The New York Rangers pulled off a valuable road victory in the opening game of their NHL second-round playoff series at Pittsburgh, beating the Penguins 3-2 in overtime, while Chicago also claimed first blood in their series against Minnesota.
New York’s Derick Brassard scored the winner 3 minutes, 6 seconds into overtime, although it was immediately apparent.
Play continued after Brassard’s goal, with Benoit Pouliot pumping a shot past Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury seconds after Brassard’s shot. A review showed Brassard’s flip from in front beat Fleury cleanly.
Pouliot and Brad Richards gave the Rangers an early 2-0 lead, while goalie Henrik Lundqvist stopped 34 shots including a Pittsburgh breakaway in the final seconds of regulation time.
Lee Stempniak and James Neal scored for the Penguins to force overtime, while Pittsburgh star Sidney Crosby was held without a goal for the 12th straight playoff game.
Chicago won 5-2 at home against Minnesota, with Patrick Kane scoring two goals for the Blackhawks in the third period, including a terrific dash through the Minnesota zone for the tiebreaking score.
Bryan Bickell also scored twice for the Blackhawks, who have won five in a row after losing their first two playoff games. Marian Hossa had a goal and an assist as the defending Stanley Cup champions made the most of two costly high-sticking penalties on Minnesota defenseman Jonas Brodin.
Clayton Stoner and Kyle Brodziak scored in the third period for Minnesota.
The second game of both series will be today.
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
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