Nate Thompson scored a short-handed goal to break a scoreless deadlock in the third period, and goalie Joey MacDonald held on after a barrage of shots in the New York Islanders’ 2-1 victory over the New York Rangers on Tuesday.
Just 4:42 after Thompson scored, during a different Rangers power play, Richard Park also netted a short-handed tally — the Islanders’ league-leading sixth — to make it 2-0. The Islanders got out of a frustrated Madison Square Garden with their best win of the season despite being outshot 36-19.
Thompson’s goal was his first NHL point and it gave the Islanders a two-game winning streak following six straight losses (0-5-1), and moved them out of last-place in the league standings (4-7-1).
PHOTO: AP
Markus Naslund wrecked MacDonald’s bid for his first NHL shutout when he scored with 1:41 left.
HURRICANES 5, MAPLE LEAFS 4, OT
At Toronto, Niclas Wallin scored 1:52 into overtime as Carolina blew a three-goal lead before pulling out a victory over Toronto.
Tuomo Ruutu, Dennis Seidenberg, Chad LaRose and Ryan Bayda also had goals for Carolina (7-3-2).
Mikhail Grabovski had two goals and Niklas Hagman and Mike Van Ryn also scored for the Maple Leafs (5-4-4).
SENATORS 2, CAPITALS 1, OT
At Ottawa, Mike Fisher scored his first goal of the season with just under 40 seconds left in overtime to give Ottawa a win over Washington.
Fisher took Daniel Alfredsson’s pass and shot past Brent Johnson into an open left side with 39.9 seconds remaining in the extra period.
Dany Heatley scored his eighth goal of the season early in the second for Ottawa, which improved to 3-0-1 in its last four games.
Tomas Fleischmann drew Washington even at 1 with his fourth goal just 2:13 after Heatley scored.
Alexander Ovechkin returned to the Capitals’ lineup after he missed two games in order to visit his ailing grandfather in Russia.
SHARKS 3, WILD 1
At San Jose, California, Sharks coach Todd McLellan won another game against a former employer when Jamie McGinn and Ryan Clowe scored within 2:14 of each other in the third period in San Jose’s victory over Minnesota.
Mike Grier also scored for the Sharks, who remained unbeaten at home in seven games and own the best record in the NHL at 11-2.
Krystofer Kolanos scored for the Wild, who lost their eighth straight to the Sharks.
McLellan coached the Wild’s minor league American Hockey League team in Houston to the Calder Cup championship in 2003 before joining the Detroit Red Wings, whom the Sharks beat last week at home.
COYOTES 4, FLAMES 2
At Calgary, Alberta, Ed Jovanovski, Derek Morris and Steve Reinprecht scored their first goals of the season to lead Phoenix over Calgary.
Jovanovski broke a 2-2 tie at 11:52 of the second period with a low slap shot from the blue line that trickled in off the glove of goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff.
The goal came on Phoenix’s first power play of the game, and against the Flames’ penalty-killing unit that had killed off 31 of 33 penalties over the previous eight games.
Shane Doan also scored for Phoenix, which snapped a three-game road losing streak.
Daymond Langkow and Dustin Boyd scored for Calgary, which has lost two straight after a six-game winning streak.
CANUCKS 4, PREDATORS 0
At Vancouver, British Columbia, Kyle Wellwood scored twice and Roberto Luongo made 24 saves for his third shutout of the season, lifting Vancouver over Nashville.
Wellwood opened the scoring on the power play midway through the second period, and Mason Raymond doubled the lead with a man-advantage goal of his own 5:36 into the third. Wellwood added his second goal after a pretty deke in tight just 59 seconds later as the Canucks won for the third time in the last four games.
Daniel Sedin added the final goal off a nice touch pass from twin brother Henrik, who had two assists, with 5:03 left in the game.
DUCKS 1, KINGS 0, OT
At Los Angeles, Chris Pronger scored 40 seconds into overtime and Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 35 saves to lift Anaheim over Los Angeles.
Pronger drilled a 45-foot slap shot past Kings goalie Erik Ersberg just after a Ducks power play ended giving Anaheim the victory. It was Giguere’s second shutout of the season and the 31st of his career.
With the win the Ducks have earned 15 of 16 standings points (6-0-1) in their last eight games.
Looking to end a four-game winless streak, the Kings opted to give back-up goalie Ersberg his first start of the season and the 26-year-old Swede responded with a 26-save effort.
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
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
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Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
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