Dave Bolland’s go-ahead goal in the second period helped the Chicago Blackhawks secure a 3-1 victory over the Nashville Predators in a Central Division match-up on Sunday.
Dustin Byfuglien scored in the opening period and Martin Havlat delivered an empty-netter with 10 seconds remaining for Chicago, who avenged Saturday’s 4-1 loss to the Predators in Nashville with their first win in three games.
Martin Erat tallied for Nashville 11:03 into the first period, two minutes after Byfuglien scored on a powerplay for Chicago. Nikolai Khabibulin made 26 saves for the Blackhawks.
“The last couple of games we didn’t have good starts or first periods,” Khabibulin told reporters.
“Whether it’s mentally or physically, we were a little flat. Coming back home we really wanted to have a good start and use the fans to our advantage,” added Khabibulin, who improved his record on home ice to 7-0-3.
“It wasn’t a pretty game, but we accomplished what we needed to,” he said.
The difference between the Blackhawks’ play on Saturday and Sunday was the team’s attitude, said the Predators’ J.P. Dumont.
“The Blackhawks were a lot more physical,” Dumont said. “They are a very skilled team, and they came out more determined.”
Byfuglien, who scored his power-play goal from the top of the left circle, said the team had realized it needed to refocus.
“We were in a little slump and we got down on ourselves and got away from our game plan,” he said. “We got back into it [on Sunday night] and got on the puck and did our job.”
OILERS 2, BLUES 1
At Edmonton, Alberta, Sam Gagner scored the winning goal and set up another, while Dwayne Roloson made 21 saves in Edmonton’s victory over St Louis.
Gilbert Brule also scored and Ryan Potulny had two assists in his first game for the Oilers. Potulny was called up from Springfield of the second-tier American Hockey League on Sunday to replace Zach Stortini, placed on injured reserve after sustaining a lower-body injury Friday in a fight with San Jose’s Brad Staubitz.
DUCKS 4, DEVILS 3
At Anaheim, California, Chris Kunitz scored twice in the third period for Anaheim, while Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 18 saves for his first win since Dec. 14.
Bobby Ryan and Samuel Pahlsson also scored for Anaheim. Corey Perry assisted on both of Kunitz’s goals in his return after a four-game suspension for elbowing Philadelphia’s Claude Giroux in the head on Jan. 2.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later