Ray Whitney and Rod Brind'Amour scored two goals apiece, Cam Ward made 40 saves and the Carolina Hurricanes beat Atlanta again, knocking out Thrashers goalie Kari Lehtonen on the way to a 5-2 victory on Wednesday night.
The Thrashers outshot the Hurricanes 42-18 but were turned away time after time by Ward, the unlikely star of Carolina's run to the Stanley Cup championship last season.
Whitney's second goal gave Carolina a 4-1 lead and prompted Thrashers coach Bob Hartley to yank Lehtonen with 4:51 left in the second period. He stopped only nine of 13 shots.
Johan Hedberg went the rest of the way in the Atlanta nets and was barely tested, facing just five shots while Ward was sprawling all over the ice at the other end.
Marian Hossa had his NHL-leading 11th goal on a power play but could have a much bigger game if not for Ward, who turned aside 15 other shots by Atlanta's top scorer. Hossa, who scored his 500th career point, had nearly as many shots himself as the Hurricanes.
Carolina has won all three meetings between the Southeast Division rivals this season. The first two were much closer, with Carolina winning 4-3 on a goal in the last second of regulation, then prevailing 5-4 in overtime.
Avalanche 5, Blue Jackets 3
At Columbus, Ohio, Jose Theodore made 19 of his 41 saves in the third period to help Colorado hold on.
Wojtek Wolski, Brett McLean, Joe Sakic, Mark Rycroft and Brad Richardson scored for Colorado, which has won five of its last seven. The Avalanche are 18-1-2 overall against Columbus.
Sergei Fedorov, Fredrik Modin and David Vyborny scored for Columbus, which has won once in their last seven behind a struggling offense that entered tied for the league low with 19 goals.
Pascal Leclaire made 17 stops for Columbus.
Maple Leafs 4, Lightning 2
At Tampa, Florida, Ian White scored a tiebreaking power-play goal midway through the third period to help the Maple Leafs get the win.
White picked up a loose puck off a deflected pass by Matt Stajan and scored from in close to give Toronto a 3-2 lead with 8:17 left. He hadn't scored a goal in 22 games.
Hal Gill got the Maple Leafs even at 2 at 1:51 of the third. The goal snapped a 26-game scoring drought and gave him 100 career points. Alexei Ponikarovsky had an empty-net goal with 1:20 to play.
Tomas Kaberle scored his fifth goal in three games for Toronto.
Brad Richards and Vincent Lecavalier had the Lightning goals. Lecavalier has scored a goal in five straight games.
Red Wings 3, Flames 2
At Detroit, Johan Franzen and Tomas Holmstrom scored 79 seconds apart in the first period for the Red Wings.
Dominik Hasek made 13 saves and Brett Lebda also scored for Detroit, which won its fourth straight.
Dion Phaneuf and Andrew Ference got the goals for Calgary, which lost its third in a row. Miikka Kiprusoff stopped 31 shots for the Flames.
Holmstrom has three goals and two assists in his last three games.
Stars 4, Blues 1
At Dallas, Eric Lindros scored two goals, Mike Modano added a goal and an assist and the Stars beat St. Louis to get off to the best start in franchise history.
Marty Turco stopped 23 shots and Jussi Jokinen had a goal and an assist for Dallas (10-2). The Stars' previous best 12-game mark was 9-2-1 in 1996-97 and 1982-83.
With the game tied at 1, Modano scored at 7:13 of the second period, skating hard to the net and converting Jokinen's centering pass for his eighth goal of the season and 493rd of his career.
Keith Tkachuk scored and Curtis Sanford stopped 27 shots for the Blues (3-5-3).
IN-HOUSE BUSINESS: LA Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said that the reason for the team’s poor form was not due to Paul, but the player was not a good fit for them Chris Paul’s return stint with the Los Angeles Clippers has come to an abrupt and stunning end, with the franchise parting ways with one of its greatest players in a late-night meeting on Wednesday that adds another layer of drama to the team’s terrible start this season. The news was delivered in a meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, that ended at about 2am, Clippers basketball operations president Lawrence Frank said. Frank said he made the decision to sever ties with Paul on Sunday then told the franchise’s career assist leader that he needed to see him on Tuesday in Atlanta. Frank did not confirm
Kylian Mbappe on Wednesday scored twice and had an assist as Real Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao 3-0 to end a three-match winless streak in La Liga. Eduardo Camavinga also found the net for Madrid as they moved back within one point of Barcelona, who beat Atletico Madrid 3-1 on Tuesday. Both 19th-round matches were moved forward because Real Madrid, Barcelona, Athletic Club and Atletico Madrid are to play in the Supercopa de Espana semi-finals in Saudi Arabia next month. Real Madrid were coming off league draws against Girona, Elche and Rayo Vallecano. It was their second win in their past six matches in
SEESAW CONTEST: The Pistons remain top of the Eastern Conference after battling to a win over the Hawks in a game that saw the lead change 27 times The Phoenix Suns on Monday shrugged off an injury to Devin Booker to end the Los Angeles Lakers’ seven-game winning streak with an emphatic 125-108 victory on the road. Booker exited in the first quarter, but the loss of the star point guard did little to halt the flow of Phoenix points over the remainder of the game. Dillon Brooks led the Phoenix scoring with 33 points, while Collin Gillespie added 28 — including eight three-pointers — as the Suns romped to victory. The Lakers were left ruing a colossal 22 turnovers — at a cost of 32 Suns points — on a
PINA BRACE: Claudia Pina scored in the 61st and 74th minutes, while Vicky Lopez added one as Spain notched their third victory in a final in the past four tournaments Claudia Pina scored twice and Germany crumbled on Tuesday as Spain retained the UEFA Women’s Nations League title with a 3-0 victory in the final’s second leg. Vicky Lopez also scored after Pina finally broke the deadlock in the 61st minute with Germany stubbornly hanging on as Spain had done in the first leg, a 0-0 draw in Kaiserslautern on Friday. Spain were without three-time Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmati, who broke her leg in training on Sunday. Lopez took Bonmati’s place and Spain dominated from the start. Esther Gonzalez swept the ball just past the post and Mariona Caldentey forced a save
RSS