Benoit Pouliot scored on Montreal’s fifth shootout attempt to give the Canadiens a 2-1 win over a Pittsburgh Penguins team missing injured captain Sidney Crosby in the NHL on Thursday.
Carey Price, who made 31 saves through overtime, was unpassable in the shootout. He denied four Penguins before stopping Chris Kunitz on Pittsburgh’s final attempt.
Pouliot deked Brent Johnson and let the puck slide into the right side of the net as Montreal won in their first shootout of the season.
He also scored the tying goal in the second period.
Arron Asham scored in the first period for Pittsburgh. Crosby, who leads the NHL with 32 goals and 66 points, missed his first game of the season because of an undisclosed upper body injury.
COYOTES 2, AVALANCHE 0
In Denver, Colorado, back-up goalie Jason LaBarbera made 34 saves for his second shutout in three starts as Phoenix beat Colorado.
The Coyotes were without goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, who missed the game because of a family medical issue. LaBarbera filled in and clamped down on the NHL’s fourth-highest scoring team.
Taylor Pyatt scored both Phoenix goals, the second an empty-netter.
PREDATORS 5, KINGS 2
In Los Angeles, Nashville fought back to beat Los Angeles and notch a fourth straight win.
Patric Hornqvist scored two goals, Colin Wilson and Sergei Kostitsyn both had a goal and two assists, while Marek Svatos scored his first goal for the Predators.
Los Angeles slid to their season-worst fifth straight loss despite second-period goals from rookie Kyle Clifford and Jarret Stoll.
SABRES 3, SHARKS 0
In San Jose, California, coach Lindy Ruff brought up his 500th career victory as Buffalo beat San Jose.
Ruff became the 16th NHL coach with 500 wins and joined Montreal’s Toe Blake as the only ones in the club who got all their wins with one team.
Ruff reached the milestone in convincing fashion as Buffalo got goals from Luke Adam and Jochen Hecht in the first period, along with stellar goaltending from Ryan Miller.
Thomas Vanek scored his 16th goal for the Sabres.
WILD 3, BRUINS 1
In Boston, Minnesota extended their record of never having lost in Boston.
Cal Clutterbuck scored the go-ahead goal on a giveaway from Marc Savard in the Bruins zone.
Martin Havlat also had a fluky goal for the Wild, converting four seconds into a power play.
Clutterbuck also assisted on Mikko Koivu’s empty-netter with 43 seconds left.
Steven Kampfer scored for Boston.
In other games it was:
‧ Maple Leafs 6, Blues 5, SO
‧ Flyers 4, Devils 2
‧ Oilers 2, Islanders 1
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB