Frederik Andersen made 29 saves as the Anaheim Ducks used a two-goal second period to beat the struggling New York Islanders 3-2 in the NHL on Saturday to clinch a Western Conference playoff berth.
Rickard Rakell gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead in the first, and Kyle Palmieri and Andrew Cogliano stretched the advantage in the second for Anaheim, who lead the NHL with 103 points.
Lubomir Visnovsky scored a first-period goal, Casey Cizikas cut the deficit to 3-2 with 5 minutes, 36 seconds left, and Michal Neuvirth stopped 21 shots, but fell to 1-5 with the Islanders since being acquired from Buffalo.
The Ducks controlled play for much of the first, but despite the Islanders’ latest slow start, Anaheim had only a 1-1 tie to show for their efforts.
Patrick Maroon was originally credited with the first goal at 8 minutes, 23 seconds after a centering pass by Rakell bounded into the net off the stick of Islanders defenseman Nick Leddy. The Islanders regrouped and tied it with 2 minutes, 52 seconds left in the first when Visnovsky’s drive from the left point caromed past Andersen after it hit the skate of Ducks defenseman Simon Despres.
Anaheim took over in the second, scoring twice on just seven shots and killing all four New York power plays, including a five-on-three advantage that lasted for 1 minute 54 seconds.
Filip Forsberg scored during a three-goal first period and had two assists as the Nashville Predators became the first Western Conference team to clinch a playoff berth with a 4-3 win over the Washington Capitals.
Mattias Ekholm, Mike Fisher and Forsberg scored during a 5-minute span midway through the first period for a 3-0 lead. Mike Ribeiro added a goal with an assist by Forsberg after Washington’s Troy Brouwer scored twice earlier in the second period.
The Predators have won four straight after losing nine of 11.
Washington hold the East’s top wild-card spot, five points ahead of Ottawa and Boston, who were tied for the second and final spot.
At Pittsburgh, Daniel Winnik, Steve Downie and Sidney Crosby scored in a 4-minute, 8 second stretch of the third period to rally the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 3-2 victory over the Arizona Coyotes.
Crosby’s 25th goal stood as the game-winner and he also had two assists to increase his league-leading scoring total to 78 points. Thomas Greiss stopped 22 shots against his former team to help the Penguins end a two-game skid overall, and a three-game winless stretch at home.
Max Pacioretty scored in overtime as the Montreal Canadiens clinched a playoff berth with a 3-2 victory over the Florida Panthers.
Lars Eller and Alex Galchenyuk scored in regulation for the Canadiens, and Carey Price stopped 21 shots.
Milan Lucic scored twice in the first 10 minutes to lead the Boston Bruins to a 4-2 victory over the New York Rangers and Petr Mrazek made 23 saves for his fourth career shutout, as the Detroit Red Wings beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-0.
Matt Irwin and Joe Pavelski scored in regulation, and Brent Burns got the winning goal in the shootout to lead the San Jose Sharks to a 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers.
In other games, the Toronto Maple Leafs had a 4-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens, the Colorado Avalanche kept their slim playoff hopes alive with a 5-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Ottawa Senators 4-3.
The Minnesota Wild thrashed the Los Angeles Kings 4-1 and John Klingberg scored in overtime as the Dallas Stars edged the Vancouver Canucks 4-3.
Taiwanese world No. 1 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei on Saturday overcame a first-set loss to win her opening match at the Madrid Open. Top seeds Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium, with whom she last month won her fourth Indian Wells women’s doubles title, bounced back from a rocky first set to beat Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 2-6, 6-4, 10-2. Hsieh and Mertens were next to face Heather Watson of the UK and Xu Yifan of China in the round of 16. Thirty-eight-year-old Hsieh last month reclaimed her world No. 1 spot after her Indian
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Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event. The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The
Rafael Nadal on Tuesday lost in straight sets to 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round at the Madrid Open, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals in the women’s doubles. Nadal said that he was feeling good about his progress following his latest injury layoff. Nadal called it a “positive week” in every way and said his body held up well. “I was able to play four matches, a couple of tough matches,” Nadal said. “So very positive, winning three matches, playing four matches at the high level of tennis. I enjoyed a lot playing at home. I leave here with