Patric Hornqvist had his first career hat-trick, beating goalie Louis Domingue three times as the Pittsburgh Penguins made quick work of the sinking Arizona Coyotes 6-0 on Monday night.
Chris Kunitz and Kris Letang both had a goal and an assist. Matt Cullen scored his ninth of the season, while Sidney Crosby added three assists as Pittsburgh began a busy week by sending the Coyotes to their sixth straight loss.
Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 30 shots for his fifth shutout of the season and the 43rd of his career.
Domingue made 27 saves, but Arizona were never in it while going winless on a five-game road trip. The Coyotes have dropped eight consecutive games away from home and have not won on opposing ice since Jan. 25.
RANGERS 2, BLUE JACKETS 1
In New York, Derek Stepan’s short-handed goal snapped a tie with 2 minutes, 48 seconds to play, and New York beat Columbus in Eric Staal’s much-anticipated debut.
Mats Zuccarello also scored and Antti Raanta made 26 saves in giving the Rangers their 13th win in 18 games (13-4-1). Henrik Lundqvist’s backup denied Cam Atkinson on the doorstep with less than a second remaining to preserve the victory.
Atkinson scored his 20th goal of the season and Joonas Korpisalo had 22 saves for Columbus, which finished 7-3-3 last month.
Stepan gave the Rangers the lead on a partial breakaway, while Eric’s brother, Marc Staal, was in the penalty box. Eric Staal was acquired on Sunday from Carolina for prospect Aleksi Saarela and two second-round draft picks.
FLYERS 5, FLAMES 3
In Philadelphia, Brayden Schenn had his first career hat-trick, scoring all three goals in the first two periods and leading Philadelphia past Calgary.
Claude Giroux had four assists and Wayne Simmonds scored twice for the Flyers, who have won three straight as they remain in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race. Philadelphia held on after nearly wasting a 4-1 lead to stay three points behind Pittsburgh for the final wild card in the East.
Sean Monahan, Micheal Ferland and Michael Frolik scored for the Flames.
Michael Neuvirth stopped 26 shots and won his 16th game of the season.
RED WINGS 3, STARS 2, OT
In Dallas, Texas, Pavel Datsyuk scored a power-play goal in overtime and Detroit beat Dallas for their third straight victory.
Datsyuk put a rebound past goalie Antti Niemi at 2:33 of overtime while Mattias Janmark was off for hooking. The Red Wings moved into third place in the Atlantic Division, one point ahead of Boston.
Rookie center Andreas Athanasiou scored Detroit’s first two goals, and Jimmy Howard made 39 saves to win for the first time since Dec. 3 last year.
In other NHL action, it was:
‧ Sharks 6, Canadiens 2
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