Alex Ovechkin scored twice and Jason Chimera added two goals in the third period to rally the Washington Capitals to a 5-2 victory over the New York Rangers on Sunday.
Ovechkin had a goal in each of the first two periods, and Chimera broke a 2-2 tie nearly five minutes into the third with his first in 21 games. He made it 4-2 with 12 minutes and 20 seconds remaining, and Marcus Johansson added an empty-netter with 2 minutes and 23 seconds left.
Washington have won four of six and beat the Rangers for the first time in three games this season.
The Capitals are in the No. 7 playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, level on points with Detroit at 92.
In other games, the New York Islanders beat Detroit 5-4 for their first home win this month, Boston topped Carolina 2-1 in overtime to strengthen their hold on the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and Anaheim took another step to securing the NHL’s best regular-season record with a 4-2 victory over New Jersey.
The Islanders’ Frans Nielsen scored a goal 16 seconds into the second period to break a 3-3 tie and New York held on to beat the Red Wings.
The Islanders came in winless in their seven previous home games, last winning at Nassau Coliseum over Calgary on Feb. 27, and with only one victory in their last eight contests overall.
New York quickly fell behind 2-0 before the teams went on to score six goals combined in the first 10 minutes of the opening period.
Boston’s David Pastrnak scored on a nice centering pass from Carl Soderberg at 4 minutes, 23 seconds of overtime to secure the win over Carolina.
The win put the Bruins three points ahead of Ottawa and four up on Florida in their race for the final playoff spot in the East.
Ottawa have a game in hand on both of the teams, but fell 4-2 to the Senators at home. Jaromir Jagr scored two goals and Dan Ellis made 25 saves for Florida.
John Gibson made 26 saves and Ryan Kesler and Francois Beauchemin both scored for the Ducks, who won their third straight and opened a three-point lead over Nashville and Montreal in the race for the Presidents’ Trophy.
Anaheim have four games left in the regular season, one less than the Predators and two fewer than the Canadiens.
Elsewhere, Lance Bouma scored two goals to lead Calgary past Nashville 5-2. Playing their third game in four days, the playoff-bound Predators’ four-game winning streak came to an end.
In Pittsburgh, David Perron and Sidney Crosby scored in the shootout as the Penguins beat San Jose 3-2 for their second home win in as many days.
And Chicago’s Jonathan Toews deflected in the winning goal with 31 seconds left in regulation to lead the Blackhawks past Winnipeg 4-3.
US track and field athletes have about four dozen pieces to choose from when assembling their uniforms at the Olympics. The one grabbing the most attention is a high-cut leotard that barely covers the bikini line and has triggered debate between those who think it is sexist and others who say they do not need the Internet to make sure they have good uniforms. Among those critical or laughing at the uniforms included Paralympian Femita Ayanbeku, sprinter Britton Wilson and even athletes from other countries such as Britain’s Abigail Irozuru, who wrote on social media: “Was ANY female athlete consulted in
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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