Danny Briere saved the game for the Flyers in regulation and Mike Knuble got them a win away from the second round in a thrilling double-overtime finish.
Knuble poked in his second goal of the series 6:40 into the second OT to give Philadelphia a 4-3 win over the Washington Capitals on Thursday and a 3-1 series lead.
Jeff Carter scored twice for the Flyers, who can finish off the Caps in Game 5 today in Washington.
PHOTO: AP
The Caps have dropped three straight in the series and it could be the end for them if leading scorer Alex Ovechkin can’t start finding the back of the net. Ovechkin, who scored 65 goals this season, had only one assist in Game 4.
BRUINS 5, CANADIENS 1
At Montreal, Glen Metropolit scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period after Montreal goalie Carey Price made a reckless turnover and Boston avoided elimination in its first-round series.
Tim Thomas stopped 31 shots for the Bruins, who now trail the Eastern Conference quarterfinal 3-2.
Price gloved a puck at the side of his net and dropped it in front of him, but Petteri Nokelainen got his stick on it before Montreal’s Maxim Lapierre and Metropolit batted the puck into an open net 3:31 into the third to put the Bruins up 2-1.
AVALANCHE 3, WILD 2
At St. Paul, Minnesota, Jose Theodore and Colorado just sat back and waited. Then Wojtek Wolski and Paul Stastny pushed Minnesota to the edge of elimination.
Wojtek and Stastny scored 79 seconds apart early in the third period to give Theodore and the patient Avs a 3-2 series lead, after weathering a relentless effort by the Wild.
STARS 3, DUCKS 1
At Dallas, Stu Barnes and Steve Ott scored third-period goals for Dallas and Marty Turco came within 7.6 seconds of a shutout, putting the Anaheim Ducks on the brink of elimination.
Dallas led the first-round series 3-1 going into Game 5 in Anaheim yesterday. Turco and the Stars are seeking their first postseason series win since a first-rounder in 2003, having dropped four straight.
SHARKS 4, FLAMES 3
At San Jose, California, Patrick Marleau scored the tiebreaking goal late in the second period and Jonathan Cheechoo added two goals in the third to send San Jose to a win over Calgary and a 3-2 lead in their first-round series.
Joe Pavelski also scored and Evgeni Nabokov made 33 saves for the Sharks, who can wrap the series up by winning Game 6 in Calgary on Sunday night. The series would return to the Shark Tank, if necessary, for Game 7 next Tuesday.
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
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite