MAJOR LEAGUES
The New York Islanders overcame the loss of starting netminder Evgeni Nabokov in the first period to defeat the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 at Nassau Coliseum on Thursday.
Rick DiPietro stepped in for Nabokov, who injured his groin and was to be evaluated by team doctors yesterday, and made 24 saves as the Islanders snapped a four-games losing streak.
Matt Moulson’s goal late in the second period, the Islanders’ fourth, proved crucial as it took the wind out of Montreal’s sails just as the Canadiens looked set to tie the game.
New York had built a 3-0 lead on second period goals from P.A. Parenteau, Jay Pandolfo and Mark Streit, but found themselves on the back foot as the Canadiens hit back with goals from Max Pacioretty and Erik Cole.
“That’s a huge bounce-back goal,” Islanders center Josh Bailey told reporters. “It took the heat off a little bit.”
Moulson’s goal, a wrist shot that deflected off Montreal defenseman P.K. Subban’s stick, came just 37 seconds after Cole had drawn the Canadiens within one.
“It was good for the team and our coaching staff to see how we were going to react,” Islanders coach Jack Capuano said. “We got ourselves in a situation. I thought defensively in the neutral zone as the game went on we were stronger.”
Brian Gionta again narrowed the Islanders’ lead to one with a tap-in from the side of the net on a power play with less than five minutes remaining in the third period, but the Habs could not find an equalizer.
Veteran Canadiens defenseman Hal Gill has missed the past three games because of illness and has been admitted to hospital in Montreal with a virus.
In other games, it was:
‧ Flyers 2, Coyotes 1
‧ Lightning 4, Penguins 1
‧ Bruins 2, Blue Jackets 1, SO
‧ Blues 4, Panthers 1
‧ Wild 1, Avalanche 0
‧ Predators 4, Maple Leafs 1
‧ Sharks 5, Red Wings 2
‧ Jets 4, Capitals 1
‧ Senators 5, Oilers 2
‧ Kings 5, Ducks 3
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
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier