The Minnesota Wild ran their franchise-record winning streak to seven games and boosted their lead in the NHL Western Conference with a 4-1 road win over the Phoenix Coyotes on Saturday, with Kyle Brodziak scoring twice.
Niklas Backstrom returned from a three-game absence to make 35 saves, while Dany Heatley also scored and Mikko Koivu added a goal and an assist for Minnesota.
Backstrom, who missed three games because of a strained groin muscle, returned to appear in his 300th career game.
Lauri Korpikoski scored a consolation goal with 3:57 to play for Phoenix, who dropped into a tie with Dallas for leadership of the Pacific Division.
RED WINGS 7, JETS 1
In Detroit, Jiri Hudler scored twice as Detroit routed Winnipeg for their ninth straight home victory.
Valtteri Filppula, Todd Bertuzzi and Henrik Zetterberg each had a goal and an assist, and Chris Conner, Drew Miller also scored for Detroit.
Bryan Little scored for the Jets, who had their four-game winning streak snapped.
CANUCKS 4, SENATORS 1
In Ottawa, Ryan Kesler scored twice and Henrik Sedin had two assists for Vancouver in the win over Ottawa.
Alexander Edler and Dale Weise also scored for the Canucks, who have won nine of 10.
Colin Greening scored for Ottawa.
FLAMES 3, OILERS 0
In Calgary, Jarome Iginla scored twice in Calgary’s defeat of Edmonton.
Miikka Kiprusoff made 21 saves for the Flames, who have won 10 consecutive times against the Oilers at the Saddledome.
Tom Kostopoulos added a power-play goal for Calgary.
CANADIENS 2, DEVILS 1
In Newark, New Jersey, Tomas Kaberle had two assists in his Montreal debut, helping the Canadiens edge New Jersey.
Kaberle, acquired in a trade on Friday, assisted on Max Pacioretty’s power-play goal in the second period and took the initial shot on Erik Cole’s third-period goal.
Nick Palmieri had a third-period goal for the Devils.
PENGUINS 6, ISLANDERS 3
In Uniondale, New York, James Neal scored twice to help Pittsburgh beat New York.
Pascal Dupuis had the go-ahead goal with 4:02 left in the second period, while Steve Sullivan, Matt Cooke and Paul Martin added goals for the Penguins, who were without Sidney Crosby, but still made it four from four against the Islanders this season.
David Ullstrom, Milan Jurcina and Kyle Okposo scored for New York.
In other NHL action, it was:
‧ Rangers 4, Sabres 1
‧ Blues 1, Sharks 0
‧ Flyers 5, Lightning 2
‧ Stars 2, Kings 1
‧ Bruins 5, Blue Jackets 3
‧ Predators 3, Ducks 2
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
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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