Nicklas Backstrom had two goals and two assists to lift the Washington Capitals to a 5-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Friday’s meeting of the NHL Southeast Division’s top two teams.
Alex Ovechkin had a goal and three assists while Brooks Laich and Jason Chimera also scored for the Capitals, who moved within three points of the first-place Lightning. Washington had gone 0-1-2 in its previous three games, scoring just three goals over that stretch.
“This game was very important for both teams,” Ovechkin said. “They’re in first place, and we want to be in their spot.”
“It felt a little bit like a playoff game,” Backstrom said. “It was a big game for us, a big two points.”
Teddy Purcell and Brett Clark scored for Tampa Bay, which had a six-game winning streak end.
“Last two times we played these guys, we shut them out. We just shut out [Philadelphia], and there was absolutely no urgency in our game,” Lighting coach Guy Boucher said.
“It’s a lack of respect for the opponent. They [Washington] kept saying they had to play the game of their season, and they did. They deserved everything that happened to them tonight,” he said.
Canucks 4, Blackhawks 3
In Vancouver, Daniel Sedin scored with 4 minutes left to take over the NHL scoring lead and lift Vancouver over Chicago.
Daniel, who also had an assist on twin brother Henrik’s tying goal 6 minutes earlier, moved one point ahead of Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos for the league lead with 69 points.
Christian Ehrhoff and Mikael Samuelsson also scored for the Canucks, who have won five straight.
Jonathan Toews, Nick Boynton and Dave Bolland had goals for the Blackhawks.
Penguins 3, Sabres 2
In Pittsburgh, the hosts scored three goals in a second-period span of 3:14 to overcome Buffalo.
Dustin Jeffrey, Tyler Kennedy and Matt Cooke scored the goals for Pittsburgh, who have won five consecutive games.
Evgeni Malkin returned to the lineup after missing the previous five games due to a left knee injury and a sinus infection, but he was knocked out of the game during the first shift of the second period with a lower-body injury.
In the first 7 minutes of playing without Malkin, the Penguins — 10-1 without him this season — scored three times.
Paul Gaustad and Mike Grier scored for Buffalo, playing its first game in 10 days.
Blue Jackets 3, Red Wings 0
In Detroit, Steve Mason made 34 saves for his 17th career shutout, helping Columbus to defeat Detroit.
Antoine Vermette and Andrew Murray each had a goal and an assist and Jared Boll also scored for Columbus.
Murray scored into an empty net with 1:12 remaining.
Panthers 4, Devils 3, OT
In Newark, New Jersey, Rostislav Olesz scored the winner two minutes into overtime on a sharp-angle shot from the bottom of the right circle that slipped past New Jersey goaltender Johan Hedberg.
Chris Higgins, Dennis Wideman and Mike Santorelli also scored for the Panthers.
Florida cooled off the Devils, who are 8-2-1 in their past 11.
Travis Zajac, Jason Arnott and Mark Fayne scored for New Jersey.
Blues 5, Oilers 3
In St Louis, Andy McDonald had an assist in his first game back from a 24-game concussion-related absence as St Louis took the honors against Edmonton.
T.J. Oshie got his second goal in six games back from a broken ankle, while Alex Pietrangelo, Matt D’Agostini, Brad Boyes and Erik Johnson also scored for the Blues.
The Oilers’ goals came from Sam Gagner, Taylor Hall and Theo Peckham.
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
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