The San Jose Sharks beat the Phoenix Coyotes 3-2 after a shootout on Saturday, keeping alive their chances of taking the top seed in the NHL Western Conference playoffs.
The Sharks were unable to protect a 2-1 lead in regulation, but Logan Couture converted on his first career shootout attempt to give San Jose a crucial two points.
That gave the Sharks 113 points, two more than Chicago for the most in the West. The Blackhawks had a game remaining and could clinch the top seed in the playoffs if they won yesterday against Detroit.
CANUCKS 7, FLAMES 3
In Vancouver, Henrik Sedin regained the NHL scoring lead with four assists, including three on twin brother Daniel’s hat-trick, as Vancouver beat Calgary.
Defense-man Kevin Bieksa ended a long offensive drought with two goals, while Rick Rypien and Ryan Kesler also scored as the Canucks ended the regular season by matching a franchise record with 49 wins.
Niklas Hagman had two goals, and Rene Bourque also scored for Calgary, who missed the playoffs for the first time in six seasons.
DEVILS 7, ISLANDERS 1
In Newark, New Jersey, New Jersey clinched a second straight Atlantic Division title with victory over New York.
Travis Zajac matched his career-high with three assists and Patrik Elias scored twice. Dainius Zubrus, Zach Parise and Dean McAmmond scored in the first period to ignite the Devils’ highest score and largest victory margin of the season.
Brian Rolston and Ilya Kovalchuk also netted for New Jersey.
The Islanders late goal came from Matt Moulson.
SABRES 5, SENATORS 2
In Ottawa, Thomas Vanek scored four goals as Buffalo snapped a nine-game losing streak to Ottawa.
The Sabres spoiled the celebration for Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson, who recently played his 1,000th NHL game. Vanek stole the show in his first game after sitting out six through injury.
Derek Roy also scored for the Sabres, who played at New Jersey yesterday with a chance to claim the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Chris Neil and Shean Donovan scored for the Senators, who will be the fifth-seeded team in the East and face Pittsburgh in the first round of the postseason.
In other games it was:
• Predators 2, Blues 1, SO
• Bruins 4, Hurricanes 2
• Maple Leafs 4, Canadiens 3, OT
• Oilers 4, Kings 3, SO
• Lightning 4, Panthers 3, SO
• Stars 4, Wild 3, SO
• Thrashers 1, Penguins 0
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
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
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier