Dustin Byfuglien led Chicago to its franchise-record ninth straight victory, scoring two goals and adding an assist in the Blackhawks’ 4-1 decision over the Minnesota Wild on Sunday.
Chicago broke the team record of eight straight victories set in December 1971 and matched in January 1981. With the nine-game streak, the Blackhawks also tied San Jose for the longest run of the season.
Martin Havlat and Kris Versteeg also scored, while Blackhawks goalkeeper Cristobal Huet made 18 saves, allowing only Cal Clutterbuck’s third-period goal.
Chicago trails Detroit by four points in the Central Division with two games in hand.
The Blackhawks will play tonight in Detroit and Thursday in Chicago in the Winter Classic at Wrigley Field.
BRUINS 2, THRASHERS 1
At Atlanta, Georgia, Michael Ryder broke a tie with 6:04 left as Boston won its eighth straight game to equal San Jose for the overall NHL lead with 58 points.
Ryder converted a perfect lead pass from David Krejci to beat goalie Kari Lehtonen for his 14th goal and second winner in two nights.
On Saturday evening in Carolina, Ryder scored the go-ahead goal with 6:14 left in the Bruins’ 4-2 victory.
Phil Kessel scored his 22nd goal and Manny Fernandez made 32 saves, allowing only Bryan Little’s first-period goal.
The winning streak, which started with two victories over Atlanta, is Boston’s longest since the final eight games of the 1992-93 regular season.
The Bruins (27-5-4) have played one more game than San Jose (27-4-4).
DUCKS 4, BLUES 3
At St Louis, Missouri, Bobby Ryan scored on a power play with 7:11 to play and Scott Niedermayer had a goal and an assist to help Anaheim beat St Louis and snap a three-game losing streak.
Rob Niedermayer and Steve Montador also scored, Ryan Getzlaf had two assists and Jonas Hiller made 27 saves.
It was the Ducks’ fourth consecutive 4-3 finish.
David Perron and Keith Tkachuk each had a goal and an assist for St Louis.
The Blues’ Brad Boyes also scored and Patrik Berglund added two assists.
CAPITALS 4, MAPLE LEAFS 1
At Washington, Alex Ovechkin scored two goals, including the tiebreaker with 10 seconds left in the second period, and Brooks Laich also scored twice as Washington beat Toronto to improve its home record to an Eastern Conference-best 15-1-1.
Jose Theodore made 23 saves to win his third consecutive start for Washington, which has won 10 of 12 overall.
Add in a six-game winning streak at home at the end of last season and the Capitals have won 21 of their past 23 games in Washington.
Before the game, Washington retired Mike Gartner’s No. 11 jersey.
Niklas Hagman scored Toronto’s only goal.
OILERS 5, PREDATORS 2
At Edmonton, Alberta, Dwayne Roloson made 28 saves, and Eric Cole had a goal and two assists as Edmonton downed Nashville.
Sheldon Souray, Shawn Horcoff, Andrew Cogliano and Sam Gagner also scored for Edmonton. The Oilers have won three straight to improve to 17-14-3.
Martin Erat and Shea Weber scored for Nashville. The Predators had won their last nine games against the Oilers.
CANUCKS 3, SENATORS 0
At Vancouver, British Columbia, Curtis Sanford made 18 saves for his fourth career as Vancouver handed Ottawa its 12th straight loss on the road.
Henrik Sedin, Pavol Demitra and Alex Edler scored.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set