Ryan Miller made 34 saves for a -career-high sixth shutout this season and the Buffalo Sabres continued their late-season push for a playoff spot with a 3-0 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night.
Cody Hodgson scored twice and Jason Pominville once to help the Sabres improve to 11-2-4 in their past 17 games and catch the eighth-place Washington Capitals in the Eastern Conference standings. Miller improved to 11-1-3 in his past 15 games, a stretch in which he has allowed only 29 goals.
The shutout was the 28th of Miller’s career, and fifth in his past 23 games.
The Canadiens (28-33-9) blew a chance to move out of last place in the East, while losing in regulation for the first time in seven games (3-1-3). With little to lose, Canadiens coach Randy Cunneyworth pulled goalie Carey Price for an extra attacker with four minutes left.
DUCKS 4, BLUES 3
In Anaheim, California, Jason Blake scored the tiebreaking goal from behind the St Louis net with five minutes, 54 seconds to play as the Ducks rallied from a third-period deficit for a 4-3 victory over the NHL-leading Blues.
Devante Smith-Pelly tied it earlier in the third period for the Ducks, who erased three St Louis leads before Blake banked his seventh goal of the season off the skate of St Louis defenseman Ian Cole. Jonas Hiller made 35 saves for Anaheim, who have won five straight home games over St Louis.
Cam Fowler and Nick Bonino also scored and captain Ryan Getzlaf had two assists for the Ducks, whose playoff hopes are essentially dead despite a strong second-half surge under new coach Bruce Boudreau.
RANGERS 2, RED WINGS 1, OT
In New York, Ryan Callahan scored 2:42 into overtime to send injury-riddled Detroit to their sixth straight loss.
The Rangers turned up the heat in the extra session and finally got a puck past Ty Conklin, who was recalled from the minor leagues earlier on Wednesday because of Detroit’s injury woes.
Callahan fired a shot from the slot for his 27th goal, making the New York captain a winner on his 27th birthday.
Henrik Lundqvist made 26 saves, and Brad Richards scored in the first period for the Rangers, who lead Pittsburgh by three points in the East.
Pittsburgh have 10 games left and the Rangers have nine.
Henrik Zetterberg gave Detroit an early 1-0 lead, and Conklin made 32 saves, but the Red Wings had to settle for just one point. Detroit, 0-4-2 in their last six, moved into sole possession of fourth place in the Western Conference, one point ahead of Nashville.
HURRICANES 3, PANTHERS 1
In Raleigh, North Carolina, Joni Pitkanen had a goal and an assist in his first game in three months to help Carolina end the Panthers’ five-game winning streak.
Eric Staal had his second straight two-goal game — giving him a team-leading 23 — and Cam Ward made 30 saves to help the Hurricanes win their season-best fourth straight and earn points for the 14th time in 17 home games.
Tomas Fleischmann scored for the Southeast Division-leading Panthers, who had been on their longest winning streak since a club-record seven straight in 2008. They were denied their first season sweep in Raleigh.
Jose Theodore stopped 36 shots for Florida.
He entered 4-0 this season against the Hurricanes.
BLACKHAWKS 2, CANUCKS 1, OT
In Chicago, rookie Andrew Shaw scored 2:42 into overtime to give the hosts a 2-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks.
Shaw was credited with deflecting Johnny Oduya’s shot from the slot past Roberto Luongo. Oduya fired from between the circles after he trailed in late and took a feed from Dave Bolland on the left boards.
Patrick Kane scored his 20th goal in the second period for Chicago, who have won five straight and are 9-1-1 in their last 11 despite playing without captain Jonathan Toews.
Jannik Hansen scored in regulation for Vancouver — on the first shot of the game — to break a 15-game streak without a goal. The Canucks lost their second straight, and have won just one of their last five.
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