John Tavares broke a tie with his 37th goal of the season early in the third period as the New York Islanders pulled away to beat the reeling Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1 on Friday night.
Tavares defeated Marc-Andre Fleury on a rebound 2 minutes, 46 seconds into the third and Michael Grabner added his eighth of the season with less than four minutes remaining to help the Islanders bolster their playoff position. New York can finish no worse than third in the Metropolitan Division.
Casey Cizikas also scored for the Islanders, and Jaroslav Halak made 37 saves.
Rob Scuderi scored his first goal in more than two years for Pittsburgh, but the Penguins failed to lock down a ninth straight postseason berth. Pittsburgh still have several ways they can make the playoffs, the only certain way coming with a victory in Buffalo.
Pittsburgh have lost five straight and are 3-9-2 in their past 14 games.
The Islanders can move into second place and earn home ice in the opening round of the post-season with a win against Columbus combined with a Washington loss to the New York Rangers.
BLUE JACKETS 4, SABRES 2
In Columbus, Ohio, Cam Atkinson scored on a rebound midway through the third period and Sergei Bobrovsky made 23 saves to lead Columbus past Buffalo, assuring the Sabres the best chance at the No. 1 pick in the NHL draft.
The regulation loss locked up the worst overall record in the league for the Sabres (23-50-8) and the best odds of procuring gifted forward Connor McDavid or Hobey Baker winner Jack Eichel.
The Blue Jackets, who also got goals from Nick Foligno and Matt Calvert and an empty-netter from Boone Jenner, tied franchise records with their sixth consecutive home win and 12th game in a row earning at least a point (11-0-1). Todd Richards also became the Blue Jackets’ leader in coaching victories with 126, one more than Ken Hitchcock.
Brian Gionta had a goal and an assist and Mikhail Grigorenko also scored for the Sabres.
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