Daniel Alfredsson scored three goals and reached 1,000 points in his NHL career as the Ottawa Senators snapped a two-game losing skid with a 4-2 win over the struggling Buffalo Sabres on Friday.
Alfredsson, sixth on the active points leaders list, became the 75th NHL player to record at least 1,000 points in a career when he scored into an empty net with 22 seconds remaining in the third period.
“It’s a big milestone, but it was not on my mind at all and maybe that’s a good thing,” Alfredsson said. “Obviously, with the team struggling going into the game, my thoughts were about trying to get some wins.”
PHOTO: AFP
The Swedish forward opened the scoring with a power-play goal, but Buffalo’s Tim Connolly answered with his first goal of the night about two minutes later.
Ottawa again jumped in front when Ryan Shannon scored early in the third period, but Connolly again evened the score with a goal when he scored about 80 seconds later.
Alfredsson put the Senators ahead for good with his second goal of the game midway through the second period.
“You couldn’t have written a better script than that,” Senators coach Cory Clouston said about Alfredsson’s game. “He was our best player and it’s very important that he plays like that when we have guys out.”
Ottawa center Jason Spezza was a late scratch from the lineup and is day-to-day with a lingering groin injury that has troubled him since the start of the season.
The Sabres pressed for the equalizer in the third period by outshooting the Senators 20-5, but failed to tie the score and remained winless at home this season after five games.
With the win, the Senators moved into a tie with Buffalo at the bottom of the Northeast division with five points.
LIGHTNING 5, THRASHERS 2
In Atlanta, Georgia, Steven Stamkos scored three goals for his second NHL hat-trick and Vincent Lecavalier added a goal and an assist as Tampa Bay downed Atlanta.
Stamkos completed the hat-trick with an empty--netter with 32 seconds left, his eighth goal of the season.
Mike Smith made 28 saves to win his fourth straight start for Tampa Bay. Brett Clark also scored for the Lightning.
Jim Slater and Dustin Byfuglien scored for Atlanta.
FLAMES 6, BLUE JACKETS 2
In Columbus, Ohio, Rene Bourque scored three goals and added an assist and Henrik Karlsson stopped 20 shots in his NHL debut to lead Calgary past Columbus.
Niklas Hagman, Ian White and Alex Tanguay also scored for the Flames. Jarome Iginla had three assists and Olli Jokinen, Matt Stajan and Robyn Regehr each added two assists.
It was Bourque’s second career hat-trick.
Derek Dorsett and Jan Hejda had goals for Columbus, beaten badly for the second time in three home games.
BLUES 4, BLACKHAWKS 2
In St Louis, Missouri, Roman Polak broke a broke a third-period tie and David Perron scored twice to help St Louis avenge an overtime loss in Chicago on Monday.
Patrik Berglund also scored, T.J. Oshie had two assists and Jaroslav Halak stopped 23 shots for the Blues.
Patrik Sharp and Brent Seabrook scored for the Blackhawks.
Marty Turco stopped 24 shots in the loss that snapped Chicago’s winning streak at four.
CANUCKS 5, WILD 1
In Vancouver, Manny Malhotra had two goals and an assist and rookie backup Cory Schneider made 23 saves as Vancouver downed Minnesota.
Raffi Torres, Ryan Kesler and Jeff Tambellini also scored, while Jannik Hansen added two assists to help the Canucks avenge a 6-2 loss in Minnesota on Tuesday night.
That was the game that Canucks forward Rick Rypien grabbed a Minnesota fan while being sent to the dressing room after a fight with Brad Staubitz.
Antti Miettinen ended Schneider’s bid for his first NHL shutout with 2 minutes, 35 seconds left, snapping a shot off the goalie’s glove and just over the goal-line. Jose Theodore made 30 saves in his Minnesota debut.
Taiwanese world No. 1 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei on Saturday overcame a first-set loss to win her opening match at the Madrid Open. Top seeds Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium, with whom she last month won her fourth Indian Wells women’s doubles title, bounced back from a rocky first set to beat Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 2-6, 6-4, 10-2. Hsieh and Mertens were next to face Heather Watson of the UK and Xu Yifan of China in the round of 16. Thirty-eight-year-old Hsieh last month reclaimed her world No. 1 spot after her Indian
EYES ON THE PRIZE: Armed with three solid men’s singles shuttlers and doubles Olympic champions, Taiwan aim to make their first Thomas Cup semi-final, Chou Tien-chen said Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying yesterday quickly dispatched Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in straight sets, while her male counterpart Chou Tien-chen beat Germany’s Kai Schaefer, as Taiwan’s women’s and men’s teams won their Group B opening rounds of the TotalEnergies BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Chengdu, China. World No. 5 Tai beat Goh 21-19, 22-20 in a speedy 33 minutes, her fourth straight victory over the world No. 24 shuttler since they first faced each other in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Malaysia Open, where Tai went on to win the women’s singles title. Malaysia followed up Tai’s opening victory
Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event. The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The
Rafael Nadal on Tuesday lost in straight sets to 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round at the Madrid Open, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals in the women’s doubles. Nadal said that he was feeling good about his progress following his latest injury layoff. Nadal called it a “positive week” in every way and said his body held up well. “I was able to play four matches, a couple of tough matches,” Nadal said. “So very positive, winning three matches, playing four matches at the high level of tennis. I enjoyed a lot playing at home. I leave here with