Alex Ovechkin set an NHL goals record for left wings as the Washington Capitals moved a step closer to the playoffs with a 4-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday.
The Russian scored two goals to move clear of Luc Robitaille’s single-season record of 63 goals set in 1992-1993.
The win put the Capitals into a tie for the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and joint leadership of the Southeast Division. However, Washington has only one game left to play while most of their playoff race rivals still have two to go.
PHOTO: AP
Washington likely needs to beat Florida at home in Saturday’s regular season finale to reach the postseason for the first time since 2003.
Red Wings 3, Blue Jackets 2
In Detroit, the home side beat St Louis to wrap up the Presidents’ Trophy for the regular-season points leaders.
The title, long expected and now finally secured, gives the Red Wings home advantage throughout the Stanley Cup playoffs. Henrik Zetterberg scored Detroit’s winner — his 43rd of the season.
Rangers 3, Islanders 0
In Uniondale, New York, the Rangers beat their New York rivals to clinch an Eastern Conference playoff berth. Jaromir Jagr scored two power-play goals in a 2-minute span of the first period and Henrik Lundqvist stopped 25 shots to earn his 10th shutout of the season and 17th in the NHL.
In 90 career games against the Islanders, Jagr has 58 goals and 81 assists. No one has scored more goals versus the Islanders.
The win kept the Rangers fifth in the East’s playoff race, only two points behind New Jersey in fourth place which gives home advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
The pair will close the regular season against each other Sunday.
Canadiens 3, Sabres 1
In Montreal, the home side eliminated Buffalo from the playoff race.
Bryan Smolinski scored twice for the Canadiens, who are tied with Pittsburgh atop the Eastern Conference.
Both teams have one game left but the Canadiens need to finish ahead of the Penguins to win the conference because Pittsburgh has one more win than Montreal.
The Canadiens host Toronto today. The Penguins complete their season tomorrow in Philadelphia.
Wild 3, Flames 1
In St. Paul, Minnesota, the home side clinched the first division title in the franchise’s seven seasons while Calgary also made the playoffs despite defeat.
Marian Gaborik scored two third-period goals for the Wild and coach Jacques Lemaire earned his 500th career victory to become the 12th coach in NHL history to reach that mark.
Minnesota clinched the Northwest Division, and will be the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference playoffs, having an extra home game for at least the first round.
Calgary was guaranteed a playoff spot after Vancouver also lost on Thursday.
Predators 3, Blues 2
In Nashville, Tennessee, J.P. Dumont scored the tying goal and assisted on the game-winner as Nashville beat St. Louis.
Senators 8, Maple Leafs 2
In Toronto, Ottawa beat Toronto to move within a point of wrapping up a playoff berth.
Antoine Vermette scored three goals for the Senators, who had an opportunity to clinch a playoff spot yesterday when they were due to close out the regular season at home against Boston.
Ottawa remained in sixth place in the Eastern Conference, three points ahead of ninth-placed Philadelphia, a place below the playoff qualifying cutoff.
Stars 4, Coyotes 2
In Glendale, Arizona, Dallas downed Phoenix to secure no worse than the fifth playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Brenden Morrow scored and added an assist for the Stars, who will face fourth-placed Anaheim in the first round of playoffs. The Stars still could catch the Ducks.
Oilers 2, Canucks 1
In Vancouver, British Columbia, Edmonton knocked Vancouver out of the playoff race. Dwayne Roloson made 37 saves for the Oilers, who had been eliminated from post-season contention.
Kings 4, Sharks 2
In Los Angeles, the home side handed San Jose its first regulation loss in 21 games. Anze Kopitar scored twice in the final 5:38 for the Kings.
The loss was the Sharks’ first that didn’t involve overtime or a shootout since February.
Taiwanese world No. 1 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei on Saturday overcame a first-set loss to win her opening match at the Madrid Open. Top seeds Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium, with whom she last month won her fourth Indian Wells women’s doubles title, bounced back from a rocky first set to beat Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 2-6, 6-4, 10-2. Hsieh and Mertens were next to face Heather Watson of the UK and Xu Yifan of China in the round of 16. Thirty-eight-year-old Hsieh last month reclaimed her world No. 1 spot after her Indian
EYES ON THE PRIZE: Armed with three solid men’s singles shuttlers and doubles Olympic champions, Taiwan aim to make their first Thomas Cup semi-final, Chou Tien-chen said Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying yesterday quickly dispatched Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in straight sets, while her male counterpart Chou Tien-chen beat Germany’s Kai Schaefer, as Taiwan’s women’s and men’s teams won their Group B opening rounds of the TotalEnergies BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Chengdu, China. World No. 5 Tai beat Goh 21-19, 22-20 in a speedy 33 minutes, her fourth straight victory over the world No. 24 shuttler since they first faced each other in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Malaysia Open, where Tai went on to win the women’s singles title. Malaysia followed up Tai’s opening victory
Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event. The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The
Rafael Nadal on Tuesday lost in straight sets to 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round at the Madrid Open, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals in the women’s doubles. Nadal said that he was feeling good about his progress following his latest injury layoff. Nadal called it a “positive week” in every way and said his body held up well. “I was able to play four matches, a couple of tough matches,” Nadal said. “So very positive, winning three matches, playing four matches at the high level of tennis. I enjoyed a lot playing at home. I leave here with