Johan Franzen scored with consecutive shots in the third period to end Brian Elliott’s shutout streak after three-and-a-half games, and Todd Bertuzzi netted the lone goal in a shootout as the Detroit Red Wings rallied to beat the St Louis Blues 3-2 on Wednesday night.
Pavel Datsyuk set up both regulation goals for the Red Wings, who moved a point ahead of Nashville for fourth in the Western Conference with 101 points. Both teams have two games remaining.
Detroit, with more than 100 points for the 12th consecutive season, is 9-2 in shootouts. The Red Wings handed the Blues their second straight home loss, dropping them to 30-5-5 and leaving them two points behind NHL-leading Vancouver and the New York Rangers.
David Perron and Andy McDonald scored for St Louis, who have 107 points for second place in the West behind Vancouver.
The Red Wings’ Jimmy Howard stopped T.J. Oshie, McDonald and David Perron in the shootout.
Elliott, who had a franchise-record shutout streak of 241 minutes, 33 seconds snapped, finished with 26 saves through overtime.
CANADIENS 5, LIGHTNING 2
In Montreal, Quebec, Canadiens linemates Erik Cole and Max Pacioretty both scored two goals as Montreal ended a four-game losing streak by beating Tampa Bay.
Lightning star Steven Stamkos did not score, despite several good chances, and remained two goals short of 60. He was to play in his hometown of Toronto last night and has two games left to reach the mark.
Cole scored twice in the second period, Pacioretty had a pair of goals in the third, and Alexei Emelin also scored for Montreal (30-35-15), the last-place team in the Eastern Conference.
Vincent Lecavalier scored off a gift from Montreal backup goalie Peter Budaj, and defenseman Bruno Gervais added a goal for Tampa Bay (37-36-7), who are also eliminated from playoff contention.
Montreal outshot the Lightning 25-16 in a game played in front of many empty seats.
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