Jonathan Toews scored two goals as the Chicago Blackhawks held off the Calgary Flames 6-4 on Wednesday to extend their winning streak to six games.
Brian Campbell, Michael Frolik, Dave Bolland and Marian Hossa also scored for defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago.
Rene Bourque scored twice and Jarome Iginla connected once in the third period for the Flames, who fell short in trying to come back from a 4-1 deficit. Alex Tanguay added a goal and an assist for Calgary.
DUCKS 2, RED WINGS 1, OT
In Anaheim, California, Bobby Ryan scored from a penalty shot at 2:50 of overtime as the Anaheim Ducks snapped Detroit’s five-game road winning streak with a wild victory.
Ryan was hauled down on a breakaway moments after the Ducks killed off a penalty and the goal-scorer put a quick shot past Jimmy Howard’s glove for his 30th goal of the season.
Dan Ellis made 28 saves for the Ducks, who have won two straight after a five-game skid threatened their playoff chances. Jason Blake had a third-period goal for Anaheim.
Pavel Datsyuk scored a second-period power-play goal and Howard made 26 saves for Detroit.
MAPLE LEAFS 3, PENGUINS 2, OT
In Toronto, Mikhail Grabovski scored 42 seconds into overtime to give Toronto a victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Grabovski took a nice pass from Phil Kessel, who tied it in the third period and stuffed a shot behind Marc-Andre Fleury.
Nikolai Kulemin also scored for the Maple Leafs.
Matt Niskanen and Chris Conner scored for Pittsburgh.
DEVILS 2, LIGHTNING 1
In Newark, New Jersey, Ilya Kovalchuk scored his fifth winning goal in the last 11 games as the New Jersey Devils continued their amazing playoff push with a victory over Tampa Bay.
Martin Brodeur had 15 saves and Henrik Tallinder also scored as the Devils won for the 18th time in 22 games.
ISLANDERS 4, WILD 1
In Uniondale, New York, Blake Comeau scored two goals and Al Montoya made 33 saves in non-taxing fashion to help New York beat the sluggish Minnesota Wild.
Comeau gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead in the first period and a 3-0 edge in the second. Kyle Okposo and Andrew MacDonald added goals for New York.
Niklas Backstrom lasted only until 41 seconds into the second period. He was yanked in favor of Jose Theodore after giving up three goals on 19 shots.
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
‘KHELIFMANIA’: In the weeks since the Algerian boxer won gold in Paris, national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women In the weeks since Algeria’s Imane Khelif won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing, athletes and coaches in the North African nation say national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women. Khelif’s image is practically everywhere, featured in advertisements at airports, on highway billboards and in boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight’s success in Paris has vaulted her to national hero status, especially after Algerians rallied behind her in the face of uninformed speculation about her gender and eligibility to compete. Amateur boxer Zougar Amina, a medical student who has been practicing for a year, called Khelif an
Crowds descended on the home of 17-year-old Chinese diver Quan Hongchan after she won two golds at the Paris Olympics while gymnast Zhang Boheng hid in a Beijing airport toilet to escape overzealous throngs of fans. They are just two recent examples of what state media are calling “toxic fandom” and Chinese authorities have vowed to crack down on it. Some of the adulation toward China’s sports stars has been more sinister — fans obsessing over athletes’ personal lives, cyberbullying opponents or slamming supposedly crooked judges. Experts say it mirrors the kind of behavior once reserved for entertainment celebrities before
GOING GLOBAL: The regular season fixture is part of the football league’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the sport to international destinations The US National Football League (NFL) breaks new ground in its global expansion strategy tomorrow when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face off in the first-ever grid-iron game staged in Brazil. For one night only, the land of Pele and ‘The Beautiful Game’ will get a rare glimpse into the bone-crunching world of American football as the Packers and Eagles collide at Sao Paulo’s Neo Quimica Arena, the 46,000-seat home of soccer club Corinthians. The regular season fixture is part of the NFL’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the US’ most popular sport to new territories following previous international fixtures
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