Mike Green’s NHL-record goals streak for defensemen ended at eight games, but Alexander Ovechkin scored three times to give the Washington Capitals a 4-2 victory over the Florida Panthers on Sunday.
Green’s goal left him one short of tying the overall Washington record for consecutive games, set by Alan Haworth (1985-1986) and matched by Mike Gartner (1986-1987).
Ovechkin’s second goal broke a tie with 2:31 left, and he completed the hat-trick with an empty-netter to push his NHL-leading goals total to 41.
Eric Fehr also scored for Washington, extending his goals streak to four games.
Washington is 9-2-2 in its last 13 games and extended its lead over second-place Florida in the Southeast Division to 13 points.
Michael Frolik and Nathan Horton scored for Florida. The Panthers lost in regulation for only the fourth time since Jan. 1.
CANUCKS 4, CANADIENS 2
At Vancouver, identical twins Daniel and Henrik Sedin each had a goal and an assist to lead Vancouver past Montreal.
Alex Edler and Ryan Kesler also scored and Alex Burrows added two assists to help Vancouver jump from ninth to fifth in the tightly packed Western Conference playoff race, one point ahead of Dallas, Columbus, Ohio, and Anaheim, California.
Roberto Luongo finished with 25 saves for the Canucks, who have won five of six since snapping an eight-game losing skid two weeks earlier.
Saku Koivu and Andrei Kostitsyn scored for the slumping Canadiens, who have lost five of their last six games and 10 of the last 13.
DEVILS 6, SHARKS 5
At Newark, New Jersey, David Clarkson scored his second goal of the game on a power play with 3:32 to play as New Jersey completed a sweep of conference leader San Jose.
Brian Gionta, Brian Rolston, Patrik Elias and Jamie Langenbrunner also scored to help the Devils won for the 13th time in 15 games.
This latest win came just two days after a 1-0 victory over NHL-leading Boston.
Joe Pavelski, Devin Setoguchi, Jonathan Cheechoo, Patrick Marleau and Rob Blake scored for San Jose, 1-1-3 on its five-game trip.
AVALANCHE 6, RED WINGS 5, SO
At Detroit, Jordan Leopold scored in the fifth round of a shootout and Andrew Raycroft stopped 40 shots in regulation and overtime, allowing only Henrik Zetterberg’s goal in the second round of the tiebreaker as Colorado edged Detroit.
Wojtek Wolski also scored in the shootout to help Colorado end a four-game losing streak. Ian Laperriere had a goal and an assist and Ruslan Salei, Marek Svatos, Ben Guite and Milan Hejduk also scored in regulation for the Avalanche.
FLYERS 5, RANGERS 2
At New York, Mike Richards’ short-handed goal sparked a four-goal second period and rookie Claude Giroux had a goal and two assists as Philadelphia downed New York.
Richards, who leads the NHL with five short-handed goals this season, became the first NHL player to score three 3-on-5 goals in a career.
In other games it was:
• Hurricanes 3, Sabres 0
• Thrashers 8, Ducks 4
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
One of Malaysia’s top soccer clubs has pulled out of today’s season-opening Charity Shield after a spate of assaults, including an acid attack, on players in the country. It leaves the kickoff of Malaysia’s season this weekend under a cloud following the unprecedented acts of violence against players, which have left the country shocked and angry. Authorities said they have imposed tighter security, but Selangor said that they would not play in the showpiece curtain-raiser against Malaysian Super League champions Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) citing “a series of criminal incidents and recent threats.” Selangor and Malaysia winger Faisal Halim is in intensive care