Russia's Ilya Kovalchuk scored the tying goal late in regulation and Marc Savard added the winner 2:45 into overtime, lifting the Atlanta Thrashers to a 3-2 comeback victory Sunday that sent the struggling New York Rangers to their fifth straight loss.
New York, which lost 1-0 at Montreal on Saturday night, has scored just six goals in its longest skid of the season. The Rangers have earned two points during the slide, both in overtime losses this week to the Thrashers.
Kovalchuk is tied for second in the NHL with 42 goals -- one more than his league-leading total in the 2003-2004 season and two fewer than Jaromir Jagr, who gave the Rangers a 2-0 lead in the second period.
Ronald Petrovicky of Slovakia also scored for Atlanta, three points behind eighth-place Montreal in the Eastern Conference playoff race. Martin Straka added a goal for New York.
Sabres 6, Bruins 2
In Buffalo, New York, Maxim Afinogenov of Russia scored on a penalty shot and added two assists to help the Sabres extend their winning streak to six games.
Austria's Thomas Vanek scored twice and set up another goal, and Ales Kotalik had a goal and two assists for the Sabres, 6-0 against Boston this season.
Tim Connolly had a goal and assist, Derek Roy also scored and Martin Biron stopped 37 shots for the Sabres, who stayed two points behind Northeast Division-leading Ottawa. Andrew Alberts, with his first career goal, and Brad Boyes scored for Boston.
Avalanche 3, Flames 0
In Denver, Colorado, Peter Budaj of Slovakia stopped 33 shots for his first career shutout and Colorado moved into first place in the Northwest Division.
The win moved Colorado a point ahead of the Flames, with the teams set to meet again Monday night in Calgary.
Budaj has won his first two starts since becoming Colorado's starting goalie when Switzerland's David Aebischer was traded to Montreal for Jose Theodore.
Joe Sakic and Alex Tanguay each had a goal and an assist, and Milan Hejduk added a short-handed goal.
Senators 5, Capitals 2
In Washington, Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza each had a goal and two assists for Ottawa, 7-0-1 in its last eight games with Washington.
Wade Redden, Patrick Eaves and Chris Neil also scored for Ottawa, and Ray Emery made 25 saves. Chris Clark and Jamie Heward scored for Washington.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
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