PHILADELPHIA -- Thanks to the stellar play of goaltender Steve Mason, the Philadelphia Flyers enter Tuesday nights game against the banged-up Florida Panthers on a five-game winning streak, their longest since March 15-22, 2014 when Craig Berube was behind the bench.After struggling through the first month of the season, Mason has won four in a row, sporting a much-improved 1.71 goals-against average and .945 save percentage.His play over the last stretch has been outstanding and hes been a strong anchor for us, Flyers coach Dave Hakstol told CSNPhilly.com. His confidence kind of goes hand-in-hand with our teams confidence. They both feed off one another. You can see that throughout our entire game.As a result the Flyers (14-10-3, 31 points) have moved within four points of the Metropolitan Division-leading New York Rangers (17-8-1, 35 points).Conversely, the injury-depleted Panthers are struggling to stay afloat under general manager-turned coach Tom Rowe. Florida dropped a 4-3 overtime decision to the Bruins in Boston Monday night and lost veteran defenseman Keith Yandle to a lower body injury. Hard-nosed defenseman Dylan McIlrath, acquired from the Rangers last month, is expected to take Yandles place in the lineup against the Flyers.The Panthers already are without leading scorer Jonathan Marchessault, who is day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Marchessault leads the Panthers with 19 points in 25 games. They are still waiting for forward Jonathan Huberdeau (Achilles tendon) and defenseman Alex Petrovic (ankle surgery) to return from serious injuries.The Panthers received goals from Jaromir Jagr, Aleksander Barkov and Jason Demers in their loss to the Bruins but have struggled to score goals lately and are 1-1-2 since Rowe replaced popular head coach Gerard Gallant. The Panthers have scored just four regulation goals in their last four games and 12 goals in their last eight.Second-line center Vincent Trochek hasnt scored in 15 games, second-line right wing Reilly Smith has one goal in 13 contests and Jussi Jokinen has one goal in 16 games.Last year I had 60 points, so you feel you can do that again, be consistent, Jokinen told the Sun Sentinel. Offensively, it hasnt been the start I wanted. I know its going to come. Whether youre Sidney Crosby, Jussi Jokinen or a first-year player, youre going to struggle.Rowe mixed up his forward lines in Boston on Monday, putting Trocheck with Jagr and Denis Malgin.With back-to-back games, look for Roberto Luongo to be given a rest on Tuesday night in favor of backup James Reimer, who is 8-3-4 with a 3.05 GAA and an .896 save percentage this season.The Flyers are expected to turn to Mason, who has the benefit of playing behind the NHLs third-ranked offense with 84 goals.During their five-game winning streak, forward Jakub Voracek has one goal and five assists, Wayne Simmonds and captain Claude Giroux each have five points, and Brayden Schenn and Chris VandeVelde each have four points. Defensemen Ivan Provorov and Michael Del Zotto also have combined for four goals.Simmonds scored a pair of goals in the Flyers 4-2 win in Nashville on Sunday.He is doing what he does every night, Hakstol said. If there is a better guy in the league in that front, whether its on the power play or five on five, I dont know who that is.The Flyers will be without forward Matt Read, who will be sidelined four weeks with an upper-body injury. Read has six goals and four assists in 27 games. He was injured when he was checked into his own net on Sunday.Philadelphia recalled forward Taylor Leier from Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League and sent down forward Scott Laughton. Custom Philadelphia 76ers Jerseys . Oaklands loss to Seattle clinched the ALs best record for the Red Sox with one day to spare in the regular season. "I think everybody was kind of watching," catcher David Ross said. "Demp (Ryan Dempster) came out before he went to the bullpen and was just yelling that they lost. 76ers Jerseys 2019 . Vancouver Whitecaps and Toronto FC failed to make the postseason while Montreal Impact fell at the first hurdle losing heavily to Houston Dynamo in the Eastern Conference Knockout Round. https://www.cheap76ers.com/ . The 19-year-old Olsen played 34 games with the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL this season. In that time, hes recorded 17 goals and 17 assists with 36 penalty minutes. 76ers Jerseys 2020 . Barcelonas entertaining victory ensured the defending Spanish champions retained their share of the league lead with Atletico Madrid two rounds ahead of their meeting in the capital. Real Madrid needed a late goal by substitute Jese Rodriguez to earn a 3-2 victory at Valencia to stay in third place and three points behind its title rivals. Philadelphia 76ers Shirts . Durant finished with 24 points and 13 rebounds, Jackson matched his career high with 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting and Lamb scored 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting, lifting the Thunder to a 94-88 win over San Antonio and snapping the Spurs 11-game winning streak. RIO DE JANEIRO -- Declaring that the global drug-testing system is damaged, Olympic leaders and anti-doping officials vowed Tuesday to fix the problems and prevent the type of scandal that has embroiled Russian athletes in the lead-up to the Games in Rio de Janeiro.The International Olympic Committee and the World Anti-Doping Agency clashed again Tuesday over the allegations of state-sponsored doping in Russia that have rattled the Olympic movement and created chaos ahead of Fridays opening ceremony in Rio. But both sides agreed on the need to repair the international anti-doping system and restore trust and credibility in the fight against drugs.This is not about destroying structures, IOC president Thomas Bach said in reference to WADA. This is about improving significantly a system in order to have a robust and efficient anti-doping system so that such a situation that we face now cannot happen again.Bach spoke after a debate in which IOC members overwhelmingly backed the executive boards decision to not take the nuclear option of banning Russias entire Olympic team. Bach and many members pointed fingers at WADA for failing to act sooner on evidence of state-run doping in Russia and for releasing its findings so close to the start of the Games.I dont feel as if Ive been run under a bus, WADA chief Craig Reedie told reporters while insisting that both sides were in general accord on the need to find solutions for the future.Somebody said this system is broken, he said. I dont think all the system is broken. I think quite a lot of the system still works but that certain parts of the system need revision.Reedie said he had received assurances from officials at high levels of the Russian government that they accept they have a problem and need to fix it.It is absolutely essential that we cannot have the biggest country in the world noncompliant on a permanent basis, he said.Bach opened the IOCs three-day general assembly by seeking formal backing for the boards decisions on the Russian crisis. After a debate lasting more than two hours, Bach asked for a show of hands, and only one of the 85 members -- Britains Adam Pengilly -- voted against his position. Despite evidence of a vast, state-organized program involving Olympic sports in Russia, the IOC board rejected calls for a total ban and left it to international sports federations to decide on the entry of individual Russian athletes for the Games.Bach said it would be wrong to make individual Russian athletes collateral damage for the wrongdoing of their government.Leaving aside that such a comparison is completely out of any proportion when it comes to the rules of sport, let us just for a moment consider the consequences of a nuclear option, Bach said. The result is death and devastation. This is not what the Olympic movement stands for. The cynicall collateral damage approach is not what the Olympic movement stands for.ddddddddddddThe IOC has been roundly criticized by many anti-doping bodies, athletes groups and Western media for not applying a complete ban on the Russian team. Pressure for a full ban grew after WADA investigator Richard McLaren issued a report accusing Russias sports ministry of orchestrating doping programs and cover-ups involving athletes across more than two dozen summer and winter Olympic sports.Natural justice does not allow us to deprive a human being of the right to prove their innocence, Bach said.Underlying the deep split between Olympic leaders and anti-doping officials, Bach and others put the responsibility on WADA.I think its not the reputation of the IOC that has to be restored. Its the reputation of WADA, Israeli member Alex Gilady said.Argentine member Gerardo Werthein added: At times, WADA has seemed to be more interested in publicity and self-promotion rather than doing its job as a regulator.Reedie said he later spoke with both men and addressed their concerns. IOC spokesman Mark Adams said Reedies position was not compromised by the debate.We dont always agree on everything, he said. It wasnt a totally one-sided debate. We aired a lot of issues.Russian Olympic Committee president Alexander Zhukov claimed there was a political campaign against Russia and cited discrimination against clean athletes not connected to doping.I urge you to resist this unprecedented pressure that is now on the entire Olympic movement and not to let this pressure to split the entire Olympic family, he said.U.S. member Larry Probst said it was wrong to attribute the problem to international politics.We have a doping problem, the U.S. Olympic Committee chairman said. And its not just Russia. Its global. The current system is broken, and we need to fix the problem.A few members questioned the IOCs decision to keep Russian whistleblower Yulia Stepanova -- an 800-meter runner who helped expose systematic doping in her homeland -- out of the Games.If there was to be one exception, it should have been her, Richard Peterkin of St. Lucia said.The strongest criticism came from Canadian member Dick Pound, a former president of WADA who has been outspoken in calling for a complete ban on Russia -- something he had previously called the nuclear option. He said the reputation of the IOC was on the line.We need to do a lot more to show that we really do care about fair play, honest competition and clean athletes, he said.By the end, however, Pound was among the 84 members who voted in favor.The arrows left the bow, he said. The decision has been made. Its not going to be changed between now and the start of the Games. ' ' '
