Pavel Datsyuk and Mikael Samuelsson scored 36 seconds apart midway through the first period to lift the Detroit Red Wings past the Buffalo Sabres 2-1 in the National Hockey League (NHL) season-opener for both teams on Wednesday.
Elsewhere, the Toronto Maple Leafs improved to 2-0 on the new season with a 3-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers, while the Colorado Avalanche routed the Anaheim Ducks 6-1 in Patrick Roy’s debut as head coach.
Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard made 19 saves in the Red Wings’ first game in the Eastern Conference after moving from the West as part of the NHL’s realignment plan this season.
Photo: AFP
Zemgus Girgensons scored with 7:24 minutes left in the game to pull the Sabres to within a goal, but Buffalo could not get the equalizer.
Buffalo also could not take advantage during a two-man power play for 1:31 early in the first period and for 51 seconds late in the second.
Dave Bolland scored twice and Phil Kessel added a goal for the Maple Leafs, who followed up their season-opening win over the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday with a victory in Philadelphia.
Jonathan Bernier stopped 31 shots for the Maple Leafs.
Toronto acquired Bolland and Bernier in the offseason to bolster their bid to make a run in the Eastern Conference playoffs this season.
In Denver, Semyon Varlamov made 35 saves and Jamie McGinn scored two goals for the Avalanche.
Ryan O’Reilly, John Mitchell, Matt Duchene and Steve Downie also had goals, while Alex Tanguay, back with Colorado for the first time since the 2005-2006 season, had three assists.
Viktor Fasth struggled for Anaheim, allowing three goals in the second period.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set