Miroslav Satan scored with 7:45 remaining Wednesday to help the Buffalo Sabres end a four-game losing streak by beating the Ottawa Senators 4-3.
Chris Drury had two goals, and Maxim Afinogenov also scored for the Sabres. Satan added two assists for Buffalo, outscored 23-6 in its last four games.
PHOTO: REUTERS
"Whatever happens, happens," said Satan, the Sabres' leading scorer during his seven-plus year tenure in Buffalo. "There might be a chance that it could be my last game."
PHOTO: AFP
Daniel Alfredsson scored twice and Marian Hossa once for the Senators, who failed to earn the 400th NHL coaching victory for Jacques Martin.
"We knew it was a big game," Senators forward Mike Fisher said. "We have to start winning and create some space, but it's tough."
Buffalo's Martin Biron stopped 31 shots, including kicking out his left pad to stop Wade Redden in the final 10 seconds.
Red Wings 2, Flames 1
In Detroit, Manny Legace made 28 saves to lift Detroit over Calgary.
Henrik Zetterberg and Mark Mowers scored for Detroit.
Jarome Iginla had Calgary's goal, and Roman Turek made 20 saves. Iginla foiled Legace's shutout attempt with 4:59 remaining.
Flyers 5, Predators 2
In Philadelphia, Kim Johnsson had two goals and an assist, leading Philadelphia over Nashville.
Alexei Zhamnov and Tony Amonte each had a goal and two assists for the Flyers, who snapped a three-game winless streak.
Robert Esche, who missed 10 games with a left knee injury, stopped 22 shots to record his first victory since Jan. 31.
Scott Walker and Adam Hall scored for Nashville.
Devils 5, Panthers 2
In Sunrise, Florida, Patrik Elias scored two second-period goals, and Scott Gomez had a goal and four assists in New Jersey's victory over Florida.
Brian Gionta and Scott Niedermayer also scored for New Jersey, and Martin Brodeur had 27 saves as the Devils broke a three-game losing streak.
Marcus Nilson and Juraj Kolnik scored for Florida and Roberto Luongo had 22 saves in two periods. Steve Shields came on to make 10 saves and allowed Gomez's goal at 7:06 of the third period that stretched New Jersey's lead to 5-2.
Lightning 5, Blackhawks 3
In Chicago, Brad Richards had a goal and two assists as Tampa Bay beat Chicago for its sixth straight win.
Vincent Lacavalier, Cory Sarich and Ruslan Fedotenko each had a goal and an assist for the Lightning, 9-0-0-2 in their last 11 games and 21-2-1-4 in 28. Fredrik Modin also scored for Tampa Bay.
Martin St. Louis had two assists, and Nikolai Khabibulin made 27 saves for the Lightning.
Mark Bell, Kyle Calder and Tuomo Ruutu scored for Chicago, winless in four games (0-2-2).
Stars 4, Blue Jackets 2
In Dallas, Bill Guerin scored three goals and Ron Tugnutt stopped 15 shots in a rare start as Dallas beat Columbus to stretch its home unbeaten streak to 12 games.
Guerin registered his third hat trick of the season to reach the 30-goal mark for the fourth time. Dallas improved to 8-0-4 in its last 12 home games, the NHL's longest current streak.
Stu Barnes also scored and Jason Arnott had three assists for the Stars, 5-0-1 in the first six games of an eight-game homestand.
Rick Nash scored his 35th and 36th goals, both on the power play, but the Blue Jackets' three-game winning streak ended. Nash broke the record for the most goals in a season in the four-year history of the Blue Jackets.
Canucks 5, Avalanche 5
In Denver, Marek Malik and Mattias Ohlund scored third-period goals to rally Vancouver into a tie with Colorado.
Joe Sakic had three goals for his 14th hat trick and an assist for the Avalanche, and Alex Tanguay had two goals and three assists to tie his career high for points in a game. The Canucks rebounded from two-goal deficits on two occasions.
Colorado outshot Vancouver 6-0 in overtime, but Dan Cloutier, who had 29 saves, had key stops on Steve Konowalchuk and Paul Kariya.
Sharks 4, Canadiens 3
In San Jose, California, former Montreal captain Vincent Damp-housse had a goal and two assists in San Jose's franchise-record eighth straight home victory.
Brad Stuart had a career-high three points with a goal and two assists, and Marco Sturm and Niko Dimitrakos also scored in the Sharks' fifth win in six games overall. San Jose snapped Montreal's five-game winning streak with a season-high three power-play goals.
Evgeni Nabokov stopped 25 shots as the Pacific Division-leading Sharks kept the heat on Detroit for the top spot in the Western Conference, remaining four points behind the Red Wings.
Yanic Perreault, Andrei Markov and Mike Ribeiro scored for the Canadiens.
Mighty Ducks 2, Wild 0
In Anaheim, California, Samuel Pahlsson scored two goals and Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 28 saves to lead Anaheim over Minnesota.
The Ducks are 6-0-1 in their last seven meetings against Minnesota, including two wins and tie this season and last year's sweep in the playoffs. Anaheim, the West champion a year ago, is seven points behind the final playoff spot.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set