Joffrey Lupul netted a rebound during a power play 6:06 into overtime in Game 7 to lift the Philadelphia Flyers past Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals 3-2 on Tuesday to reach the conference semifinals.
The Flyers led the best-of-seven series Eastern Conference first-round series 3-1 before allowing the Capitals to pull even.
Lupul found space in front of the net to get a backhander past Cristobal Huet for his first postseason goal after Washington’s goalie had deflected Kimmo Timonen’s shot.
PHOTO: AP
There were 9 seconds left in the Flyers’ man advantage after defenseman Tom Poti was sent off for tripping — the first penalty since the second period in a rough-and-tumble game that suited Philadelphia’s style.
The Flyers avoided what would have been a monumental collapse and won a playoff series for the first time since before the lockout: In 2004, they reached the Eastern Conference finals.
Now Philadelphia, which had the worst record in franchise history last season and the fewest points in the NHL, will play the top-seeded Montreal Canadiens in the conference semifinals.
Washington, meanwhile, dropped to 1-5 in Game 7 and is still waiting for its first playoff series victory since 1998, when it made it to the Stanley Cup finals.
The Capitals will have to take solace in getting to the postseason for the first time since 2003, managing a remarkable turnaround under career minor league coach Bruce Boudreau, who took over for the fired Glen Hanlon on Thanksgiving with the team 6-14-1 and last in the 30-team NHL.
San Jose 5, Calgary 3
At San Jose, California, veteran San Jose center Jeremy Roenick had two goals and two assists, including the tying and go-ahead scores midway through the Sharks’ four-goal second period, in a victory over the Calgary Flames in Game 7 of their first-round playoff series.
Evgeni Nabokov made 19 saves for second-seeded San Jose in front of a deafening crowd at the first Game 7 in Shark Tank history.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
Inter’s defense of their Italian Serie A title was hit with a setback on Sunday as they lost 1-0 at home to AS Roma, while Scott McTominay netted a brace as SSC Napoli beat Torino 2-0 to go top of the table. No fixtures were played on Friday or Saturday because of the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome, meaning the full round of Serie A matches took place on Sunday and yesterday. Matias Soule’s first-half strike for Roma knocked Inter off top spot earlier in the day before new Napoli opened up a three-point buffer with victory in Sunday’s
Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa yesterday set a women’s only world record of 2 hours, 15 minutes, 50 seconds as she won the London Marathon, while Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe put a star-studded men’s field to the sword. For 28-year-old Assefa it was ample compensation for finishing runner-up in London and the Paris Olympics last year — especially as bitter Dutch rival, the Ethiopia-born Sifan Hassan, finished third. Assefa dropped Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei as the race, played out in blazing sunshine and with thousands lining the route, entered its business end. She came home almost three minutes clear of the Kenyan. Hassan, who beat her in
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