Aaron Ward scored two goals -- including the go-ahead score late in the third period -- to lead the Carolina Hurricanes to a 4-3 victory over the Boston Bruins on Wednesday.
Ray Whitney and Oleg Tverdovsky added goals to help the Hurricanes return from the two-week Olympic break with yet another home win. The game also marked Carolina's third win against Boston this season, with all three coming by 4-3 scores.
Carolina, which leads the Eastern Conference with 84 points, improved to 25-5-1 at home this season. Marco Sturm, David Tanabe and Sergei Samsonov scored for the Bruins, who have won one of their past six games.
Devils 2, Flyers 1, SO
At East Rutherford, New Jersey, Viktor Kozlov scored in regulation and added the only goal in a shootout as New Jersey edged Philadelphia.
Kozlov beat Robert Esche with a high shot in the shootout, and New Jersey goalie Martin Brodeur stopped Philadelphia's Mike Richards and Petr Nedved and watched as Peter Forsberg shot wide on the Flyers' third attempt.
Senators 4, Penguins 3
At Pittsburgh, Daniel Alfredsson and Dany Heatley scored their 35th goals of the season and Ottawa built a four-goal lead before holding on to beat Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh's John LeClair, Andre Roy and Jani Rita scored in an 8-minute span of the third. Rita, acquired from Edmonton last month, scored his first goal for Pittsburgh and set up another in a 33-second stretch.
Thrashers 4, Sabres 2
At Buffalo, New York, Kari Lehtonen made 34 saves, and Brad Larsen scored two goals in Atlanta's four victory in five games.
Vyacheslav Kozlov and Niclas Havelid also scored for Atlanta.
Chris Drury, and Maxim Afinogenov scored for Buffalo. The Sabres have lost three of their last four, including an overtime loss and shootout loss.
Blackhawks 3, Predators 0
At Chicago, Craig Anderson made 20 saves for his first shutout of the season and defenseman Dustin Byfuglien scored in his first NHL game to lead Chicago past Nashville.
Rene Bourque and Patrick Sharp also scored to help the Blackhawks snap a three-game losing streak and beat the Predators for the first time in six meetings this season.
Blues 4, Oilers 2
At Edmonton, Alberta, Curtis Sanford made 35 saves, and Scott Young scored two goals as St. Louis downed Edmonton. Keith Tkachuk and Jay McClement also scored for St. Louis, 6-1-1 in its last eight games and 17-31-9 overall.
Red Wings 2, Mighty Ducks 0
At Anaheim, California, Olympic champions Tomas Holmstrom and Henrik Zetterberg scored in a 46-second span in the first period and Chris Osgood made 24 saves for his second shutout of the season for Detroit.
US track and field athletes have about four dozen pieces to choose from when assembling their uniforms at the Olympics. The one grabbing the most attention is a high-cut leotard that barely covers the bikini line and has triggered debate between those who think it is sexist and others who say they do not need the Internet to make sure they have good uniforms. Among those critical or laughing at the uniforms included Paralympian Femita Ayanbeku, sprinter Britton Wilson and even athletes from other countries such as Britain’s Abigail Irozuru, who wrote on social media: “Was ANY female athlete consulted in
Forget Real Madrid, Manchester City or Paris Saint-Germain, the world’s best soccer team — statistically speaking — might be a little-known outfit from the closed central Asian nation of Turkmenistan. Founded last year, Arkadag, named in honor of former Turkmen president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, have been unstoppable, notching up 36 consecutive domestic victories in a run still ongoing. The side have not lost a single competitive match and swept to a league and cup double in their inaugural season — success unthinkable almost anywhere else. However, in Turkmenistan, it could hardly have gone any other way. The energy-rich country is one of the most closed
Former US Masters champion Zach Johnson was left embarrassed after a foul-mouthed response to ironic cheers from spectators after a triple bogey at Augusta National on Friday. Johnson, the 2007 Masters winner, missed the cut after his three-over-par round of 75 left him on seven-over 151 for 36 holes, his six on the par-three 12th playing a big role in his downfall. Television footage showed Johnson reacting to sarcastic cheers and applause when he tapped in for the triple bogey by yelling: “Oh fuck off.” Such a response would be considered bad form in any golf tournament, but is particularly out of keeping
Taiwan’s Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan on Saturday won the men’s doubles bronze medal at the Badminton Asia Championships in Ningbo, China, after they were bested by the hosts in their semi-final. The Taiwanese shuttlers lost to China’s Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, who advanced to yesterday’s final against Malaysia’s Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzudin. The Chinese pair outplayed Lee and Yang in straight games. Although the Taiwanese got off to a slow start in the first game, they eventually tied it 14-14, before Liang and Wang went on to blow past them to win 21-17. In the second game, Lee and