Finnish goaltender Antti Niemi made 41 saves, including 20 in the first period, to lead the San Jose Sharks to a 1-0 win over the New York Rangers.
San Jose improved to 45-17-7 this season. Logan Couture’s short-handed goal in the first period was all San Jose needed as the Sharks swept the season series from New York (36-29-4).
The Sharks have won six in a row and nine of their past 11.
Photo: AFP
Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist made 28 saves for the Rangers.
FLYERS 4, PENGUINS 3
Philadelphia scored the first three goals of the game and held on for a victory to sweep Pittsburgh in the home-and-home series between the teams.
The Flyers (35-25-7) shut out the Penguins 4-0 on Saturday, and quickly followed it up with a three-goal first period that included two scores from Wayne Simmonds.
Matt Read gave Philadelphia a 4-2 advantage in the second, when Pittsburgh’s (44-19-4) Jayson Megna pulled the team within one, but could get no closer.
AVALANCHE 3, SENATORS 1
Backed by 38 saves from goaltender Semyon Varlamov, the Colorado Avalanche jumped back on the winning track with a victory over the Ottawa Senators.
Colorado (44-19-5) were coming off a 6-4 loss to the Anaheim Ducks, while the Senators (28-26-13) were unable to regroup from blowing a 4-1 lead in the final three-and-a-half minutes of Saturday’s game against the Montreal Canadiens.
Andre Benoit, Nick Holden and John Mitchell had the Colorado goals.
BLACKHAWKS 4, RED WINGS 1
After being sidelined for the last two weeks because of an upper-body injury, forward Marian Hossa returned to the Chicago Blackhawks lineup in a big way, scoring the clinching goal in a victory over the Detroit Red Wings.
Hossa logged his 25th goal of the season at 6 minutes, 33 seconds of the third period, putting Chicago ahead 3-1. It was his first game since being injured on March 1 during the Stadium Series game at Chicago’s Soldier Field.
The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the Blackhawks (39-15-14).
Detroit (30-24-13) lost their third game in the past four and watched their faint playoff hopes fade further.
CAPITALS 4, MAPLE LEAFS 2
Washington rolled out to an early lead on first-period goals by Troy Brouwer, Jason Chimera and Joel Ward, then leaned heavily on goaltender Jaroslav Halak to secure a hard-fought win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The win was the second straight for the Capitals (32-27-10) and moved them within one point of the New York Rangers for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Halak turned aside 27 of 29 shots to post his third victory in five games since coming to Washington from Buffalo in a trade deadline deal for goaltender Michal Neuvirth, while Brouwer sealed the game on an empty-netter with 3.9 seconds left.
With 80 points, the second-place Leafs (36-25-8) remain one point ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Atlantic Division.
JETS 7, STARS 2
The Winnipeg Jets halted a six-game winless slide with a 7-2 triumph over the Dallas Stars.
Dustin Byfuglien scored twice and Blake Wheeler had four assists for the Jets (31-29-9), who got a win for the first time since March 1.
Byfuglien went to the dressing room with about 10 minutes left in the final period, and the Jets later said he suffered a lower-body injury.
Winnipeg moved to within four points of the Stars (32-24-11) and the Phoenix Coyotes for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
CANUCKS 4, PANTHERS 3 SO
Eddie Lack got the better of former goaltender teammate Roberto Luongo, as he made 26 saves to lift the Vancouver Canucks to a shootout win.
Luongo was traded to the Panthers (25-35-8) on March 4 after he spent parts of eight seasons in Vancouver (31-29-10).
He made 29 saves against his former team, but surrendered the lone shootout goal by Nicklas Jensen that proved the difference in the game.
OILERS 2, HURRICANES 1
Defenseman Justin Schultz scored a power-play goal midway through the third period as the Edmonton Oilers capped a successful four-game road trip with a victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.
Edmonton (24-36-9), with the worst road record in the Western Conference entering the game, went 2-1-1 on the trip.
The Hurricanes (29-30-9) had 20 points in January, but have gone 4-10 since to fall out of the Eastern Conference playoff chase.
CANADIENS 2, SABRES 0
Goalie Dustin Tokarski made 29 saves for his first career shutout, leading the Montreal Canadiens to a victory over the Buffalo Sabres.
Tokarski made his seventh career NHL start. The Canadiens’ regular goaltender, Carey Price, got the night off due to a lower-body injury.
Dale Weise and Brad Gallagher scored for Montreal (37-25-7), who won back-to-back games for the first time in more than two weeks.
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