The Minnesota Wild trampled Nashville 8-4 on Friday to eliminate the Predators from play-off contention, but it was not enough to keep their own hopes alive.
The Anaheim Ducks’ 4-3 shootout victory over the Dallas Stars knocked out Minnesota despite the Wild exploding for season-high eight goals.
“The difference to me was the whole year we were looking for scoring and we lost some key men that really hurt us,” Wild coach Jacques Lemaire told reporters. “I wish we had more games like this. It was one of the best games we played all year. I think the guys will remember this.”
PHOTO: AP
Marc-Andre Bergeron scored twice for the Wild, who pulled within one point of Anaheim before the Ducks completed their clinching win.
Minnesota blitzed Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne, who allowed six goals before Minnesota added two empty-netters in the final two minutes.
Jason Arnott scored two goals for the Predators to set a team single-season record with 33 goals.
Shea Weber and Steve Sullivan scored goals in the third period to pull the Predators within 6-4 before Cal Clutterbuck and Marek Zidlicky added the finishing touches for Minnesota.
“This group can walk out of here proud,” Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. “They never gave up. Obviously we didn’t get the result we wanted tonight.”
Dan Fritsche, Andrew Brunette, Kim Johnsson and Mikko Koivu also added scores for the Wild, who took a commanding 4-1 advantage in the second.
“I think we’ve been scoring pretty much all year but it was great to see guys get goals because they’ve been working hard every day,” said goalie Niklas Backstrom, who finished with 31 saves.
OILERS 5, FLAMES 1
At Edmonton, Canada, the home team beat Calgary 5-1 to deliver the No. 4 seed in the NHL’s Western Conference playoffs to Chicago.
Shawn Horcoff and Sheldon Souray each had a goal and two assists for the Oilers, eliminated from playoff contention on Tuesday.
The Flames are two points behind Vancouver for the Northwest Division lead. Calgary outfitted only 15 skaters because of a injuries.
BLUES 3, BLUE JACKETS 1
At St Louis, the hosts clinched their first playoff berth in four seasons by downing Columbus.
Keith Tkachuk scored twice for the first time since opening night and added an assist. The 37-year-old enjoyed a season-best three-point night.
DUCKS 4, STARS 3, SO
At Anaheim, California, the home squad edged Dallas in a shootout to wrap up a playoff spot.
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
Former Formosa Dreamers player Ilkan Karaman was killed in a traffic accident in Datca, Turkey, Turkish media reported yesterday. He was 34. The former Turkish national team player was reportedly hit by a car, the driver of which was allegedly drunk, while he was standing on a sidewalk, Turkish newspaper Sozcu reported. Karaman and his friends were on their way to the beach town of Dalaman to go scuba diving when they stopped at a gas station to buy gasoline, it reported. Karaman was hit by the car while waiting on a sidewalk as his friends were buying gasoline, it
ANKLE PROBLEM: Taiwan’s Ye Hong-wei and Lee Chia-hsin had a disappointing end to their tournament after an injury forced them out of their mixed doubles semi-final Taiwanese badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying on Friday was knocked out in the women’s singles quarter-finals at her last Taipei Open. The world No. 3 lost 21-18, 16-21, 22-24 to Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia in a match that stretched 68 minutes at the Taipei Arena. Despite her higher ranking, Tai said she was not too sad about the loss, given her struggle with a lingering knee injury. “Wins and losses are just part of the game. Actually, I think I’m going to lose every single match considering my condition now,” said the five-time champion of the Super 300 event, who has announced plans
RSS