Cam Ward made 32 saves and Ray Whitney and Eric Staal scored as the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 on Tuesday.
Ward, making his 13th consecutive start for Carolina, earned his 100th career victory for the Hurricanes, who won on consecutive nights after snapping a five-game losing streak.
League scoring leader Evgeni Malkin had a goal for Pittsburgh, the reigning Eastern Conference champions, who fell into 10th place in the conference heading into the All-Star break.
Ward stopped Malkin from point-blank range with 24.1 seconds to play.
SHARKS 2, CANUCKS 1, OT
At San Jose, California, Joe Thornton set up Devin Setoguchi’s tying goal in regulation and Patrick Marleau’s overtime winner as San Jose celebrated Claude Lemieux’s return to the NHL after a five-and-a-half-year absence with a win over Vancouver.
Lemieux played a regular shift on the fourth line in his first NHL game since 2003 for the Sharks, who gave one of their most listless efforts of the season until the last minute of regulation.
Evgeni Nabokov made 13 saves for San Jose, who will enter the All-Star break with at least a share of the overall league lead.
THRASHERS 4, CANADIENS 2
At Atlanta, rookie defenseman Zach Bogosian and Chris Thorburn each had a goal and an assist as Atlanta downed Montreal.
Tied for the NHL’s second-lowest points total with 37 when the night began, Atlanta won their third straight to snap Montreal’s two-game winning streak and spoil the return of Montreal goaltender Carey Price.
The Canadiens, who had won eight of 10 and were 11-2-1 in their previous 14, started with Jaroslav Valak in goal, but coach Guy Carbonneau pulled him after Rich Peverley scored 3:58 into the second and made it 3-0.
COYOTES 6, RED WINGS 3
At Glendale, Arizona, Enver Lisin scored a pair of third-period goals as Phoenix beat Detroit.
Derek Morris had a goal and an assist, and Keith Yandle, Ed Jovanovski and Olli Jokinen also scored for the Coyotes, who won for the fifth time in seven games.
Shane Doan had a pair of assists for Phoenix, who moved past Anaheim into sole possession of fifth place in the Western Conference entering the All-Star break.
Niklas Lidstrom had a pair of power-play goals and Mikael Samuelsson also scored on the power play for the Red Wings, who lost consecutive games in regulation for the first time this season.
Lidstrom tied Brian Leetch in eighth place for power-play goals by a defenseman with 111.
In Tuesday’s other games it was:
• Rangers 4, Ducks 2
• Senators 3, Capitals 2
• Kings 5, Wild 2
• Oilers 4, Blue Jackets 3
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