Jason Pominville had a goal and two assists during a 2 minute, 7 second span of the third period, leading the Buffalo Sabres to a 5-3 comeback victory over the Florida Panthers on Wednesday.
Tim Connolly scored the go-ahead goal to cap the surge and added an assist for a Buffalo team that overcame a 3-1 deficit and won for only the second time in eight games (2-5-1). Clarke MacArthur, Craig Rivet and Maxim Afinogenov also scored for the Sabres, who needed a win to avoid falling further out of playoff contention.
With 78 points and nine games left, Buffalo remain in 10th place in the Eastern Conference standings, but moved within five points of eighth-placed Montreal.
PHOTO: AP
The ninth-place Panthers not only squandered a two-goal lead, but also an opportunity to move into a tie with Montreal.
Brett McLean had a goal and assist, while Richard Zednik and Michael Frolik also scored for Florida, 1-4-3 in their past eight games.
PENGUINS 2, FLAMES 0
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Marc-Andre Fleury made 31 saves for his fourth shutout of the season to help Pittsburgh keep pace in the tight Eastern Conference playoff race.
Defensemen Kris Letang and Hal Gill scored, while Evgeni Malkin had two assists, giving him a career-high 107 points and extending his NHL scoring lead to 11 points.
After having their 12-game points streak snapped in a 3-1 loss to Philadelphia on Sunday, the Penguins beat the Flames to take over sole possession of sixth place in the conference with 88 points — a point behind Carolina and two behind Philadelphia.
BLACKHAWKS 6, SHARKS 5, SO
In Chicago, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews scored in a shootout, while Chicago goalie Nikolai Khabibulin turned away Jeremy Roenick on San Jose’s final attempt.
San Jose overcame a 4-1 deficit to force overtime, tying it at 5-5 on Joe Thornton’s goal with 2 minutes, 8 seconds left in the third period.
Andrew Ladd had two goals for Chicago, Toews added his 30th, while Martin Havlat and Dustin Byfuglien also scored. Chicago moved out of a tie with Vancouver for fourth place in the Western Conference with 89 points, passing their total from last season.
Devin Setoguchi scored twice for the Sharks, tied with Detroit for the overall NHL lead, while Jamie McGinn and Marc-Edouard Vlasic added goals.
DUCKS 7, AVALANCHE 2
In Denver, Colorado, Corey Perry scored two goals, while Andrew Ebbett had a goal and two assists as Anaheim won their season-high fifth straight game and moved into seventh place in the Western Conference.
James Wisniewski tied a career high with three assists, Erik Christensen, Teemu Selanne, Rob Niedermayer and Petteri Nokelainen added goals, while Jonas Hiller made 34 saves for the Ducks.
Milan Hejduk and Cody McLeod scored for Colorado, who have lost five straight for the third time this season.
WILD 6, ISLANDERS 2
In Uniondale, New York, Marian Gaborik had two goals and two assists, Andrew Brunette and Owen Nolan each scored once and set up two others as Minnesota snapped a five-game road losing streak.
Martin Skoula and Antti Miettinen added goals, while Niklas Backstrom made 32 saves for his 33rd victory. Minnesota jumped over St Louis and tied ninth-place Nashville with 78 points in the Western Conference playoff race. The Wild were 2-7-2 in their previous 11 road games — averaging only two goals per contest.
Bruno Gervais and Andy Hilbert scored for New York.
HURRICANES 2, SENATORS 1
In Raleigh, North Carolina, Rod Brind’Amour and Anton Babchuk scored third-period goals, while Cam Ward made 21 saves to help Carolina win their season-high fifth straight game and match the club record with their ninth home win in a row.
Rod Brind’Amour tied it after 3 minutes,15 seconds of the third period and assisted on Babchuk’s power-play goal with 6 minutes, 1 second left. Ryan Shannon scored for the Senators, who were denied their season-high sixth straight win.
They had won nine of 10 to move within nine points of the East’s eighth playoff spot, but fell to 12-19-4 on the road.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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