The Washington Capitals seized control of their Eastern Conference playoff series with the Montreal Canadiens with a 5-1 win on Monday.
The Capitals put the result beyond doubt with second period goals from Boyd Gordon, Brooks Laich, Eric Fehr and Alex Ovechkin that helped them to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
“For the whole game I think we played well, but we have to push on,” Ovechkin told reporters. “[Coach Bruce Boudreau] said we have 15 minutes to enjoy it and after that we forget it and concentrate on the next game.”
Tomas Plekanec put the Canadiens on the board at 2:25 in the third before Matt Bradley scored for the Capitals with 45 seconds left in the game.
Washington goaltender Semyon Varlamov made 26 saves.
After a scoreless first period, the Capitals thoroughly controlled the game and outshot the Canadiens 36-27.
BRUINS 2, SABRES 1
In Boston, Patrice Bergeron scored the go-ahead goal six minutes from fulltime to give the sixth-seeded Bruins a win night and a 2-1 lead over the Buffalo Sabres in their Eastern Conference playoff series.
Mark Recchi bumped Tim Kennedy off the puck in the right corner behind the Buffalo net and fed it to Bergeron, whose quick shot from the right circle beat Ryan Miller.
Mike Grier had given Buffalo a 1-0 lead at 6:57 of the first period before Dennis Wideman equalized less than nine minutes later.
KINGS 5, CANUCKS 3
At Los Angeles, Michal Handzus scored two power-play goals and Drew Doughty had a goal and three assists as the Kings chased Vancouver goalie Roberto Luongo during a 5-3 victory over the Canucks, taking a 2-1 series lead.
Brad Richardson and Ryan Smyth also scored and Jonathan Quick made 25 saves as the Kings moved ahead in the series with another standout game from their relentless power play.
Swede Mikael Samuelsson scored his fourth goal of the series for Vancouver, which trimmed a three-goal deficit to 4-3 before the Kings finished strong.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
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