Ryane Clowe, Derick Brassard and John Moore injected instant offense just hours after being acquired by the Rangers, as New York scored a season-high three power-play goals in a surprisingly dominant 6-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night.
Clowe came to New York on Tuesday night in a trade with San Jose, and Brassard was part of the package New York received on Wednesday in the deal that sent star forward Marian Gaborik to Columbus, Ohio.
Clowe scored two goals — after netting none for the Sharks in 28 games this season — and added an assist, while Brassard had a goal and three assists for the Rangers, who scored three times in the first period and never looked back.
Brian Boyle and defenseman Ryan McDonagh added goals, as Henrik Lundqvist stopped 26 shots in the Rangers’ highest-scoring game of the season.
The Rangers won their second straight home game and moved into a tie with the New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders with 39 points at the bottom of the Eastern Conference playoff race.
FLYERS 5, MONTREAL 3
In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Wayne Simmonds and Erik Gustafsson scored goals late in the third period to help the Flyers win their third straight game for the first time this season.
With the Flyers trailing 3-2, Simmonds tipped in the puck from the crease for the tying goal. Less than two minutes later, Gustafsson’s pass for Matt Read went off a defenseman and into the net past Carey Price for his 10th goal and a 4-3 lead.
Jakub Voracek scored an empty-netter with 39 seconds left.
Sean Couturier and Simon Gagne also scored for the Flyers. Alexei Emelin, Brandon Prust and David Desharnais scored for Montreal.
SHARKS 4, WILD 2
In San Jose, California, Dan Boyle scored on a spectacular end-to-end rush with a two-man advantage to help San Jose win their sixth straight game.
Marty Havlat got the scoring started for San Jose and Joe Thornton broke a tie with a goal off late in the second period. T.J. Galiardi also scored and Antti Niemi made 31 saves to help the Sharks move into a tie for fourth place in the Western Conference.
Charlie Coyle and Dany Heatley scored for the Wild, who lost for the third time in four games. Niklas Backstrom made 29 saves as Minnesota fell into a tie for the Northwest Division lead with Vancouver.
OILERS 8, FLAMES 2
In Calgary, Alberta, Taylor Hall had a goal and four assists to help Edmonton win their fifth straight game with a rout of Calgary.
With 12 games to go, Edmonton sits eighth in the West, one point up on the St Louis Blues and the Nashville Predators.
Jordan Eberle and Nail Yakupov scored two goals apiece, while Sam Gagner, Ryan Whitney and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had one goal each for Edmonton.
Matt Stajan had both goals for Calgary. The Flames have lost seven of their last nine to remain second from the bottom in the West and 28th overall.
DUCKS 5, STARS 2
In Anaheim, California, Ducks Captain Ryan Getzlaf had a goal and two assists, as Teemu Selanne scored his 673rd career goal in Anaheim’s victory over Dallas.
Viktor Fasth made 23 saves and Radek Dvorak scored his first goal for Anaheim in the second of three straight meetings in five days between the Pacific Division-leading Ducks and the last-placed Stars.
Lane MacDermid scored his first NHL goal, as Kari Lehtonen stopped 22 shots and Kyle Palmieri snapped a 13-game goal drought.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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