Ilya Kovalchuk, Pascal Dupuis and Marian Hossa scored to lead the Atlanta Thrashers over the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1 and to their first NHL division title on Friday.
Johan Hedberg finished with 32 saves for the Thrashers, who clinched the Southeast Division when Tampa Bay lost 7-2 at home to Florida. Eric Belanger added a late goal for Atlanta.
Anson Carter scored for the Hurricanes, who have lost five of six games -- a stretch that cost them a chance to defend their Stanley Cup title.
PHOTO: AP
Panthers 7, Lightning 2
At Tampa, Florida, Olli Jokinen had a goal and an assist and Ville Peltonen set up three goals to lead Florida past Tampa Bay.
The Panthers chased Lightning goalie Johan Holmqvist with four goals in their first 12 shots. Backup Marc Denis took over with 1:48 left in the first period.
Nathan Horton opened the scoring 3 minutes in with his career-high 31st goal. Noah Welch, David Booth and Jay Bouwmeester also scored in the first period, while Panthers goalie Ed Belfour faced only three shots.
Jason Ward spoiled the shutout with 8:41 to go and Nick Tarnasky scored 45 seconds later.
Stars 2, Ducks 1, SO
At Dallas, Vladislav Nagy converted in the fourth round to send Dallas to a shootout victory that kept Anaheim from clinching its first Pacific Division title.
Jussi Jokinen, Sergei Zubov and Mike Modano failed to score in the shootout for the Stars before Nagy beat Anaheim goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov.
Stars goaltender Marty Turco stopped Corey Perry in the fourth round to give Dallas the victory after Anaheim's first three shooters -- Andy McDonald, Ryan Getzlaf and Teemu Selanne -- were unable to convert.
With a point for the overtime loss, the first-place Ducks eliminated the Stars from title contention in the Pacific Division.
Anaheim improved to 108 points, two better than San Jose.
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
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but