The Washington Capitals and Calgary Flames put their Stanley Cup ambitions back on track with big wins on Monday while the Boston Bruins pushed the Montreal Canadiens to the brink of elimination.
After dropping the opening two games of their series on home ice, the Capitals roared into Madison Square Gardens and came away with a dominating 4-0 victory that trimmed the Rangers lead in the best-of-seven Eastern conference quarter-final to 2-1.
Alexander Semin scored the Capitals first two goals then set up another but it was his 20-year-old Russian compatriot rookie netminder Simeon Varlamov who stole the spotlight, stopping 33 shots to collect his first career shutout.
In other action, the Calgary Flames returned home to the Saddledome and rode the energy of a sell-out crowd to an ill-tempered 4-2 win over Chicago cutting the Blackhawks series edge to 2-1.
The Canadiens were also on home ice for the first time in these playoffs but Montreal’s Centennial season looks ready to end in bitter disappointment after falling 4-2 to the Boston Bruins, who take a 3-0 stranglehold on their quarter-final.
The Eastern Conference top seeds can complete the sweep with a Game Four win in Montreal today and clinch their first playoff series since 1999.
The “Original Six” rivals have clashed 32 times in the post-season with the Canadiens having dominated the rivalry winning 24 but history is against Montreal maintaining that domination.
Only twice have teams fought back from 3-0 deficits to win a playoff series, the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs and 1975 New York Islanders.
Welcomed by a capacity crowd of 21,273 at the Bell Centre, the Canadiens came out flying and were rewarded with the early goal from Christopher Higgins.
However, it was the only time the Canadiens led, with Michael Ryder, Phil Kessel, Shawn Thornton and Chuck Kobasew all scoring for the Bruins while Yannick Weber had the other Montreal tally.
The Rangers, who had the league’s best penalty-killing record during the regular season, surrendered two power-play goals, as the Capitals bombarded New York netminder Henrik Lundqvist with 40 shots.
“I’m not going to whine about penalties, we stunk,” Rangers coach John Tortorella told reporters.
Alexander Ovechkin, who led the NHL with 56 goals this season, has yet to score in the playoffs but contributed a pair of assists to the Washington cause.
After two one-goal losses in Chicago, the Flames spotted the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead on a goal by Patrick Sharp then hit back with four tallies from Eric Nystrom, Rene Bourque and a pair of third period markers from David Moss.
With the Flames closing in on the win, tempers flared in the final minutes sparking several skirmishes that left only a handful of players on the bench for the last 10 seconds.
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
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
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two