Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury made a welcome return to form on Wednesday as the Penguins took down the Northwest Division-leading Calgary Flames 3-1.
Fleury came into the game having allowed at least three goals in six of his last seven starts but made 37 saves in a solid performance.
Sidney Crosby opened the scoring for Pittsburgh with his 30th goal of the season in the first period before Calgary’s Mark Giordano tied the score at 9:39 in the second.
Bill Guerin put the visitors back in front about a minute later and Tyler Kennedy capped the scoring at 18:20 of the third.
“You either get eaten in this one, or you have to man up,” Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma told reporters. The Penguins had lost eight of their previous 11 games. “They’re a team of putting pucks in and coming real hard. The [defense] have to go back under some pretty tough conditions to get pucks. Our guys did a real good job.”
The Flames (26-15-6) entered the game mired in an 0-for-14 slump on the power-play but broke the streak with Giordano’s score in the second. Leading scorer Jarome Iginla stayed cold however, extending his scoreless streak to six games.
Calgary have won just once in their last five games, but are still tied for the Northwest lead with the Colorado Avalanche.
WILD 5, CANUCKS 2
In St Paul, Minnesota, Nicklas Backstrom set a franchise record for wins by a goaltender as Minnesota overcame Vancouver.
Antti Miettinen scored two of Minnesota’s three third-period goals, while Kyle Brodziak, Mikko Koivu and Owen Nolan also scored to help the Wild win its fourth straight.
CAPITALS 5, PANTHERS 4, SO
In Sunrise, Florida, Tomas Fleischmann scored in the sixth round of a shootout to complete Washington’s comeback victory over Florida.
DUCKS 4, BRUINS 3
In Anaheim, California, defenseman Steve Eminger gave Anaheim the third period lead with his first goal of the season as the Ducks extended their winning streak to a season-best five games.
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