Tuukka Rask was impenetrable when it counted in Game 6 and the Boston Bruins are on their way to the Eastern Conference finals.
Rask on Monday made 39 saves and recorded his sixth career playoff shutout as Boston beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-0 to clinch their semi-final series 4-2.
Rask was supported by great defensive play in front of the net by the Bruins, who were outshot 39-29 in a tight physical game that has been the norm in the series.
Photo: AFP
Boston advance to face the Carolina Hurricanes, who swept the New York Islanders in four games.
The Bruins advanced to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since the 2012-2013 season, when they lost in the Stanley Cup Final.
“[Rask] was definitely our most consistent player throughout the whole series,” Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said. “We had guys give us good performances from game to game. He was there every night.”
Boston’s top-liners were kept off the score sheet again, but it did not matter.
David Krejci scored in the first period, before Marcus Johansson and David Backes had third-period goals for the Bruins, who gave up four power plays to the Blue Jackets, but Rask stonewalled Columbus on a number of high-danger chances.
Columbus hit the post at least four times.
“We peppered him,” Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno said. “It wasn’t through lack of trying or competing on anyone’s part. I thought everyone brought it, and it’s just disappointing.”
Rask said he put up with increased pushing and shoving in the crease, and kept Columbus from taking him out of his game.
“As the series went on, they kind of felt like they needed to do that,” Rask said. “Trying to get in my head a little bit. It’s funny when that happens because you know you got the better of them at that point.”
Columbus goalie Sergei Bobrovsky had an outstanding post-season, but allowed the two quick goals in the third period that sealed it for Boston. He finished with 26 saves.
In Denver, Colorado, Gabriel Landeskog scored 2:32 into overtime after Colorado squandered a late lead in regulation as the Avalanche beat the San Jose Sharks 4-3 to force a decisive Game 7 in their Western Conference semi-final series.
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
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
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier