Dennis Seidenberg and Patrice Bergeron scored second-period goals and Tim Thomas made 33 saves as the Boston Bruins clinched the Northeast Division title with a 2-1 victory over the New York Rangers on Sunday night.
Boston also prevented the Rangers from winning the Atlantic Division and securing the top seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. New York need only one point in their final three games to finish first.
Marian Gaborik scored his 40th goal of the season early in the first period, but the Rangers couldn’t muster much else against the defending Stanley Cup champions, who also locked up the No. 2 seed.
Photo: AFP
FLYERS 6, PENGUINS 4
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Jakub Voracek scored twice in the third period to break open a tight game and lift Philadelphia past Pittsburgh.
Wayne Simmonds, Claude Giroux, Max Talbot and Marc-Andre Bourdon also scored for Philadelphia, while Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 43 shots to help the Flyers pull within a point of the Penguins for the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Photo: AFP
Steve Sullivan scored twice for Pittsburgh and James Neal added his 39th of the season, but the Penguins couldn’t hold an early two-goal lead. Marc-Andre Fleury made 20 saves.
The game served as a preview of what could be a heated first-round playoff matchup, as there was a third-period brawl that even had the teams’ coaches yelling at each other.
SENATORS 5, ISLANDERS 1
In Uniondale, New York, Kyle Turris scored twice and had two assists, while Milan Michalek added his team-leading 35th goal as Ottawa beat New York to clinch a playoff spot.
The Senators won their fourth straight game to move four points behind idle New Jersey for sixth place in the Eastern Conference. Both teams have three games left before the regular season ends on Saturday. The Senators, with 92 points, are four ahead of eighth-placed Washington.
Nick Foligno and Sergei Gonchar also scored for Ottawa. Craig Anderson made 29 saves, allowing only Mark Streit’s goal in the first period.
OILERS 2, DUCKS 1
In Anaheim, California, Teemu Hartikainen gave Edmonton an early lead with his first two goals of the season and Devan Dubnyk made 32 saves as the Oilers beat Anaheim in the Ducks’ final home game of the season.
Teemu Selanne scored for the Ducks and Jonas Hiller stopped 13 shots. Hiller, who has set franchise records with 70 starts and 71 appearances, finished his home slate 19-16-2.
Anaheim captain Ryan Getzlaf had a goal disallowed that would have tied it. Television replays confirmed that his slap shot from the top of the right circle got past Dubnyk a split-second after time expired in the second period.
WILD 5, BLACKHAWKS 4, SO
In Chicago, Devin Setoguchi and Erik Christensen scored in a shootout to help Minnesota beat Chicago for their third straight victory.
Setoguchi had a goal and two assists in regulation, then sealed the victory in the third round of the shootout with a quick shot that beat Ray Emery.
Patrick Kane had the lone Chicago goal in the shootout against Josh Harding. Kane scored his second goal in regulation, during a power play with 2:45 left in the third period, to tie it at 4.
Dany Heatley, Kyle Brodziak and defenseman Clayton Stoner also scored for Minnesota, who won in a shootout for the second straight night. Patrick Sharp and Viktor Stalberg scored for Chicago.
RED WINGS 2, PANTHERS 1, SO
In Detroit, Michigan, Jiri Hudler scored with 14:30 remaining in the third period and again in a shootout to help Detroit beat Florida.
Pavel Datsyuk also scored in the shootout for the Red Wings, who held on to win when Kris Versteeg missed high on Florida’s last attempt.
Tomas Fleischmann scored for the Panthers in the first period.
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