Duncan Keith and Andrew Shaw scored in a 39-second span at the start of Chicago’s five-goal second period on Wednesday night, sparking the Blackhawks to a 7-2 victory over Ray Emery and the Philadelphia Flyers.
Patrick Sharp had a goal and two assists for Chicago, who have won three in a row after a three-game losing streak. Michal Handzus scored a short-handed goal in the second and Marian Hossa had three assists, helping rookie goaltender Antti Raanta win his second consecutive start in place of injured Corey Crawford.
The seven goals set a season high for the Blackhawks (23-6-5), who have scored 19 times during their winning streak and lead the National Hockey League (NHL) with 129 goals. Shaw’s nifty wraparound at 1 minute, 22 seconds of the second made it six players with at least 10 goals for the defending Stanley Cup champions, who are once again on top of the league standings with 51 points.
Emery was pulled in the third period of his first start in Chicago since he teamed with Crawford to give the Blackhawks one of the best goaltending tandems in the league last season. He signed a free-agent deal with Philadelphia in July.
Jakub Voracek and Steve Downie scored power-play goals for the Flyers, who have lost three straight.
KINGS 3, MAPLE LEAFS 1
In Toronto, Jeff Carter scored the tiebreaking goal midway through the third period and Los Angeles beat Toronto for their fifth straight victory.
Carter beat former teammate Jonathan Bernier with a wrist shot between the legs on a two-on-one break for his eighth of the season. Kyle Clifford added an insurance goal with 1:59 remaining and Drew Doughty also scored for Los Angeles.
Following a 6-0 victory on Tuesday night in Montreal, the Kings improved to 12-1-4 in their past 17 games.
Martin Jones, a 23-year-old rookie, made 38 saves to earn his fourth win in four NHL starts.
Cody Franson scored his first goal of the season for Toronto.
DUCKS 2, WILD 1
In Anaheim, Corey Perry scored a goal in his seventh straight game, while Ryan Getzlaf extended his point streak to 13 games and Anaheim beat Minnesota for their fourth straight victory.
Jonas Hiller made 23 saves and Alex Grant scored his second career goal on his second NHL shot as the Pacific Division-leading Ducks improved to 12-0-2 at home, extending the second-longest streak without a regulation loss to open a season in the shootout era.
Josh Harding stopped 29 shots and Jason Pominville scored his 15th goal early in the third period for the Wild, who have lost four straight on the road.
Perry extended the longest goal streak in the league this season with his 21st. Getzlaf started the play and picked up an assist, extending the NHL’s longest active point streak and matching St Louis’ Alexander Steen for the longest in the league this season. The Anaheim captain has scored in each of his last 15 appearances since Nov. 6, but the NHL officially recognizes only 13 games because of an injury absence early in the string.
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
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but