Mike Modano’s third-period goal snapped a tie and lifted the slumping Dallas Stars to a 2-1 victory over the New York Rangers on Monday in the return to Madison Square Garden of noted pest Sean Avery.
Avery heard boos from the crowd that mostly adored him during his one-and-a-half seasons with the Rangers, cheers when he was leveled twice in the third period, and mocking chants of his name when he picked himself off the ice following a hit by Dan Girardi.
Modano made it all worth it for the Stars, who had allowed an NHL-high 23 goals in starting the season 1-3-1.
PHOTO: AP
PENGUINS 2, BRUINS 1, SO
At Boston, Evgeni Malkin scored in the second extra round of the shootout to lift Pittsburgh over Boston in the Bruins’ home-opener.
Phil Kessel scored on Boston’s first shootout attempt before Petr Sykora tied it on the Penguins’ second shot. Malkin beat goaltender Tim Thomas with a forehand shot inside the left post, and Pittsburgh goalie Dany Sabourin stopped Boston’s Marc Savard’s wrist shot, ending the contest.
It was the Penguins’ fourth overtime game (3-1) in their seven contests this season.
CANADIENS 3, PANTHERS 1
At Montreal, Francis Bouillon scored 10:53 into the third period in his season debut and the Canadiens extended their winning streak to five games with a victory over Florida.
Bouillon, who was sidelined by a leg injury in Montreal’s first five games of the season, restored the Canadiens’ one-goal lead when he drove a slap shot from the left point past Tomas Vokoun for an unassisted goal.
Saku Koivu recorded his 600th career point when he scored for a third straight game in the second period. Tomas Plekanec scored into an empty net with 21.1 seconds remaining.
Jaroslav Halak stopped 35 shots in his second start of the season, losing a shutout bid on Keith Ballard’s tying goal 7:20 into the third. The 23-year-old Slovak allowed one goal in a 6-1 win in Toronto on Oct. 11 that launched Montreal’s current streak.
AVALANCHE 4, KINGS 3
At Los Angeles, Ryan Smyth had two goals and Milan Hejduk extended his season-opening goal streak to six games, leading Colorado over Los Angeles.
David Jones scored his first of the season for the Avalanche, who have gotten goals from a league-high 15 different players through the first week-and-a-half of the season.
Paul Stastny had two assists, giving the Smyth-Stastny-Hejduk line a combined total of 11 goals and 24 points.
Peter Budaj made 26 saves for his first victory this season, after coming in 0-3 with a 4.38 goals-against average and a save percentage of .824.
Oscar Moller and defenseman Drew Doughty each scored their first NHL goals for the Kings. Moller also assisted on a goal by Patrick O’Sullivan.
Former European champions Celtic exited the UEFA Champions League in the qualifiers after a 3-2 penalty shoot-out defeat at Kazakhstan’s Kairat Almaty on Tuesday, following two goalless legs in the playoff tie. Kairat are to compete in the competition proper for the first time, while Norway’s Bodo/Glimt and Cyprus’s Pafos also secured debut appearances after coming through the playoffs. Celtic’s night ended in disappointment as they missed three penalties in the shoot-out, Daizen Maeda failing with the decisive spot-kick. The slugfest of a match went into extra-time with neither side finding the net and few overall chances, echoing the first
Rangers on Wednesday bowed out of the UEFA Champions League playoffs with a humiliating 6-0 defeat at the hands of Club Brugge which piles further pressure on head coach Russell Martin, while SL Benfica secured a place in the competition proper at the expense of Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce. The Glasgow giants traveled to Belgium right up against it after losing 3-1 at home in last week’s first leg, when they conceded three times in the opening 20 minutes. They never looked like turning the tie around as Club Brugge took the lead inside five minutes at the Jan Breydelstadion through Nicolo Tresoldi
Noah Lyles on Thursday warmed up for the upcoming athletics world championships by chasing down Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo to win the 200m at the Diamond League final. Lyles trailed Tebogo at the start, but gradually erased the deficit over the final 100m and pipped the Botswana sprinter to the line by centimeters. Lyles, the Olympic 100m champion and reigning world champion in both the 100m and 200m, clocked 19.74 seconds in a slight headwind. Tebogo was 0.02 seconds behind. It was Lyles’ sixth Diamond League title, a record for track athletes. “Six, that’s a big number,” Lyles said. “Shoot, that’s another record on
Mitch Brown finally had enough as he watched unfolding coverage of yet another case of homophobic abuse in the Australian Football League (AFL), and decided it was time to change the narrative. Brown contacted the Daily Aus with a message that the online news site published yesterday: “I played in the AFL for 10 years for the West Coast Eagles, and I’m a bisexual man.” In almost 130 years of top-flight competition in Australia’s homegrown football code, no past or active male player had publicly identified as bisexual or gay. Aussie Rules was a long way behind other types of
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