A well-rested Detroit Red Wings team opens the NHL playoff semi-finals today against Dallas with relaxed confidence while Pittsburgh and Philadelphia face a bitter battle.
Tensions will mount in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference and Western Conference because the winners meet later this month in the Stanley Cup final, but how the teams got to the semi-finals could prove critical as well.
Detroit swept Colorado in the second round and will face the Stars on six days of rest while Dallas ousted San Jose in six games, beating the Sharks 2-1 on Monday in a grueling four-overtime thriller that went five hours, 14 minutes.
“It’s always an advantage for the team that played more recently in the first 20 minutes,” Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. “After that, it is definitely good to have the rest.”
Chris Chelios, a 46-year-old Red Wings defenseman, missed the final game against Colorado with a leg injury but said he is ready to face the Stars in game one today.
The Eastern Conference semi-final pits Pennsylvania rivals Philadelphia and Pittsburgh against each other, each side of the Keystone state backing its best in a grudge match of division foes.
Philadelphia won five of eight regular-season games over the Penguins, but Pittsburgh played better when Canadian star Sidney Crosby was off the injured list and alongside Russian 47-goal scorer Evgeni Malkin in the lineup.
Flyers defender Kimmo Timonen will likely be asked to mark Malkin, who takes hits and keeps on coming.
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