Defenseman Simon Despres scored 2 minutes, 21 seconds into overtime as the Pittsburgh Penguins rallied late and beat the New Jersey Devils 2-1 on Friday night.
Chris Kunitz tied the game with a power-play goal with 3 minutes, 11 seconds left in regulation, spoiling a magnificent performance by New Jersey’s Cory Schneider, who made 41 saves.
The winning goal came after Schneider made a close-in stop on Brandon Sutton. The Penguins kept the puck in the zone, and Despres’ shot from inside the blue line beat a screened Schneider.
Marc-Andre Fleury made 13 saves for the Penguins, who fell behind 1-0 when Devils forward Steve Bernier scored on a wraparound 6 minutes, 8 seconds into the third period.
New Jersey failed to tie their season-best, three-game winning streak. Pittsburgh won for the second time in seven games (2-3-2).
BLUES 3, HURRICANES 2, SO
In Raleigh, North Carolina, Kevin Shattenkirk scored in a shootout as St Louis topped Carolina for their fourth straight win.
Ryan Reaves and David Backes scored in regulation for the Blues, while Jake Allen made 26 saves before stopping all three Carolina shooters in the tiebreaker.
Defensemen Justin Faulk and Ryan Murphy scored for Carolina, who had their three-game winning streak snapped, but the Hurricanes had earned points in nine of 11 games last month.
Anton Khudobin made one save, but allowed two goals before he was pulled 2 minutes, 35 seconds in and replaced by Cam Ward, who stopped all 29 shots he faced.
Shattenkirk beat Ward with a wrist shot in the second round of the shootout, while Allen stopped Eric Staal with his pads to end it.
The Blues, 9-0-1 in their past 10 games, beat Carolina in a shootout for the second time this season.
AVALANCHE 3, PREDATORS 0
In Denver, Semyon Varlamov made 23 saves for his fourth shutout of the season as Colorado beat Nashville.
Jarome Iginla, Maxime Talbot and Gabriel Landeskog had goals for the Avalanche, who earned an important win in their pursuit of a playoff berth.
Colorado are trying to stay in the thick of the race after a slow start to the season. The Avalanche are two points behind Calgary for the second wild-card position in the Western Conference, but they have played one more game than the Flames.
Colorado improved to 8-3-3 in their past 14 games and have moved into fifth place in the Central Division. The Avalanche earned three of a possible four points against the division-leading Predators.
Nashville’s Marek Mazanec made 25 saves in his first start of the season.
BLACKHAWKS 4, DUCKS 1
Patrick Kane had two goals and an assist, while Patrick Sharp assisted on every Chicago goal in their away victory over Anaheim.
Captain Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith also scored for the Blackhawks, who beat the NHL-leading Ducks for the third straight time at the Honda Center. Corey Crawford made 21 saves as Chicago controlled the meeting of the Western Conference powers, taking a three-goal lead in the second period.
Rickard Rakell scored with 9 minutes, 54 seconds to play, while Frederik Andersen stopped 29 shots for the Ducks, who have back-to-back losses in two days after a six-game winning streak.
Shortly before Kane scored his first goal, Keith scored on what appeared to be goaltender interference by Toews during a dominant middle period by Chicago.
CANUCKS 5, SABRES 2
Ryan Miller made 22 saves in his first game against his former team as Vancouver, playing at home, sent Buffalo to their 14th straight loss in regulation time.
Chris Higgins had a goal and an assist, and Bo Horvat, Yannick Weber, Nick Bonino and Radim Vrbata also scored for the Canucks, who snapped a two-game skid. Christopher Tanev added two assists.
Chris Stewart had both goals for the Sabres (14-33-3).
Matt Hackett stopped 33 shots in his first start of the season for the NHL-worst Sabres, who have not won on the road since late November last year.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two