Anders Lee scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and Jaroslav Halak made 27 saves as the New York Islanders beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-1 on Saturday to sweep a home-and-away series.
Lee’s third goal of the season at 2:38 came on a tip-in of Lubomir Visnovsky’s slap-shot that got past backup goalie Thomas Greiss. Brock Nelson added a power-play goal at 9:47 — his team-leading 10th tally — and Islanders captain John Tavares closed the scoring with his eighth at 15:46.
New York tied Pittsburgh atop the division with 28 points, though the Penguins (13-4-2) have played one less game.
Montreal goaltender Carey Price made 33 saves and Tomas Plekanec had a goal and an assist as the Canadiens blanked the Boston Bruins 2-0.
Andrei Markov added his 100th career goal for the Canadiens, who posted their eighth win in nine games.
In Tampa, Florida, Steven Stamkos scored his 14th goal of the season as the Tampa Bay Lightning edged the Wild 2-1 to end Minnesota’s four-game winning streak.
Alex Killorn scored in his fourth straight game for the Lightning, who had lost two in a row. Zach Parise scored for Minnesota.
The Philadelphia Flyers downed the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-2 after Brayden Schenn, Mark Streit, Wayne Simmonds and Braydon Coburn all scored to end a season-worst, four-game losing streak.
Jakub Voracek and Claude Giroux both had two assists, and Voracek improved his NHL-leading points total to 29. Giroux notched his 400th NHL point with his first assist.
Torrey Mitchell scored the tiebreaking goal and Jhonas Enroth stopped 43 shots as the Buffalo Sabres beat the Washington Capitals 2-1 for their third straight win, Calgary’s Jiri Hudler scored late in regulation then got the deciding goal in the shootout in the Flames’ 5-4 win over New Jersey.
Elsewhere, Antoine Vermette scored in regulation and netted the lone goal of the shootout to help the Arizona Coyotes beat the San Jose Sharks 4-3. The Toronto Maple Leafs downed the Detroit Red Wings 4-1, the St. Louis Blues edged the Ottawa Senators 3-2 and the Nashville Predators beat the Florida Panthers 3-2 in a shootout.
Jamie Benn scored two first-period goals as the Dallas Stars held on to top the Los Angeles Kings 5-4, while in Edmonton, the Chicago Blackhawks crushed the Oilers 7-1, and in Denver, the Avalanche were 4-3 winners over the Carolina Hurricanes.
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