Matt Cullen scored for the first time since returning to the Hurricanes, and six others added goals in Carolina's 7-1 rout of the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night.
Cullen, traded back to Carolina during the off-season after one year with the New York Rangers, scored a power-play goal that gave the Hurricanes a 3-1 lead in the second period.
Justin Williams, Cory Stillman, Ray Whitney, Scott Walker, Jeff Hamilton and Eric Staal also scored against goalie Vesa Toskala. Williams, Stillman, Cullen and Rod Brind'Amour each had two assists.
Bryan McCabe scored the only Toronto goal.
Mats Sundin's assist on McCabe's goal was his 916th point with the Maple Leafs, tying him with Darryl Sittler for the National Hockey League club's record.
The thoughts of both teams and the announced crowd of 19,224 were with Maple Leafs forward Jason Blake, who played his first game since going public with the news on Monday that he is battling chronic myelogenous leukemia -- a rare form of the bone marrow disease.
Japan’s Shohei Ohtani is the record-breaking baseball “superhuman” following in the footsteps of the legendary Babe Ruth who has also earned comparisons to US sporting greats Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Not since Ruth a century ago has there been a baseball player capable of both pitching and hitting at the top level. The 30-year-old’s performances with the Los Angeles Dodgers have consolidated his position as a baseball legend in the making, and a national icon in his native Japan. He continues to find new ways to amaze, this year becoming the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Francesco Bagnaia yesterday profited from a mistake by rookie Pedro Acosta to win the Japan MotoGP sprint and close the gap on overall championship leader, Jorge Martin. Spaniard Acosta crashed with four laps to go while leading the field at Motegi, allowing defending world champion Bagnaia to take first ahead of Enea Bastianini and Marc Marquez. Spain’s Martin finished fourth and saw his overall lead over Italian Bagnaia in the championship standings cut to 15 points. “I am very happy because with these conditions, it’s not very easy to win and gain points,” Bagnaia said after a sprint race that took place under
Naomi Osaka is braced for a “battle” after yesterday setting up a clash with Coco Gauff in the round-of-16 of the China Open, while top seed Aryna Sabalenka also marched on. Osaka defeated 60th-ranked American Katie Volynets 6-3, 6-2 and next faces Gauff in a showdown of former US Open champions in Beijing. World No. 2 Sabalenka swatted aside Ashlyn Krueger 6-2, 6-2 for her 14th consecutive victory and plays another American in 24th-ranked Madison Keys. Looking ahead to the Gauff meeting, four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka said: “She’s very athletic, obviously.” “For me, my strongest traits are being aggressive and also my serve,