The Los Angeles Kings advanced to the second round of the National Hockey League (NHL) playoffs with a 2-1 win over the St Louis Blues on Friday, boosting their hopes of back-to-back Stanley Cup titles.
Meanwhile in other games, Detroit beat Anaheim to stay alive and force a Game 7, while Toronto won at Boston to cut the series deficit to 3-2, and Washington downed the New York Rangers to go ahead 3-2.
LA’s Dustin Penner scored the tiebreaking goal in the final second of the second period, while Jonathan Quick made 21 saves and Drew Doughty scored his first goal of the postseason for the Kings, who came back from a 2-0 deficit in the series to win it 4-2.
Photo: AFP
Penner put the Kings ahead with his latest big playoff goal, ripping a slap shot from just inside the blue line past Brian Elliott right before time expired.
Elliott stopped 14 shots and Chris Porter scored his first career playoff goal for the Blues, who were eliminated by Los Angeles for the second straight season.
Detroit’s Henrik Zetterberg scored his second goal 1 minute, 4 seconds into overtime to give the Red Wings a 4-3 win over Anaheim.
Detroit blew a two-goal lead in the last 3.5 minutes of regulation time, sending the team to a fourth OT in a series for the first time in franchise history.
Anaheim’s Emerson Etem and Bobby Ryan scored 51 seconds apart late in regulation to pull the Ducks into a 3-3 tie.
Zetterberg, who scored earlier in the third period, had a shot to win it with about a minute left. However his shot hit the right post and slid across the crease, but he made up for it with the overtime winner.
The second-seeded Ducks are to host the seventh-seeded Detroit today in the deciding game.
Toronto’s Tyler Bozak and Clarke MacArthur scored to give the Maple Leafs a 2-1 win at Boston, staying alive in their series.
Maple Leafs goaltender James Reimer stopped 43 shots to preserve the win for Toronto, who are to host Game 6 before a switch back to Boston if there is a Game 7.
Boston has won both games in Toronto in the series and has not lost on the Leafs’ home ice in the playoffs since 1959.
Zdeno Chara scored for Boston to cut the deficit to 2-1 with 8:48 left. The Leafs killed off a delay-of-game penalty in the last four minutes and then protected the lead when the Bruins pulled their goalie for an extra attacker with 1:11 left.
Only once in their history have the Leafs come back to win a playoff series after falling behind 3-1: the 1942 Stanley Cup finals win over Detroit.
The Bruins are 15-2 in playoff series after taking a 3-1 lead, but they blew a 3-0 lead against Philadelphia in the 2010 Eastern Conference semi-finals.
Washington’s Mike Ribeiro scored in overtime to give the Capitals a 2-1 win over the New York Rangers, and the momentum in the series. Ribeiro put in the puck after Troy Brouwer deflected a shot from the blue line.
Game 6 is scheduled for today in New York.
The home team have won every game in the series, with Washington taking the first two and New York pulling even in Games 3 and 4. The Capitals have been fighting history along the way: The franchise have lost eight playoff series in which they have held a two-game lead.
Brian Boyle scored for New York in the first minute, but that was it for the Rangers, with Joel Ward tying it in the second period.
STILL IN THE HUNT: Rasmus Hojlund took his goal tally for SSC Napoli to nine as the champions cruised to a win at US Cremonese and stayed two points behind the leaders Inter on Sunday stayed at the Serie A summit after beating Atalanta BC 1-0 to maintain their slender lead over local rivals AC Milan. Lautaro Martinez netted the only goal of the game in Bergamo for Inter, who lead Milan, 3-0 winners against Hellas Verona thanks to Christoper Nkunku’s first Serie A goals, by a single point at the top of the division. The Argentina striker has scored in four consecutive league matches to end what has been a tricky year in positive style. “I ended last season in a lot of pain... I kept going during the Club World Cup and international
Hosts Morocco on Friday were held to a 1-1 draw by Mali at the Africa Cup of Nations, ending their world record run of wins and leaving them still to make sure of progress to the next stage. Midfielder Brahim Diaz tucked away a penalty in stoppage-time at the end of the first half, but Mali equalized from the spot midway through the second half through Lassine Sinayoko. Both penalties were awarded after video reviews in a tempestuous clash at the end of a busy day of action at the tournament. Morocco were atop the Group A standings with four points, while Zambia,
Algeria on Sunday became the third country after Egypt and Nigeria to qualify for the knockout stage of the Africa Cup of Nations by edging Burkina Faso 1-0 in Rabat through a Riyad Mahrez penalty. Defending champions Ivory Coast failed to join the trio after drawing 1-1 with Cameroon in a lively showdown in Marrakesh. Elsewhere, Mozambique ended a 39-match wait for a first victory by beating Gabon 3-2, while Sudan got back into contention for a last-16 slot by beating Equatorial Guinea 1-0 in Casablanca. Captain Mahrez converted from the penalty spot midway through the first half and Algeria then held on
Supermaxis Master Lock Comanche and defending champions LawConnect yesterday continued their close duel on the second day of the 80th running of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race. Just over 27 hours into the race that began on Friday in Sydney Harbour and is to end on the island state of Tasmania, Comanche had a 4 nautical mile (7.4km) lead over LawConnect. LawConnect was forced to contend with a broken mainsheet and halyard overnight, but fixed both issues and remained in pursuit of Comanche, which is skippered by Matt Allen and James Mayo. “We had a few things slow us down and Comanche’s