The Philadelphia Flyers seized upon a costly Carolina penalty to score two power-play goals and beat the Hurricanes 2-1 in the NHL on Thursday.
Carolina’s Tuomo Ruutu was called for slashing late in the second period and Philadelphia made the most of the man advantage early in the third.
Jeff Carter took a feed from Mike Richards and fired a wrist shot off Cam Ward’s glove to make it 1-0, then Danny Briere scored his team-best 27th goal at 11:27, going top shelf on the right side of the net.
Brian Boucher stopped 31 shots for the Eastern Conference--leading Flyers. Carolina ranks 23rd in the league against the power play, 25th on the road.
Ruutu scored for Carolina.
PENGUINS 2, KINGS 1, OT
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Jordan Staal scored in overtime to give Pittsburgh victory over Los Angeles.
It appeared a shootout was on the way before Staal ripped a shot past Jonathan Quick to give the Penguins a needed burst of good news in a tumultuous week.
Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said on Thursday there is no timetable for his return from a concussion. The Penguins have been gutted by injuries and played four call-ups plucked from the minors. Brett Sterling, one of those call-ups, scored his first goal for the Penguins.
Pittsburgh’s Dan Bylsma became the third coach in team history to win 100 games. His .657 winning percentage entering the game was already tops in team history.
SABRES 3, PANTHERS 2
In Sunrise, Florida, Tyler Myers’ overtime goal lifted Buffalo over Florida.
Myers’ slap shot from well above the right circle went over Tomas Vokoun’s left shoulder and into the net for his seventh goal of the season. Mike Weber and Thomas Vanek also scored for the Sabres.
Steve Bernier and Marty Reasoner scored for Florida.
ISLANDERS 4, CANADIENS 3, SO
In Montreal, Kyle Okposo scored on the Islanders’ fourth shootout attempt to give New York a win over Montreal.
Islanders goalie Mikko Koskinen turned aside Montreal’s first four shots in the tiebreaker after stopping 37 shots during the game and notched his first NHL win in his second start.
The Islanders failed to convert their first three attempts before Okposo shot past Alex Auld to hand the Canadiens their third straight loss.
Michael Grabner had two goals and John Tavares also scored for New York.
The Canadiens’ goals came from Max Pacioretty, Benoit Pouliot and Tomas Plekanec.
In other NHL action, it was:
‧ Devils 2, Maple Leafs 1
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set