About three hours after asking for more respect from NHL officials, Alex Ovechkin was called for two penalties within seconds, leading to a pair of goals that put the New York Rangers ahead on Sunday in a 4-1 win over the Washington Capitals.
Brian Boyle scored his first goal of the season one game after being a healthy scratch, while Ryan Callahan also took advantage of Ovechkin’s miscues to give New York a two-goal lead in the second period. Derek Stepan and Brad Richards also scored, while Martin Biron made 28 saves for the Rangers, who have won five of six.
Steve Oleksy scored his first NHL goal for the Capitals, who endured a rough weekend against New York teams. Washington lost 5-2 on the road against the Islanders on Saturday.
Photo: Reuters
With the score 4-1, Capitals coach Adam Oates pulled goalie Braden Holtby in favor of Michal Neuvirth, who had not played since Feb. 7 and had recently been sidelined with an illness.
OILERS 6, BLACKHAWKS 5
In Chicago, Sam Gagner scored two of Edmonton’s four goals in the first period as the Oilers beat Chicago, sending the Blackhawks to their second consecutive loss after their record-breaking start.
Ryan Whitney and Taylor Hall each had a goal and an assist for Edmonton, who snapped a five-game losing streak. Shawn Horcoff also scored as the Oilers went three-for-four on the power play.
Yann Davis, who came in after Devan Dubnyk was hurt in the second, made 21 saves.
Chicago set an NHL record by recording at least one point in the first 24 games of the season. The streak ended with a 6-2 loss at Colorado on Friday night.
Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa, Sheldon Brookbank and Brent Seabrook scored during a wild second period, and Kane added his team-leading 14th of the season to get Chicago within one with 13 minutes left.
BLUE JACKETS 3, RED WINGS 2, SO
In Detroit, Michigan, Ryan Johansen and Matt Calvert scored in the shootout as streaking Columbus beat Detroit to complete a series sweep. Derick Brassard and R.J. Umberger had goals in regulation, while Sergei Bobrovsky made 20 saves through overtime for Columbus, who have won five straight. The Blue Jackets topped the Red Wings 3-0 in Columbus on Saturday.
The Blue Jackets are 5-0-2 in their past seven games after getting only 12 points in their first 19.
Jakub Kindl and Johan Franzen scored for Detroit in regulation, while Jimmy Howard stopped 19 shots. Pavel Datsyuk scored the Red Wings’ only goal in the shootout. Franzen tied it 2-2 with a five-on-three, power-play goal 25 seconds into the third period.
PENGUINS 6, ISLANDERS 1
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Sidney Crosby tied a career high with five assists, while Chris Kunitz posted his second hat-trick of the season in Pittsburgh’s rout of the Islanders.
Crosby’s big night boosted his point total to an NHL-leading 45 and helped the Penguins win their fifth straight. James Neal had a goal and three assists, while Pascal Dupuis scored twice for Pittsburgh. Tomas Vokoun made 23 saves.
Brad Boyes scored the lone goal for New York, who had a five-game point streak snapped. Evgeni Nabokov stopped just 12 of 17 shots in two periods, before getting pulled for the final 20 minutes.
The Penguins played without NHL MVP Evgeni Malkin, who sat out due to an upper-body injury.
In other NHL action, it was:
‧ Canadiens 5, Panthers 2
‧ Devils 3, Jets 2, SO
‧ Flyers 3, Sabres 2
‧ Ducks 4, Blues 2
‧ Wild 4, Canucks 2
‧ Avalanche 3, Sharks 2, OT
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
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
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