In St Louis and Colorado took 2-0 leads in their NHL first-round playoff series with wins on Saturday, while Columbus won a post-season game for the first time in franchise history as they squared their series against Pittsburgh.
St Louis notched their second-straight 4-3 overtime win over Chicago to leave the Blackhawks with an uphill task of successfully defending the Stanley Cup.
Colorado teenager Nathan McKinnon was irrepressible as the Avalanche won 4-2 at home against Minnesota to also take a strong grip on a passage to the next round.
Columbus’ Matt Calvert scored the winning goal in double overtime to clinch the historic victory for the Blue Jackets.
St Louis defenseman Barret Jackman scored on a drive through traffic to seal victory over Chicago.
The Blues rallied after Chicago defenseman Brent Seabrook received a five-minute major and game misconduct penalty for a vicious elbow to the head of David Backes, who had to be helped off the ice, went straight to the locker room and did not return for the extra period.
Vladimir Tarasenko forced overtime with his second goal of the series, beating Corey Crawford with a wrist shot that banged off the right post and in with 6.4 seconds to go. Kevin Shattenkirk had a goal and two assists for the Blues.
Duncan Keith, Seabrook and Michael Rozsival scored in a span of five shots to put the Blackhawks up 3-2 early in the third. However, Seabrook’s penalty proved costly, and he could be suspended for Game 3 in Chicago today.
Colorado’s Gabriel Landeskog scored twice, while Semyon Varlamov stopped 30 shots to help the Avalanche beat Minnesota 4-2.
The Wild were unable to contain the quickness of MacKinnon, who had a goal and three assists.
Paul Stastny, the star of Game 1, also had a goal and three assists and his empty-netter sealed the win after Minnesota’s Marco Scandella had made it 3-2 with 1 minute, 19 seconds remaining.
Charlie Coyle also scored early for the Wild.
Minnesota’s starting goalie Ilya Bryzgalov was replaced in the second period by Darcy Kuemper, who stopped all 14 shots he faced, giving the Wild a selection dilemma for the games ahead.
Columbus’ Calvert banged home a rebound 1:10 into the second overtime to secure the 4-3 win over Pittsburgh and a squared series.
Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury blocked the initial shot by Cam Atkinson, but Calvert stood all alone at the left post and wristed a shot into the open net.
Jack Johnson had tied the game with 6:01 left in regulation for the Blue Jackets. Ryan Johansen also scored the first playoff goal of his career for Columbus.
Pittsburgh’s Brian Gibbons scored twice and Matt Niskanen added his second goal of the playoffs, but the Penguins were outplayed for much of the final three-plus periods.
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