Swedish winger Patric Hornqvist scored twice in the second period to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 5-2 win in Anaheim on Friday, preventing the Ducks from extending their lead atop the NHL standings.
The victory moved the Penguins to equal fifth in the Eastern Conference standings with Detroit, who also suffered a 5-2 defeat on home ice, beaten by Calgary.
Pittsburgh also got goals from Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby and Blake Comeau — the Penguins are 6-0 in games in which both Malkin and Crosby scored — while goaltender Thomas Greiss made 27 saves to help the team win for the fifth time in six games.
Tomas Fleischmann and Corey Perry scored third-period goals for the Ducks, who had won seven of their previous eight games.
Calgary came back from a two-goal deficit to win 5-2 in Detroit, with Jiri Hudler scoring twice against his former team.
Sean Monahan, Matt Stajan and Mason Raymond also scored for the Flames, who rallied after Detroit’s Justin Abdelkader scored the game’s first two goals.
Calgary moved into a tie with Vancouver for second place in the Pacific Division, in which four teams are scrambling for spots in the post-season behind Anaheim. The Flames have one game remaining on a seven-game road trip — they have won four already.
Detroit’s three-game winning streak was snapped, although the Red Wings outshot the Flames 35-24.
Minnesota extended their winning run to five games with a 3-1 victory against Carolina.
Mikael Granlund and Zach Parise scored in a two-minute span of the third period, while Charlie Coyle also scored for the Wild, who have won six straight road games.
Minnesota are the form team of the NHL since the All-Star break, with a 16-2-1 record.
Riley Nash broke a scoring slump by producing the tying goal in the second period for the Hurricanes.
Chicago’s new recruit Antoine Vermette scored the lone goal of the shootout in the third round to give the Blackhawks a 2-1 win against Edmonton.
An injury-riddled Columbus ended a seven-game losing skid with a 3-2 victory against New Jersey, with Brandon Dubinsky contributing a goal and an assist in his return to the lineup after a concussion.
Ottawa’s Mika Zibanejad and Mark Stone scored in quick succession early in the third period to lift the Senators to a 3-2 win against Buffalo.
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