Phil Kessel scored twice as the surging Pittsburgh Penguins moved within striking distance of a 10th straight playoff berth with a 5-2 win over the Nashville Predators on Thursday.
Kris Letang, Patric Hornqvist and Nick Bonino also scored for Pittsburgh, who improved to 10-1 in their past 11 games. The Penguins would clinch a spot in the post-season should Detroit have lost in regulation yesterday against Minnesota.
Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 22 shots to reach the 35-win plateau for the seventh time in his career.
Photo: AP
James Neal and Ryan Johansen each had a goal and an assist for the Predators, who failed for a third straight game to wrap up a playoff bid.
Pekka Rinne stopped 25 shots, before sitting out the third period in favor of backup Carter Hutton.
PANTHERS 3, DEVILS 2
In Sunrise, Florida, Jonathan Huberdeau scored twice to move Florida back into first place in the Atlantic Division with a win over New Jersey.
Jaromir Jagr had a pair of assists and Al Montoya made 23 saves for Florida, who broke a tie with Tampa Bay for the division lead after the Lightning lost to the Montreal Canadiens.
Mike Sislo and Blake Pietila scored for New Jersey, while Keith Kinkaid made 36 saves.
Huberdeau scored his second goal by skating in along the goal-line left of Kinkaid and banking in a close shot for his 18th of the season at 3 minutes, 13 seconds of the third period.
Jagr’s assist on the play gave him 60 points this season, marking the 18th time he has accomplished the feat.
CANADIENS 3, LIGHTNING 0
In Tampa, Florida, Rookie Mike Condon made 26 saves for his first NHL shutout as Montreal beat Tampa Bay.
David Desharnais, Torrey Mitchell and Phillip Danault scored.
Condon stopped Ondrej Palat’s penalty with 11:08 left in the second period. He also made a save on Nikita Kucherov’s in-close backhander during a power play late in the period.
STARS 4, COYOTES 1
In Dallas, Jamie Benn scored his 40th goal and Antti Niemi made 31 saves as Dallas beat Arizona to move two points ahead in the Western Conference race.
Dallas (103 points) pulled away from second-placed St Louis (101). The Stars have four games remaining and the Blues have five.
The loss eliminated the Coyotes from playoff contention.
Arizona’s Martin Hanzal scored the game’s first goal 17:07 into the first period, but Dallas tied it less than a minute later on Patrick Eaves’ 10th goal of the season.
The Stars’ Radek Faksa scored 11 seconds into the second period. Benn’s goal came 10 minutes later, while Patrick Sharp added a power-play goal into an empty net with 1:11 to play.
KINGS 3, FLAMES 0
In Los Angeles, Jeff Carter scored twice and Jonathan Quick made 21 saves in his fifth shutout of the season as Los Angeles reclaimed the Pacific Division lead with a win over Calgary.
The Kings moved a point ahead of the idle Anaheim Ducks with their 46th win, tying the franchise record set in their Stanley Cup-winning 2013-2014 campaign.
Quick earned his 42nd career shutout, extending his own NHL record for US-born goalies. He also earned his 39th win of the season to match the franchise single-season record, which he set in 2009-2010.
Joni Ortio stopped 26 shots for the Flames, who have allowed 134 goals on the road, tied with Ottawa for the worst record in the league.
Thursday’s other results:
‧ Hurricanes 4, Rangers 3
‧ Canucks 4, Sharks 2
‧ Islanders 4, Blue Jackets 3
‧ Senators 3, Wild 2
‧ Sabres 4, Maple Leafs 1
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