Marcus Ragnarsson scored the go-ahead goal in the second period, leading the Philadelphia Flyers to a 3-1 victory over Toronto in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series on Thursday night.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is tomorrow in Philadelphia.
PHOTO: EPA
Tony Amonte and Simon Gagne also scored for Philadelphia. Alexander Mogilny scored for Toronto.
"They really changed their game," Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock said. "They play really good playoff hockey. You have to gain ice by inches, not feet. This is going to be a hard series."
Robert Esche had 22 saves and outplayed Ed Belfour, who stopped 23 shots in a sub-par performance.
"They didn't dominate us at all," Leafs forward Tie Domi said. "They don't have any rough and tumble guys. They aren't the Broad Street Bullies. It is totally different hockey."
Defensemen Kim Johnsson (hand) and Eric Desjardins (forearm) sat out for Philadelphia. Leafs captain Mats Sundin (leg) missed his fourth straight game and forward Owen Nolan (knee) remained sidelined.
Flames 2, Red Wings 1
In Detroit, Marcus Nilson's first career playoff goal at 2:39 of overtime lifted Calgary over Detroit in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinal series.
Miikka Kiprusoff made 28 saves to help the Flames win their fourth straight game on the road in the playoffs. Curtis Joseph made 16 saves for the Red Wings, who had been 3-0 at home this postseason.
It was the Flames' third straight overtime game. Calgary beat Vancouver in overtime in Game 7 of the first-round series after losing Game 6 in triple overtime. Detroit played its first overtime of the postseason after getting past Nashville in six games.
Game 2 of this matchup is today in Detroit.
The only goals in regulation came in the second period. Detroit's Robert Lang scored at 6:15, and Robyn Regehr tied it at 1 with 2:03 left in the period.
Sharks 5, Avalanche 2
In San Jose, California, Patrick Marleau had his second three-goal game of the postseason as San Jose scored three first-period goals to defeat the Colorado Avalanche in the opener of their second-round playoff series.
Marleau took over the goal-scoring lead during San Jose's relentless offensive performance for nearly two periods.
He scored San Jose's opening goal and added two more in 94 seconds midway through the second, chasing shaky Colorado goalie David Aebischer.
Vincent Damphousse and Scott Hannan also scored during the first period, which the Sharks dominated with a 79-44 goal advantage during the regular season.
Rookie Niko Dimitrakos had three assists, and Evgeni Nabokov made 26 saves.
Game 2 is today in San Jose.
Steve Konowalchuk and Peter Forsberg scored power-play goals for the Avalanche.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB