Dany Heatley scored two more goals and Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson had two assists for the Senators, who beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1 to split their NHL opening weekend series on Sunday.
Heatley, who also had a goal in Ottawa’s 4-3 overtime loss to Pittsburgh on Saturday, helped the Senators take three of four points during the season-opening European series.
“As a group it was a big weekend for us,” Heatley said. “We were hungry for these two games. Even if we only got one point last night we felt we worked hard. We played well and could easily have won that game. We tried really to come on and battle as a group, and we did a good job at that.”
Alex Goligoski spoiled Ottawa goalie Alex Auld’s shutout bid with a power-play goal just 2 seconds before the final buzzer in front of another sold-out crowd of 13,699 at Globe Arena.
Heatley gave Ottawa a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 13:07 in the second period. Alfredsson started the play with a pass from the left circle to Jason Spezza just beside the goal. Heatley, left unchecked on the other side, took a pass from Spezza and put the puck between goalie Marc-Andre Fleury’s legs.
RANGERS 2, LIGHTNING 1
Wade Redden and Scott Gomez each scored second-period goals as the New York Rangers rallied to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 on Sunday to sweep their two-game, season-opening series in Europe.
The Lightning had only three shots on goal in the opening period, but went up 1-0 when Adam Hall scored after Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist partially blocked Andrej Meszaros’ shot with 1:43 remaining.
Redden, who signed a six-year, US$39 million free-agent deal with the Rangers, tied it with a power-play goal 3:47 into the second period when he blasted a shot past Lightning goalie Olaf Kolzig off a pass from Markus Naslund.
Top seeds Alexander Zverev of Germany and American Coco Gauff on Tuesday advanced to the third round of the Canadian Open after both players were pushed hard by their opponents. World No. 3 Zverev, playing in his first match since his first-round loss at Wimbledon, was far from his best, but emerged with a 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 win over Adam Walton under the lights in Toronto. Momentum shifted firmly in Zverev’s favor when he won a 52-shot rally in the first set tiebreak and he sealed the win on a double fault by the Australian in the second set. “It was a very
Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko upset top-seeded Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-4 on Saturday night to reach the National Bank Open quarter-finals. “Your support was incredible,” Mboko told the crowd in French after a chorus of “Ole, Ole, Ole” chants echoed around the venue. “I’m really happy to win today ... It’s incredible. I’m so happy to beat such a great champion.” Gauff dropped to 2-3 since winning the French Open. She followed the major victory with opening losses in Berlin and Wimbledon, then overcame double-fault problems to win two three-set matches in Montreal. Gauff had five double-faults on Saturday after having 23 in
Taiwan’s top women’s badminton doubles duo, Hsieh Pei-shan (謝沛珊) and Hung En-tzu (洪恩慈), achieved a straight-sets victory over Japan’s Kaho Osawa and Mayui Tanabe at the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Super 300 Macau Open on Sunday. The Taiwanese pair won the final 21-18, 21-12, marking the duo’s second title this year after their win at the BWF Super 300 Taipei Open in May. The match on Sunday was their first encounter with the Japanese duo, ranked No. 63 in the world. Hsieh and Hung, ranked No. 12, began the opening game well. Hung, who plays left-handed, performed strongly at both the net and the
Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen on Thursday said that he is staying with the Red Bull team next year, ending months of speculation over his future. “Some people just like to stir the pot, some people just like to create drama, but, for me, it’s always been quite clear, and also for next year,” the four-time champion said ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix. “I’m discussing with the team already the plans — the things that we want to change for next year, so that means that I’m also staying with the team for next year,” he said. Verstappen has a contract with