Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 25 shots for his fourth shutout of the season as the surging Pittsburgh Penguins beat the New Jersey Devils 2-0 on Tuesday night for their third straight win.
Sidney Crosby got his 17th goal of the year for the Penguins. The two-time MVP has scored in each of Pittsburgh’s past seven home games, the longest home scoring streak of his career.
Phil Kessel added an insurance goal, and the Penguins have won four of five to draw even with the Devils for eighth place in the Eastern Conference heading into the All-Star break.
Photo: AP
Cory Schneider made 29 saves for the Devils, who saw their four-game winning streak snapped. New Jersey went nil-for-four on the power play, managing just one shot on goal during 8 minutes with the man advantage.
PANTHERS 5, MAPLE LEAFS 1
In Sunrise, Florida, Aleksander Barkov and Vincent Trocheck scored power-play goals and Florida rolled into the All-Star break on another good note by topping Toronto.
Reilly Smith and Jussi Jokinen each had a goal and an assist for Florida, who improved to 20-0-1 when scoring at least three times.
Roberto Luongo made 22 saves for Florida, who go into the break atop the Atlantic Division and in second place in the Eastern Conference. Brian Campbell had two assists for the Panthers, who signed Barkov to a six-year contract extension earlier in the day.
Nazem Kadri scored for Toronto, who have lost eight of their past nine games. James Reimer stopped 22 shots for the Maple Leafs.
HURRICANES 5, BLACKHAWKS 0
In Raleigh, North Carolina, Riley Nash scored twice, while Jeff Skinner had a goal and an assist as Carolina routed Chicago in the final game before the All-Star break for each team.
Carolina outshot the reigning Stanley Cup champions 16-5 in the first period, taking a 3-0 lead and chasing goalie Corey Crawford.
Eddie Lack made 26 saves to improve to 4-1 in his career against the Blackhawks. Crawford, replaced by Scott Darling, made 13 saves.
The Hurricanes, 7-2-1 in their past 10 games, completed a season sweep of the Blackhawks, who have lost three of their past four.
Chicago have two wins at Carolina since the 1997-1998 season.
SABRES 3, SENATORS 2
In Ottawa, Canada, standout rookie Jack Eichel scored twice to erase a one-goal deficit and Buffalo came back to beat Ottawa.
Eichel tied it 2-2 with 6 minutes, 12 seconds left in the second period, then got the winner 1:08 into the third to help the Sabres end a three-game slide.
Evander Kane had the other goal for Buffalo, which got 34 saves from Robin Lehner in his first win of the season.
Erik Karlsson and Bobby Ryan scored for the Senators, and Craig Anderson stopped 19-of-22 shots.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau thought he had tied the game in the final moments of the third, but a review showed time had expired.
BLUE JACKETS 5, CANADIENS 2
In Montreal, Brandon Dubinsky and Cam Atkinson each had a goal and an assist to help Columbus beat Montreal and sweep a home-and-home.
Boone Jenner, Scott Hartnell and Brandon Saad also scored for the Blue Jackets. Rookie goaltender Joonas Korpisalo stopped 28 shots and improved to 4-0-1 in his past five starts. The Blue Jackets also beat Montreal 5-2 on Monday night in Columbus.
Devante Smith-Pelly and Alex Galchenyuk scored for Montreal. Ben Scrivens made 21 saves and fell to 0-4 with Montreal.
Montreal lost captain Max Pacioretty to injury midway through the second period after he took a slap shot from P.K. Subban to the left side of his face.
Pacioretty, the team’s leading scorer with 19 goals, did not return in the third.
In other NHL action, it was:
‧ Ducks 6, Bruins 2
‧ Jets 5, Coyotes 2
‧ Predators 2, Canucks 1
‧ Sharks 6, Avalanche 1
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
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB