John Madden backhanded a rebound under goalie Brent Johnson's pad with 50 seconds remaining in overtime, as the New Jersey Devils beat the Washington Capitals 2-1 to move atop the NHL Eastern Conference on Sunday.
Martin Brodeur, making his 22nd consecutive start, made 37 saves for the Devils, who have won five straight to move ahead of idle Ottawa in a crowded race for the conference's top seed.
Jamie Langenbrunner scored on a 5-on-3 power play early in the third period for the Devils. Alexander Semin tied the game about two minutes later for the Capitals.
PHOTO: AP
Washington's Alex Ovechkin, who leads the NHL with 48 goals, was held without a goal for a season-high fifth-straight game.
Flames 2, Wild 1
At St. Paul, Minnesota, Daymond Langkow and Craig Conroy scored, Miikka Kiprusoff stopped 38 shots and Calgary beat Minnesota a fourth-straight time to replace the Wild atop the Northwest Division.
Sharks 2, Penguins 1, SO
At Pittsburgh, Jeremy Roenick scored the winner as all three San Jose skaters were successful in the shootout and Jonathan Cheechoo had the Sharks' only goal in regulation.
Pittsburgh lost in a shootout a day after wasting a three-goal lead in a 4-3 overtime loss to Ottawa, even though Eric Christensen and Jarkko Ruutu beat Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov in the shootout. Kris Letang was the only skater who didn't score in the shootout, as Cheechoo and Joe Pavelski also beat Penguins goalie Ty Conklin.
Roenick is 3-for-3 on shootout attempts this season.
Rangers 5, Panthers 0
At New York, much-maligned Marek Malik scored his first goal of the season, and Jaromir Jagr netted his second in two games in New York's blanking of Florida.
Malik, the defenseman who hears boos from the home crowd each time he touches the puck, snapped a 32-game drought when he doubled New York's lead in the second period.
Ducks 6, Blackhawks 3
At Anaheim, California, Teemu Selanne had his 20th career three-goal game to overtake Rocket Richard for 25th place on the career goal list and lead Anaheim to victory.
Selanne, whose 47 goals during the 1998-99 season made him the first recipient of the Maurice Richard Trophy as the NHL's top goalscorer, increased his career total to 546. Selanne has played in 1,051 regular-season games -- 73 more than Richard.
Patrick Sharp had two goals and an assist for Chicago, increasing his career high total to 31 and becoming the Blackhawks' first 30-goal scorer since Eric Daze finished the 2001-02 season with 38. Rookie Jonathan Toews had three assists.
Coyotes 2, Blues 0
At Glendale, Arizona, Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 35 shots for his second shutout of the season and fourth of his career.
Zbynek Michalek and Joel Perrault scored for Phoenix, whose 31 wins are one more than all of last season.
Manny Legace made 18 saves for St. Louis, who have lost three straight overall and eight of nine against Phoenix.
Oilers 3, Avalanche 2
At Edmonton, Alberta, Andrew Cogliano's third-period goal helped Edmonton end a three-game losing streak and ruin the return of Joe Sakic to the Colorado lineup.
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