PHILADELPHIA -- Steve Mason and the Flyers are playing their best hockey of the season heading into the Olympic break. Air Max 97 Have a Nike Day . 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. Fake Air Max 97 Plus . He could have transferred when academic sanctions barred the Huskies from the NCAA tournament his junior season. Air Max 97 China Wholesale . Canada was placed in one of the easiest groups during Saturdays live televised draw in Montreal. http://www.outletairmax97.com/mens-nike-air-max-97-plus-racer-pink-hyper-magenta-ah8144-600.html . Lost to Los Angeles in first round of playoffs. OAKLAND, Calif. -- James Shields pitched quite a gem for Kansas City. It certainly helped that Oakland abandoned its usual patient approach at the plate. Shields pitched eight sharp innings for his first win in nearly a month, and the Royals beat the Athletics 4-2 on Sunday. "This team was a free-hacking team today, which is not really their game," Shields said. "They have a bunch of hitters over there that were being aggressive and I was able to execute my pitches early in the count." Shields retired his first 15 batters before Josh Reddick hit a leadoff homer in the sixth. Alberto Callaspo then had a one-out single before Sam Fuld lined into a double play. The 32-year-old Shields (10-6) allowed two runs and four hits. He walked none for the fifth time this season. "You watch the way that hes pitching, its like, OK boys, lets just give him a couple runs and hell take it from there," Kansas City manager Ned Yost said. "A good indicator for him was he was managing his pitch count." Shields threw 102 pitches while helping the Royals to their ninth win in 12 games. "As far as Im concerned we can match up with anyone, any team, any starting rotation," Shields said. "As long as we go toe to toe with those guys were going to be in every game." Reddick homered twice, getting to Shields again in the eighth. The As have the best record in baseball at 67-43, but have sputtered offensively since trading cleanup hitter Yoenis Cespedes to Boston on Thursday in a deal for ace Jon Lester. They lead the stacked AL West by one game over the Los Angeles Angels, who beat Tampa Bay 7-5 on Sunday. Oakland was without injured leadoff hitter Coco Crisp, though it hardly mattered the way Shields was pitching. Shields allowed only three balls out of the infield through the first five innings. Air Max 97 Undefeated Fake. One of them was a deep fly to centre by Josh Donaldson in the first, the closest Oakland came to getting a man on base before Reddicks home run. "We just havent been our best offensively here," As manager Bob Melvin said. "Shields was using all his pitches, going to the change, to the cutter, and he had good command." Shields got his first win since he beat his former team, Tampa Bay, on July 7. Greg Holland pitched the ninth for his AL-leading 31st save. Nori Aokis RBI single in the fifth gave Kansas City a 1-0 lead. Omar Infante followed with a two-run double and later scored on a single by Salvador Perez. All the runs came against Scott Kazmir (12-4). Reddick has four home runs since coming off the disabled list July 22. Its the sixth multihomer game of his career and second this season. KAZMIRS STREAK AT HOME ENDS Kazmir lost at the Oakland Coliseum for just the second time this season. Its also the first time since June 24 that the left-hander allowed more than two earned runs. CLOSING IN ON 800 It was Yosts 798th win as a manager, moving him one ahead of Melvin for 76th on the career list. TRAINERS ROOM Athletics: Infielder Nick Punto was placed on the 15-day disabled list after he strained a hamstring rounding third base on Saturday. ... Crisp (neck) took swings in the batting cage but there is still no timetable for his return. Crisp has not played since July 26. ON DECK Royals: Left-hander Danny Duffy (5-10) pitches the series opener in Arizona on Tuesday. Duffys 2.42 ERA is the fourth-lowest in the AL among pitchers with at least 100 innings. Athletics: Right-hander Jeff Samardzija (2-1), who has allowed at least one home run in each of his previous four outings, starts against Tampa Bay on Monday. ' ' '