Phoenix’s Antoine Vermette scored the deciding goal in the shootout for the second straight game, to give the Coyotes a 3-2 win over Vancouver on Tuesday for their fifth straight win.
Phoenix moved two points clear of the Canucks and within a point of the lead in the Pacific Division.
Among Tuesday’s other games, St Louis also won 3-2 after a shootout to defeat Montreal, as did Dallas to beat Boston, while Minnesota routed Calgary.
Phoenix’s Vermette, who gave the Coyotes a victory at San Jose on Saturday, trickled the puck just past the line in the sixth round of the tiebreaker. Henrik Sedin lost control of the puck on his chance after Vermette’s goal and the Coyotes took a third consecutive shootout win.
Radim Vrbata and Shane Doan scored in regulation for the Coyotes, who are 7-0-1 at home. Dan Hamhuis and Ryan Kesler had goals for Vancouver.
St Louis’ T.J. Oshie got the shootout goal that delivered the Blues a 3-2 win over Montreal.
St Louis opened the scoring at 2 minutes, 38 seconds of the first period when Alexander Steen fired home his NHL-leading 13th goal of the season.
Rene Borque and Michael Bournival netted to put the Canadiens ahead, before Chris Stewart tied it 2-2 at 10:31 of the third period by deflecting in a shot from the blue line off the post.
Minnesota’s Zach Parise scored twice to lead the Wild to a 5-1 win over Calgary.
Parise put the Wild ahead 2-1 with a power-play goal at 6:28 of the second period. Mikko Koivu, Justin Fontaine and Zenon Konopka also scored for Minnesota.
Jiri Hudler scored the sole goal for the Flames.
Wild goaltender Josh Harding made 24 saves in winning his fifth straight start. He leads the NHL with a 1.10 goals-against average and .950 save percentage.
Dallas’ Tyler Seguin and Rich Peverley scored in a shootout against their former team, lifting the Stars to a 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins.
Vernon Fiddler tied the game for Dallas on a penalty shot with 2:34 left in the third period. That erased a lead Boston took with 8:21 remaining when Milan Lucic tipped in a shot from the blue line.
The game was the first against the Bruins for Seguin and Peverley, who were traded to Dallas after last season.
Buffalo’s Cory Hodgson scored in the fourth round of the shootout to give the Sabres a 5-4 win over San Jose, only their third win in 17 games this season.
Ryan Miller made 47 saves, while Henrik Tallinder, Cody McCormick, Drew Stafford and Tyler Ennis also scored for the Sabres, who have defeated the Sharks five straight times.
Tyler Kennedy and Tomas Hertl scored 70 seconds apart early in the third period to erase a two-goal deficit for the Sharks and Tommy Wingels got another equalizer late in the third, but San Jose still lost their third straight game. Marty Havlat also scored.
Washington’s Alex Ovechkin returned from a shoulder injury to score his 11th and 12th goals of the season as the Capitals rode a second-period flurry to a 6-2 win over the New York Islanders.
After being sidelined for two games, Ovechkin scored twice on the power play in a five-goal second period for the Capitals, who have won three straight and are above .500 for the first time this season.
John Carlson, Marcus Johansson, Alexander Urbom and rookie Tom Wilson also scored for Washington, who netted four power-play goals.
John Tavares and Kyle Okposo scored for the Islanders.
Ottawa’s Erik Karlsson scored twice and backup goalie Robin Lehner made 32 saves as the Senators topped the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-1 and snapped a five-game losing skid.
Edmonton’s Mark Arcobello scored his second goal of the game 1:55 into overtime as the Oilers ended a run of five-straight losses and beat the Florida Panthers 4-3.
The Carolina Hurricanes also ended a five-game skid by beating the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1, with Manny Malhotra scoring the overtime winner.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB