lineup and had a game-high eight hits in 21:35 of ice time. Blackhawks D Brent Seabrook, suspended three games for knocking out Backes, is due to return for Game Six. His replacement, Sheldon Brookbank, has chipped in a couple of assists in three games, but has struggled in terms of puck possession. Over the past two games, Blackhawks D Nick Leddy has been on for 41 shot attempts for and 12 against (77.4%) at 5-on-5. 61.8% for the series. In a series that is so close that there is a five shot attempt difference between the teams at even strength, Leddys doing his part to win his matchups. Losing back-to-back overtime games is tough for the Blues, who now have to find a way to win back-to-back games, starting with Game Six in Chicago. DUCKS TAKE FLIGHT The Dallas Stars and Anaheim Ducks were engaged in a competitive game, with the Ducks holding a one-goal lead entering the third period, before the Ducks broke the game open with three goals in the first seven minutes of the third period, wrapping up a 6-2 in in Game Five. The big news for the Ducks was that C Ryan Getzlaf returned to the lineup, after missing Game Four, and recorded a goal and two assists to lead the way. Getzlafs linemate, Corey Perry, also contributed a goal and two assists. Ducks G Frederik Andersen, who was pulled from Game Four, responded with a strong effort, stopping 34 of 36 shots by the Stars. At the other end, Stars G Kari Lehtonen was pulled after surrendering five goals on 21 shots, giving way to Tim Thomas, who stopped one of the two shots he faced in the final 14:38 of the third period. Stars D Brenden Dillon appeared in his first game in two weeks and played 20:18, but he struggled at times, and finished with Dallas worst possession stats for the game. One positive to take from the game for Dallas is that LW Jamie Benn was a force, scoring a shorthanded goal and creating a bunch of chances. Also, C Tyler Seguin was firing shots as the Stars attempted to come back, finishing with 13 shot attempts, eight of which ended up on net. Through the first five games Benn, with five points, is tied with veteran C Shawn Horcoff for the Stars playoff scoring lead. For Anaheim, its Getzlaf, who has seven points in four games in this series. The Stars have lost some lopsided games in the series, but have solid enough possession stats to feel like they are still in this series. If they can hold serve at home in Game Six, that will set up an interesting winner-take-all matchup in Game Seven. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. . Anaheim Ducks Reassign D Colby Robak to Norfolk Admirals (AHL). - Team Website D Eric Brewer (foot) removed from injured reserve. . The 29-year-old Mills started three games for Oakland this season, posting a 1-1 record with a 4.41 earned-run average. He opened the season appearing in 14 games and making 12 starts for the Milwaukee Brewers triple-A affiliate in Nashville, posting a 4-2 record with a 1. http://www.basketballpistonsauthority.c ... rsey-c-22/. The international synchronized skating competition takes place from January 31 - February 1, 2014, and features 39 teams from 10 countries, in senior, junior, and novice. . Thats what he did over the past 2 1/2 years with the Washington Wizards. Wittmans approach helped turn the Wizards from pushover to playoff winners. . Pierre last November, only to watch St. Pierre leave the UFC octagon with his welterweight title belt and a split-decision victory.PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- The salary cap is going up and business is booming, but still the NHL often gets the most attention for ugly stuff that happens on the ice. Ugly was front and centre Saturday night during the Boston Bruins-Pittsburgh Penguins game that led to two suspensions and three players on the injured list. But instead of expressing concern over Shawn Thornton and James Neal, the leagues board of governors gave vice-president of player safety Brendan Shanahan a thumbs up for his handling of discipline. "I believe the sense of the room is that Brendan Shanahan and the department of player safety has the confidence of the board of governors. He certainly has my confidence," commissioner Gary Bettman said. "Its about modifying an element of the games culture and we think weve made positive, dramatic steps forward." When Thornton is suspended following an in-person hearing Friday, it will be the 19th ban this season that costs players at least one regular-season game. The first 18 suspensions added up to 77 games, including Neals five for kneeing Brad Marchand in the head. But Shanahan told the board Tuesday that among roughly 55,000 hits over the course of a year, only 50 to 100 are problematic. General managers have noticed a major change over time. "Youre not going to rid yourself of suspensions and what have you, but weve certainly come so much farther," Nashville Predators GM David Poile said. "I mean, look where we were. Ive been around for a long time, and some of the stuff that happened in the so-called old days, to where we are now, its so much better for the players and a so much better game." Its a different game, too. Some of the same hits that used to be acceptable are now spelled out as illegal. Shanahan has taken to producing videos showing examples, something that earned praise from Bettman. "My guess is people dont analyse the things he does in the detail that he does, and if you study the videos that hes put online, the specific instances where supplemental discipline is imposed or the more general tapes that hes put online explaining what the standards are of play, people should take a great deal of comfort that were being extraordinarily proactive," Bettman said. The next step could be harsher punishments as more of a deterrent for players. But general managers didnt display much of an appetite for change in that regard. "If managers and the board of governors want the suspensions to increase, I think that thats a direction theyll certainly give me," Shanahan said. "I can say from my perspective that I think that players do feel the effect of the suspension. Whether its two games or a lot more games, I think that players dont like being in that position, they dont like the game being taken away from them." General managers dont want the game taken away from its roots, either. Shanahan gave his usual update on player safety on the second and final day of the board of governors meeting at the Inn at Spanish Bay, and Peter Chiarelli of the Boston Bruins emphasized that the league can absolutely have hitting and progress with safety at the same time. "You can have both and you should, and theres a respect factor that the players have to adapt, and theey are," Chiarelli said.dddddddddddd "Theres a physical component to the game. Its just going to be a continuing challenge. Youre going to have discussions like these, youre going to have incidents like these. It may be longer suspensions, but you cant have a physical game without having these things." New Jersey Devils GM Lou Lamoriello said Monday evening that the onus is on players to follow the rules. Its his hope that maybe the fear of a season-long suspension will stop some of the violence around the league. Poile believes the incidents in the Penguins and Bruins game represented much more of an isolated incident than a trend. "I would think that the type of thing that Neal did, I cant even remember seeing something like that," Poile said. "And Shawn Thornton, he seems to be a stand-up guy, always seems to play his role really well. Hes already said he made a mistake, and hes going to pay for that. He knows that. And I dont think that stuff is going to happen very much. You cant say never, because its a physical game and thats why we partially like the game. Stuff is going to happen." How much stuff has happened was what Shanahan updated the board on Tuesday. As for the future of suspensions, it wont be much different right away. "There has to be the due process and it has to evolve and stuff," Chiarelli said. "You cant just say, All right, lets change the template. You cant say that. Its not fair to the process, its not fair to all the parties. You guys talk about trends and opinions on certain trends, and we do the same thing. In due course that will manifest itself." In addition to talk about player safety, deputy commissioner Bill Daly provided the board with a logistical update on the Sochi Olympics and a joint evaluation of substance-abuse policy between the league and the NHLPA. The deaths of Rick Rypien, Wade Belak and Derek Boogaard in the summer of 2012 prompted a look at how players mental health is handled. "We commissioned jointly with the Players Association and co-operated with them on an independent review of our program and I reported on the results of that review today," Daly said. "The bottom line is the report was good, that the program is doing what it is intended to do, it is helping players and former players in times of need." Daly updated the governors on what to expect from the Olympics and during the NHLs break, along with some logistical elements. Bettman said the governors were briefed on the leagues discussions with the NHLPA about reviving the World Cup of Hockey but predictably did not have any new information to share. "I think its no secret that we collectively believe having a world cup on a regular basis makes sense, the specifics were not there yet on," Bettman said. Bettman reiterated the NHL has no formal plans to expand beyond 30 teams, though he did spend a good portion of his time with reporters fielding questions about expansion. He did not rule it out in the near future. "Were getting lots of expressions of interest and no decisions have been made to do anything other than listen," he said. "We havent embarked on a formal expansion process, but when people want to talk to us we listen." ' ' '