Kari Lehtonen made 39 saves and then stopped two more shots in the shootout to lead the Atlanta Thrashers to a 2-1 victory over the New York Rangers on Tuesday.
The Thrashers were primed to win 1-0 on Joe Motzko’s third-period goal before Markus Naslund got the Rangers even with only 10.7 seconds remaining in regulation.
Naslund then started the shootout with a goal, but Lehtonen turned aside Nikolai Zherdev and Fredrik Sjostrom. Bryan Little and Slava Kozlov scored on Atlanta’s attempts to help the Thrashers snap a four-game losing streak. New York has lost three straight (0-2-1).
PHOTO: AFP
Just seconds after Thrashers leading scorer Ilya Kovalchuk hit the outside of the right post while shooting at an empty net, Naslund made Atlanta pay and re-electrified Madison Square Garden on the night the Rangers sent Adam Graves’ No. 9 to the rafters.
KINGS 1, SENATORS 0
At Ottawa, Michal Handzus scored in the third period as Los Angeles ruined Cory Clouston’s first game as Ottawa’s coach.
Jonathan Quick made 29 saves to record his third shutout of the season and improve to 4-1-0 in his last five starts. It was the first time he had faced the Senators.
Handzus picked up the puck behind the Senators net and jammed it in from the side at 17:21. Wayne Simmonds and Brad Richardson picked up assists on Handzus’ ninth goal of the season.
Clouston took over after Craig Hartsburg was fired on Sunday night.
Brian Elliot stopped 25 shots for Ottawa, coming very close to his first career shutout.
CAPITALS 5, DEVILS 2
At Newark, New Jersey, Michael Nylander scored twice as Washington snapped New Jersey’s season-high eight-game winning streak.
Defenseman Mike Green scored for the fourth straight game, Alex Ovechkin added two assists and the Capitals converted three of four power plays in winning their third straight game.
Brooks Laich and Eric Fehr also scored in handing the Devils their first loss since Jan. 11.
CANADIENS 4, PENGUINS 2
At Montreal, Chris Higgins and Maxim Lapierre scored second-period goals and Andrei Kostitsyn scored with 4:15 left to seal Montreal’s victory.
Roman Hamrlik scored in the first period and assisted on Lapierre’s goal 15:07 into the second, the third straight goal by Montreal.
In Tuesday’s other games it was:
• Islanders 3, Lightning 1
• Blues 4, Blue Jackets 2
• Stars 3, Flames 1
• Blackhawks 3, Oilers 1
• Panthers 4, Maple Leafs 3, OT
• Predators 2, Coyotes 1
• Canucks 4, Hurricanes 3
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