The NHL regular season came to an end on Sunday, with the Anaheim Ducks beating other divisional leaders the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 in overtime to complete their best campaign in franchise history.
Among other results on the final day, New Jersey beat Eastern Conference leaders the Boston Bruins in what may well have been the last game in Devils colors for veteran goaltender Martin Brodeur, the Detroit Red Wings tuned up for the playoffs with a win against the sliding St Louis Blues and the Ottawa Senators showed what might have been by downing the playoff-bound Pittsburgh Penguins.
Anaheim’s Nick Bonino scored 1 minute, 33 seconds into overtime to give the Western Conference-leading Ducks a fitting climax to the regular season ahead of a first-round playoff series against the Dallas Stars.
Patrick Maroon and Saku Koivu scored 3:13 apart to tie the game early in the third period for the Ducks, who used the game to honor Teemu Selanne, who plans to retire after the season. The 43-year-old Finnish Flash got standing ovations on every shift in the third period in Anaheim, his home for 15 of his 21 NHL seasons.
Brad Malone and Stefan Elliott scored for the Avalanche, who play the Minnesota Wild in the first round of the playoffs.
New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur made 16 saves in the Devils’ 3-2 win over a second-string Boston.
Defenseman Marek Zidlicky scored twice and Travis Zajac had a goal for the Devils, who have now missed the playoffs two straight seasons.
Loui Eriksson scored for Boston, who rested eight starters in preparation for the playoffs, including Zdeno Chara and No. 1 goalie Tuukka Rask.
New Jersey’s Jaromir Jagr had two assists, giving him 1,050 and moving him past Gordie Howe for eighth on the NHL career list.
Detroit’s backup goalie Petr Mrazek kept injury-riddled St Louis down heading into the playoffs with his second career shutout, giving the Red Wings a 3-0 win.
Justin Abdelkader scored twice and Riley Sheahan added a goal for the Red Wings, who earned the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference and face the Boston Bruins in the playoffs.
Ottawa ended their frustrating season with a fifth consecutive win, beating Pittsburgh 3-2 after a shootout.
Jason Spezza and Kyle Turris scored in the tiebreaker for the Senators, while Turris and Mark Stone netted in regulation for Ottawa, who miss the playoffs for the first time in three years.
Jussi Jokinen and Lee Stempniak scored for the Penguins, who rested captain Sidney Crosby and several others ahead of the playoff series against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The Tampa Bay Lightning wrapped up home-ice advantage for their first-round playoff series against the Montreal Canadiens by edging the Washington Capitals 1-0 after a shootout.
Matthew Carle scored the only goal in the tiebreaker. The victory clinched second place in the Atlantic Division for Tampa Bay.
The Nashville Predators finished their season on a high by beating the playoff-bound Minnesota Wild 7-3, with Craig Smith having two goals and two assists.
The Phoenix Coyotes had the satisfaction of at least ending a seven-game skid in their last game, beating the Dallas Stars 2-1, with Dave Moss scoring the late winner.
Carolina’s Eric Staal scored twice in regulation and had the only goal in the shootout to lead the Hurricanes to a 6-5 win over the Philadelphia Flyers.
Vancouver beat the Calgary Flames 5-1 in a game of little significance overshadowed by a heavy hit on the Canucks’ Daniel Sedin, who was taken to hospital, while aggressor Paul Byron was ejected.
New York’s Brock Nelson scored with 3:44 left in regulation to force overtime and then netted the decisive shootout goal to give the Islanders a 4-3 win over the hapless Buffalo Sabres.
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