Jason Chimera, Steve Oleksy and Mikhail Grabovski scored second-period goals to power the Washington Capitals to a 4-1 win over the New York Rangers on Sunday.
Washington defenseman Nate Schmidt added a goal in the third for the Capitals, who beat Nashville at home on Saturday. Schmidt, a 22-year-old rookie, scored his first NHL goal in that game, while Grabovski’s goal on Sunday came on a penalty shot.
In only his fourth NHL game, Philipp Grubauer made 30 saves for Washington to earn his first career win, which was the Capitals’ fourth victory out of five.
Chicago’s Patrick Sharp had a goal and two assists as the Blackhawks scored a season-high three times on the powerplay in a 6-2 win over the Florida Panthers.
The Blackhawks used their potent offense to win after starting goalie Corey Crawford left in the first period because due to injury.
Marian Hossa, Brent Seabrook and Brandon Saad each had goal and an assist, while Michal Handzus and Andrew Shaw also scored for the Blackhawks.
Patrick Kane had three assists for Chicago, who ended a three-game losing streak, their longest regular-season skid since February last year.
Rookie Antti Raanta, recalled after veteran backup Nikolai Khabublin was injured on Nov. 16, stopped 29 of 31 shots for the win in relief of Crawford, who made four saves.
In St Paul, Minnesota, Josh Harding made 37 saves in another strong home outing as the Wild beat the San Jose Sharks 3-1 despite recording only 13 shots.
Zach Parise scored twice — once into an empty net — and Mikko Koivu added a goal for the Wild, who have won three of four. Patrick Marleau scored with 1 minute, 41 seconds left for San Jose.
Parise and Koivu gave Minnesota a 2-0 lead with second-period goals, with the former pushing the Wild’s edge back to two goals when he scored at 19:54.
Elsewhere on the day, the Boston Bruins defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2 after Carl Soderberg and Torey Krug scored second-period power-play goals, while Mike Santorelli scored two goals and added an assist in the Vancouver Canucks’ 3-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche.
Japan’s Shohei Ohtani is the record-breaking baseball “superhuman” following in the footsteps of the legendary Babe Ruth who has also earned comparisons to US sporting greats Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Not since Ruth a century ago has there been a baseball player capable of both pitching and hitting at the top level. The 30-year-old’s performances with the Los Angeles Dodgers have consolidated his position as a baseball legend in the making, and a national icon in his native Japan. He continues to find new ways to amaze, this year becoming the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Francesco Bagnaia yesterday profited from a mistake by rookie Pedro Acosta to win the Japan MotoGP sprint and close the gap on overall championship leader, Jorge Martin. Spaniard Acosta crashed with four laps to go while leading the field at Motegi, allowing defending world champion Bagnaia to take first ahead of Enea Bastianini and Marc Marquez. Spain’s Martin finished fourth and saw his overall lead over Italian Bagnaia in the championship standings cut to 15 points. “I am very happy because with these conditions, it’s not very easy to win and gain points,” Bagnaia said after a sprint race that took place under
Naomi Osaka is braced for a “battle” after yesterday setting up a clash with Coco Gauff in the round-of-16 of the China Open, while top seed Aryna Sabalenka also marched on. Osaka defeated 60th-ranked American Katie Volynets 6-3, 6-2 and next faces Gauff in a showdown of former US Open champions in Beijing. World No. 2 Sabalenka swatted aside Ashlyn Krueger 6-2, 6-2 for her 14th consecutive victory and plays another American in 24th-ranked Madison Keys. Looking ahead to the Gauff meeting, four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka said: “She’s very athletic, obviously.” “For me, my strongest traits are being aggressive and also my serve,
RSS