Anaheim and Montreal both won on Friday to take 2-0 leads in their NHL first-round playoff series, while Detroit took first blood at Boston in the opening game of their clash.
Anaheim’s Ryan Getzlaf — wearing a facemask over his lacerated jaw — had a goal and an assist, while Corey Perry scored his first playoff goal in three years as the Ducks beat Dallas 3-2.
Rookie goaltender Frederik Andersen made 34 saves in his second post-season start, and Andrew Cogliano scored a short-handed goal in the third period as the Ducks moved halfway to their first series victory since 2009. Anaheim has won just one post-season round since their only Stanley Cup title in 2007.
Kari Lehtonen stopped 16 shots, while Alex Chiasson and Ryan Garbutt scored for the wild-card Stars, who took two one-goal losses to open their first playoff series since 2008.
Game 3 is tomorrow in Dallas.
CANADIENS 4, LIGHTNING 1
In Tampa, Florida, Rene Bourque had two goals and David Desharnais and Brendan Gallagher also scored, leading the Canadiens to the victory.
Carey Price stopped 26 shots for Montreal, redeeming himself following a less than stellar performance during a 5-4 overtime win in Game 1.
A second-road victory in three nights sends the Canadiens home with a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game 3 is today.
Bourque and Desharnais scored in the second period after defensive breakdowns left Tampa Bay goaltender Anders Lindback in tough situations. Gallagher made it 3-0 with an unassisted goal in the third period.
Price lost his bid for a shutout when Teddy Purcell scored a consolation goal for Tampa Bay with less than two minutes remaining.
RED WINGS 1, BRUINS 0
In Boston, Pavel Datsyuk scored at 16 minutes 59 seconds of the third period, moments after Jimmy Howard’s best save of the game, and the Detroit Red Wings beat the top-seeded Boston Bruins 1-0 in the opener of their Eastern Conference playoff series on Friday night.
The Bruins won the Presidents’ Trophy for the best record in the regular season, but were locked in a tight game in which neither team had many solid scoring opportunities.
The winning goal came when Datsyuk carried the puck from the right side to the left in Boston’s zone and put a 30-footer from near the left circle past goalie Tuukka Rask’s left glove.
Right before Datsyuk’s 37th career playoff goal, Howard made a brilliant save when Jarome Iginla’s shot from the right point was deflected by Milan Lucic in front of the net. Howard knocked the puck aside with his glove.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series, the first playoff matchup between the Original Six teams in 57 years, is set for tonight in Boston.
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
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite