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.
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