Dany Heatley assisted on two goals in his first game against Ottawa since his blockbuster trade to San Jose, leading the Sharks to a 5-2 win over the Senators in the NHL on Tuesday.
Patrick Marleau scored on both of Heatley’s assists, passing him for the team lead with 19 goals. Jamie McGinn, Ryane Clowe and Manny Malhotra also scored for San Jose, while Joe Thornton had two assists to up his league-leading total to 32.
Milan Michalek, traded to Ottawa in the September deal for Heatley, scored both goals for the Senators.
The Sharks, which boast the league’s best record, became the first team this season to pass the 100-goal milestone.
MAPLE LEAFS 3, CANADIENS 0
In Montreal, Toronto goalie Jonas Gustavsson was taken to the hospital with an elevated heart rate following the first period of the Maple Leafs’ victory over Montreal.
Gustavsson made eight saves before he was taken to the hospital as a precaution. The Swedish rookie had minor heart surgery during training camp after he experienced a racing heartbeat.
Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke said Gustavsson was expected to be fine.
Colton Orr and Jeff Finger scored in the first period for Toronto and Matt Stajan added his eighth goal in the second.
Montreal have lost three straight.
BLACKHAWKS 4, BLUE JACKETS 3, SO
In Chicago, Brent Seabrook scored in the 11th round of a shootout, giving Chicago victory over Columbus.
Marian Hossa, playing his first game with the Blackhawks at the United Center, scored in the second round of the shootout. Columbus’ Jakub Voracek tied it in the next round, setting the stage for a goaltending battle between Steve Mason and Chicago’s Cristobal Huet before Seabrook skated in for the winner.
KINGS 4, DUCKS 3
In Anaheim, California, Jack Johnson scored the go-ahead goal with 2:20 left as Los Angeles beat Anaheim in the first meeting of the season between the city rivals.
Scott Parse and Justin Williams scored first-period goals for the Kings and Randy Jones connected in the second.
Anaheim’s Corey Perry had a goal and an assist to extend his point streak to 19 games, tied for the longest by an NHL player since Paul Stastny’s 20-game run in 2006-2007. Sidney Crosby also had a 19-game streak for Pittsburgh two seasons ago.
■OVECHKIN SUSPENDED
AFP, WASHINGTON
Washington left wing Alex Ovechkin was given a two-game suspension by the National Hockey League on Tuesday and instructions to tone down his reckless ways could be coming soon from coach Bruce Bourdreau.
Ovechkin, the NHL Most Valuable Player of 2008 and last year, instigated a knee-on-knee collision with Carolina defenseman Tim Gleason in a victory on Monday that left the Russian star injured while his rival was quickly back on the ice.
“I regret that this has happened,” Ovechkin said in a statement. “I’m glad that Tim wasn’t injured because I never ever want to see anyone get hurt.”
Ovechkin, who was given a five-minute kneeing penalty and his second game misconduct in three games for the play, will forfeit US$98,844 in salary as a result of the two-game ban.
Ovechkin skated on Tuesday before his Capitals teammates practiced. While he never went at top speed, Ovechkin dismissed his sore right knee as a small setback.
“It’s not a bad injury,” Ovechkin said. “I thought it was going to be worse. But I can walk. I can skate. Of course, it’s a little bit sore, but it’s not that serious.”
Ovechkin said he might be healthy for today’s home game against Florida, but the NHL banishment will sideline him for that game and another tomorrow at Philadelphia. He will be eligible to return on Monday at Tampa Bay.
The suspension was the first since the Russian star joined the NHL in 2005.
ANFIELD BLUES: Kylian Mbappe arrived at Anfield on a run of 21 goals in 17 games, but he managed just three attempts in the match, none of them hitting the target Kylian Mbappe has been nearly unstoppable this season, but he hit a roadblock in their UEFA Champions League match at Anfield on Tuesday. For the second year running, the Real Madrid forward had a night to forget at Merseyside as Liverpool won 1-0. Mbappe looked a shadow of the player who has been tearing defenses apart all season. “We were lacking that threat in the final third,” said Madrid coach Xabi Alonso, without naming Mbappe individually. The FIFA World Cup winner for France rarely looked capable of finding a breakthrough against a Liverpool team who have been so defensively fragile for much of the
LOCAL SUCCESS: In the doubles, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in straight sets Elena Rybakina on Monday punched her ticket to the WTA Finals last four with an impressive 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 victory over second seed Iga Swiatek in round-robin play in Riyadh. After cruising past Amanda Anisimova in her opener on Saturday, Rybakina claimed her second win of the week to guarantee herself top spot in the Serena Williams Group. Anisimova on Monday rallied back from a set and a break down to triumph 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in her all-American battle with seventh seed Madison Keys, who has been eliminated from the competition. “Madi was playing so well, it was quite a battle out there,”
For almost 30 minutes, Vitomir Maricic did not take a breath. Face down in a pool, surrounded by anxious onlookers, the Croatian freediver fought spasming pain to redefine what doctors thought was possible. When he finally surfaced, he had smashed the previous Guinness World Record for the longest breath-hold underwater by nearly five minutes. However, even with the help of pure oxygen before the attempt, it had pushed him to the limit. “Everything was difficult, just overwhelming,” Maricic, 40, told reporters, reflecting on the record-breaking day on June 14. “When I dive, I completely disconnect from everything, as if I’m not even there.
An amateur soccer league organized by farmers, students and factory workers in rural China has unexpectedly drawn millions of fans and inspired big cities to form their own, raising hopes China can grow talent from the ground up and finally become a global force. The nation of 1.4 billion people has about 200 million soccer fans, more than any other country, but it has failed to build world-class teams, partly due to a top-down approach where clubs pick players from a very small pool of prescreened candidates. The professional game is marred by a history of fixed matches, corruption, and dismal performances,
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