The Detroit Red Wings piled on seven straight goals to stun the Columbus Blue Jackets 7-2 and clinch a post-season berth for a franchise-record 21st straight season on Monday.
The home victory ensured the Red Wings passed the previous mark set from 1939 to 1958.
“It’s pretty good, for sure, getting in 21 straight years,” winger Tomas Holmstrom told reporters. “We’ve had such good teams and we’ve clinched the playoffs, but we want to win the Stanley Cup.”
The Red Wings dominated the Blue Jackets with four goals in the first 10 minutes and extended their lead to 7-0 by the third period, before cruising to a win that moved them to fourth in the West on 97 points, one ahead of Nashville.
Holmstrom scored two of Detroit’s first three goals, while Henrik Zetterberg and Todd Bertuzzi each had four assists.
The Red Wings also got a goal from defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom for the second straight game as he has proven to be the team’s lucky charm.
Lidstrom returned from a 10-game absence because of an ankle injury on Saturday and he has helped earn consecutive wins following a six-game losing streak.
Gustav Nyquist, Jiri Hudler, Brad Stuart and Pavel Datsyuk all added goals to make it a tough night for Columbus goaltender Steve Mason, who was pulled in the second period for the second straight night after allowing six of the scores.
Mark Letestu and Rick Nash each converted late goals for Columbus (24-45-7), who slumped to their seventh loss in nine games and remain burdened with the worst record in the league.
“They took it to us,” Nash said. “It showed they are a great team. We weren’t ready.”
Ty Conklin made 24 stops in the win for Detroit, playing without injured starter Jimmy Howard as well as leading scorer Johan Franzen.
CANUCKS 1, KINGS 0
In Vancouver, Roberto Luongo made 38 saves for his fourth shutout of the season as Vancouver blanked Los Angeles.
Manny Malhotra scored the game’s only goal in the first period as Vancouver got their third straight win without injured scoring star Daniel Sedin, who is out with concussion. The Canucks passed 100 points for the fourth straight season and moved within two points of West-leading St Louis.
Malhotra scored at 3 minutes, 5 seconds of the first when he fired in a Max Lapierre pass off the corner of the post and the crossbar. It was Malhotra’s first goal in 14 games. He had not scored since a Feb. 18 home win over Toronto.
LIGHTNING 5, FLYERS 3
In Philadelphia, Martin St Louis scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and Steven Stamkos notched a team-record 53rd goal as Tampa Bay beat Philadelphia.
Ryan Malone and J.T. Wyman also had goals to help the Lightning win their third straight game. It was a little too late for Tampa, who are 11th in the East and seven points out of a playoff spot with seven games remaining.
Wayne Simmonds, Matt Read and Scott Hartnell scored for Philadelphia. The Flyers lost for just the third time in 14 games this month.
Dwayne Roloson stopped 35 shots, outplaying Ilya Bryzgalov.
SHARKS 5, AVALANCHE 1
In San Jose, California, Joe Pavelski scored two goals to help San Jose improve their playoff chances with a victory over Colorado.
San Jose jumped into the Pacific Division lead with 88 points after both the Los Angeles Kings and the Dallas Stars lost earlier on Monday. The Stars dropped all the way into a tie with Phoenix (87 points) for seventh and eighth place in the West.
Andrew Desjardins, Torrey Mitchell and Ryane Clowe also scored for the Sharks, who won their third straight. Shane O’Brien scored for the Avalanche.
Monday’s other results:
‧ Senators 6, Jets 4
‧ Flames 5, Stars 4
American rugby sevens star Ilona Maher is to join 15-a-side club Bristol next month in a bid to play in next year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup, the English club announced on Monday. Maher, 28, helped the US to a bronze medal at this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris and is the seven-a-side sport’s most popular player on social media. “This is a huge coup to be able to bring Ilona Maher to Bristol Bears on a short-term deal,” Bristol head coach Dave Ward said. “She is one of the biggest names in women’s sport, let alone rugby, and we believe she will
New Taipei Kings guard Jeremy Lin on Friday was named the Taiwan Professional Basketball League’s (TPBL) Player of the Month, the first domestic player to win the award, while the Hsinchu Toplus Lioneers are to welcome their third head coach in less than a year. Lin averaged 22 points, 5.4 rebounds and 6.6 assists over five games in October and last month, helping the Kings to second in the standings with a 4-2 record as of Friday. The Kings last night defeated the Lioneers 96-78 to move level with the top-of-the-table Formosa Dreamers (5-2), while in the night game, the New Taipei
LeBron James is in quite the shooting slump — especially from long distance, highlighted by his zero-for-four effort from three-point range for the Los Angeles Lakers in their 109-80 loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday. That return stretched the nearly-40-year-old’s skid to zero-for-19 from deep over his past four games. James’ birthday is on Dec. 30. After going four-for-16 from the floor overall with six of his team’s 20 turnovers for a season-low 10 points against the Timberwolves, James was asked to reflect on the Lakers reaching the quarter mark of their 2024-2025 schedule under rookie coach J.J. Redick at 12-9. “I
TO NO AVAIL: The Denver Nuggets’ Serbian center Nikola Jokic surpassed his 53-point performance in the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix The Washington Wizards withstood a 56-point explosion from Denver star Nikola Jokic to beat the Nuggets 122-113 on Saturday and snap their 16-game NBA losing streak. Jokic, who won his third NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) award last season, posted a career scoring high — surpassing a 53-point performance in game four of the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix and a 50-point regular-season best against Sacramento in 2021. The Serbian big man added 16 rebounds and eight assists, but it was all to no avail as Washington, buoyed by 39 points from Jordan Poole, won for the first time
RSS