Bryan McCabe and Rostislav Olesz each had a goal and an assist and Tomas Vokoun made 41 saves to lead the Florida Panthers to a 4-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday night.
David Booth and Ville Peltonen also scored and Jay Bouwmeester had two assists to help the Panthers move into a tie with the idle New York Rangers for eighth place in the Eastern Conference.
Florida, vying for its first playoff berth since 2000, has 89 points with three games remaining. The Rangers, who lost 1-0 to Boston on Saturday, hold the edge over Florida because they have one more victory.
PHOTO: AP
Pascal Dupuis and Mark Eaton scored for the Penguins, who needed a victory to clinch a playoff spot. Sidney Crosby traded punches with a Florida player for the second time this season after Panthers defenseman Keith Ballard upended Evgeni Malkin with a low check late in first period. Crosby, who fought Brett McLean during a Jan. 3 game, received a minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct and a major for fighting.
BLACKHAWKS 1, BLUE JACKETS 0, OT
At Colombus, Ohio, Kris Versteeg beat fellow rookie star Steve Mason on a breakaway at 3:10 of overtime to give Chicago the victory.
Versteeg ended it with his 22nd goal of the season moments after Chicago’s Nikolai Khabibulin stopped Kris Russell’s breakaway.
Khabibulin made 20 saves for his second shutout of the season. Mason stopped 24 shots for the Blue Jackets.
A day after clinching a playoff spot for the first time in seven years, the Blackhawks ran their winning streak to three and snapped a season-high five-game road losing streak.
CAPITALS 6, THRASHERS 4
At Washington, Tomas Fleischmann had a goal and an assist for his first multipoint game in nearly two months as Washington moved into sole possession of second place in the Eastern Conference.
Alexander Semin, Keith Aucoin, Michael Nylander, Eric Fehr and Brooks Laich also scored for the Capitals, two points ahead of New Jersey. Ilya Kovalchuk scored his 42nd goal for Atlanta, and Colby Armstrong, Jim Slater and Slava Kozlov also scored.
RED WINGS 3, WILD 2
At Detroit, Michigan, Marian Hossa scored with 55 seconds left and Chris Osgood made 20 saves to help Detroit snap a three-game losing streak. Pavel Datsyuk added a goal and an assist and Jiri Hudler also scored.
Cal Clutterbuck had a goal and an assist and Marian Gaborik added a goal for Minnesota.
SHARKS 3, DUCKS 2
At Anaheim, California, Joe Pavelski and Jonathan Cheechoo scored the tying and go-ahead goals on power plays as San Jose beat Anaheim.
In the other game it was:
• Avalanche 4, Canucks 1
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
Dubbed a “motorway for cyclists” where avid amateurs can chase Tadej Pogacar up mountains teeming with the highest concentration of professional cyclists per square kilometer in the world, Spain’s Costa Blanca has forged a new reputation for itself in the past few years. Long known as the ideal summer destination for those in search of sun, sea and sand, the stretch of coast between Valencia and Alicante now has a winter vocation too. During the season break in December and January, the region experiences an invasion of cyclists. Star names such as three-time Tour de France winner Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Julian Alaphilippe
AGING WELL: Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen, 22, was sent packing after being dispatched by world No. 97, Laura Siegemund, the second-oldest player in the draw at 36 Novak Djokovic yesterday created a slice of Grand Slam history on his way into the Australian Open third round, but last year’s women’s finalist Zheng Qinwen was knocked out in the biggest shock so far. Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka, in-form Coco Gauff, two-time Melbourne winner Naomi Osaka and a rampant Carlos Alcaraz were all victors on a rainy day four. Play was suspended on the outside courts for a couple of hours in the early evening because of the wet weather. That led to the rescheduling of a women’s doubles match between wild-cards Tsao Chia-yi of Taiwan and Thailand’s Peangtarn Plipuech and 11th
RSS