oltzer, who struck out a career-high seven in seven innings against Texas. Texas has won its last 15

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. Joaquin Andujar Astros Jersey . Hes the same player he always was, only now his efforts are being rewarded. The rookie manager has made a habit of heaping praise on others when things are going well, and accepting criticism when they arent. But in the case of Hurtado, its what the coach is NOT saying that may be the secret to a superb run of form. Bob Watson Astros Jersey . - Washington Redskins tight end Fred Davis said Wednesday hes "nodded off" during meetings, but he said its something every player does. https://www.cheapastros.com/2693o-wade-miley-jersey-astros.html . The Blue Jackets play Thursday night at New Jersey in their first game after the NHLs Olympic hiatus. A native of Trencin, Slovakia, Gaborik has represented his country at the 2006 and 2010 Olympics but was unable to play in Sochi because of his injury. Carlos Beltran Astros Jersey . He says he will have the operation Wednesday and be ready in time for training camp in September. Bernier missed five games in March due to the injury. Joe Morgan Astros Jersey . -- Jake Peavy arrived at Bostons spring training complex on Monday with a large white bandage covering his left index finger, the result of a weekend accident.ARLINGTON, Texas -- Martin Perez kept his pitches low in the zone and got plenty of help from the Texas defence. Perez threw eight scoreless innings with the benefit of four double-play grounders, plus two runners thrown out trying to steal a base, and the Rangers got a series-clinching 1-0 victory over the Houston Astros on Sunday. "That happens when you throw all your pitches down and you get a lot of groundballs," Perez said. "If you can throw strikes with runners on base, you can get a win, you can get the outs. You have to make a pitch and trust your stuff." The lone run came on a sacrifice fly in the sixth by Donnie Murphy, who was in the game only because shortstop Elvis Andrus got ejected at the end of the third after taking a called third strike. Andrus tossed his bat away from the plate and then said something to home plate umpire Alan Porter. "As soon as I saw (the ump) point at him, I automatically threw off the hoodie and got loose, so I didnt really have much time to think about it," said Murphy, who joined the Rangers at the end of spring training. "Its always nice when you dont start the game just to come in and contribute like that." Perez (2-0) struck out two while scattering five hits and three walks. Catcher Robinson Chirinos threw out would-be base stealers in the third and fifth innings. Alexi Ogando worked a perfect ninth to convert his first save chance. Murphys deep flyball to the left-centre gap in the sixth sent home Josh Wilson against Brett Oberholtzer (0-3), who had a career-high seven strikeouts with no walks. "Oberholtzer was outstanding. Our starters did a tremendous job this whole series. The starts put us in a position to win every game," Astros manager Bo Porter said. "Weve got to get (the offence) going. If you dont score, youve got zero chance of winning." The Astros, who have scored only four runs in Oberholtzers three starts, scoreed in only two of their 31 innings against Texas.ddddddddddddThey had a five-run fourth inning Saturday before the game-winning run in the 10th. It was only the 10th 1-0 victory for the Rangers in their 1,601 regular-season home games since moving into their current ballpark 20 years ago. It was their second in three games against the Astros, the first time Texas has ever had multiple 1-0 wins in the same series -- home or away. Texas won the series opener 1-0 in 12 innings Friday night after Yu Darvish was perfect thru five innings. The Astros won 6-5 in 10 innings Saturday to snap their 12-game losing streak to their instate AL West rival. Houston has scored only four runs in the three games started this season by Oberholtzer, who struck out a career-high seven in seven innings against Texas. Texas has won its last 15 series against the Astros since dropping two of three at Houston in June 2008. Andrus struck out in both of his at-bats, ending his season-opening 11-game hitting streak that was second-longest in team history. Al Oliver had hits in the Rangers first 13 games to start the 1979 season. Prince Fielder finished 0 for 3, dropping his average to .149 through his first 12 games with the Rangers. The Astros used a drastic shift against him this weekend that took away several hits, including a sharp liner caught by second baseman Jose Altuve in shallow right to end the sixth Sunday. Altuve fielded a ground near that spot in the fourth. NOTES: It took only 44 seconds in the first inning for replay to overturn first base umpire Joe Wests call that Shin-Soo Choo was safe at first base. West had ruled that Altuves throw had pulled Jesus Guzman off first base. Porter came out, and replay showed that Guzman had stayed on the base and Choo was out. ... Murphy played second base, and Wilson moved from second base to shortstop. ... Rain was falling when the game started, but the sun was out when it ended 2 hours, 15 minutes later. ' ' '