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.
Barcelona star Lamine Yamal would be motivated by criticism ahead of the Clasico, Barcelona assistant coach Marcus Sorg said yesterday. Teenage winger Yamal has been in the spotlight in the Spanish capital after joking that Real Madrid “steal” and “complain” during an appearance on a social media stream. Champions Barca face Real Madrid today in La Liga at the Santiago Bernabeu, looking for a fifth consecutive win over their rivals. “Lamine is a top player and I think [the criticism] will be motivating for him,” Sorg told a news conference. “I hope we all see him tomorrow [give] the best performance.” The 18-year-old Spain
‘A HISTORIC moment’: ‘I think we all need to take a step back and appreciate Leo Messi is playing in Major League Soccer,’ league commissioner Don Garber said Lionel Messi raised the Golden Boot. He then got Inter Miami started with his head. The Argentine opened the scoring with a diving header in the first half, then capped the scoring in the 96th minute as Inter Miami opened the MLS playoffs with a 3-1 win over Nashville SC in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference best-of-three first-round series on Friday night. Messi and Ian Fray had the assists on Tadeo Allende’s second-half tally for Inter Miami, who now get two chances to advance out of the first round for the first time in Messi’s two-and-a-half-year tenure with the team. Game
‘COMPLETE GAME’: ‘To be honest, I’m not sure about the history, but I’m very happy about what I did today,’ Yamamoto said through a translator after the game Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched a World Series game from another era. Sandy Koufax had October outings like this, and so did Orel Hershiser, but those types of performances have vanished in modern baseball. Until this 178cm starter from Japan delivered like the aces of old. Yamamoto threw a four-hitter for his second consecutive complete game, the first in the World Series since 2015, and the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-1 on Saturday night to tie their best-of-seven matchup at one game apiece. “It’s kind of the throwback,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “When he starts a game, he
Sean Dyche on Thursday achieved in his first game with Nottingham Forest what predecessor Ange Postecoglou could not in eight matches in charge: Win. Under its new coach, Nottingham Forest presented a concentrated display resulting in a 2-0 victory over Porto in the UEFA Europa League. It was the first victory for Nottingham in the competition and only the second overall this season, while Porto were defeated for the first time this season. Morgan Gibbs-White converted from the penalty spot in the 19th minute at the City Ground in West Bridgford, England. Igor Jesus doubled the advantage from another penalty in the 77th