Nick Bonino had a goal and an assist, as Viktor Arvidsson, Roman Josi and Ryan Ellis also scored, to lead the Nashville Predators to a 4-1 win over hosts the Colorado Avalanche on Monday.
Pekka Rinne stopped 35 shots for the Predators, who ended a two-game losing streak and gave coach Peter Laviolette his 600th career victory.
Alexander Kerfoot scored a goal, while Semyon Varlamov made 23 saves for the Avalanche.
Colorado, who are 3-9-2 in their past 14 games, played without Erik Johnson. The Avalanche’s top defenseman went into the concussion protocol after being hit in the jaw with the puck in the first period of a Saturday win against the Los Angeles Kings.
Wild 4, Golden Knights 2
Charlie Coyle scored the winning goal with 5 minutes, 31 seconds remaining and Devan Dubnyk made 30 saves to help the Minnesota Wild hand hosts the Vegas Golden Knights a rare defeat.
Mikko Koivu scored his 200th career goal, while Eric Staal and Marcus Foligno also scored for the Wild, who leapfrogged Dallas and Colorado into third place in the Central Division with their third win in four games. Minnesota also improved to 4-0-1 in five all-time games against the Golden Knights.
Max Pacioretty and Alex Tuch scored goals for Vegas, who lost for just the second time in regulation play in their past 15 home games (11-2-2). Colin Miller added two assists, and Marc-Andre Fleury, making his NHL-leading 44th start, stopped 18 shots.
Panthers 6, Sharks 2
Frank Vatrano recorded his first four-point game, and hosts the Florida Panthers broke a third-period tie with three quick goals in a victory over the San Jose Sharks.
Vatrano had a goal and a career-high three assists, while Aaron Ekblad, Mike Matheson, Keith Yandle, Vincent Trocheck and Nick Bjugstad also scored for Florida. Aleksander Barkov had three assists and Evgenii Dadonov added two.
Roberto Luongo stopped 27 shots for the Panthers, who enter the All-Star break on a three-game winning streak.
Timo Meier had a goal and an assist, while Logan Couture also scored for the Sharks, who lost their third straight.
San Jose played the Capitals in Washington yesterday before entering the All-Star break.
Kings 4, Blues 3
Anze Kopitar and Tyler Toffoli each had a goal and an assist for hosts the Los Angeles Kings in a win over the St Louis Blues.
Brendan Leipsic had two assists, while Drew Doughty and Paul LaDue also scored. Jonathan Quick made 33 saves on his 33rd birthday.
Mackenzie MacEachern scored his first NHL goal for the Blues. Oskar Sundqvist and Ryan O’Reilly also scored, while Ivan Barbashev had two assists. Jordan Binnington made 25 saves for St Louis.
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
Former US Masters champion Zach Johnson was left embarrassed after a foul-mouthed response to ironic cheers from spectators after a triple bogey at Augusta National on Friday. Johnson, the 2007 Masters winner, missed the cut after his three-over-par round of 75 left him on seven-over 151 for 36 holes, his six on the par-three 12th playing a big role in his downfall. Television footage showed Johnson reacting to sarcastic cheers and applause when he tapped in for the triple bogey by yelling: “Oh fuck off.” Such a response would be considered bad form in any golf tournament, but is particularly out of keeping
Taiwan’s Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan on Saturday won the men’s doubles bronze medal at the Badminton Asia Championships in Ningbo, China, after they were bested by the hosts in their semi-final. The Taiwanese shuttlers lost to China’s Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, who advanced to yesterday’s final against Malaysia’s Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzudin. The Chinese pair outplayed Lee and Yang in straight games. Although the Taiwanese got off to a slow start in the first game, they eventually tied it 14-14, before Liang and Wang went on to blow past them to win 21-17. In the second game, Lee and