Justin Fontaine had a goal and two assists, while linemate Thomas Vanek also scored as the Minnesota Wild breezed by the St Louis Blues with a 6-3 victory on Saturday.
Chris Stewart, Zach Parise, Jonas Brodin and Mikko Koivu also contributed goals, while Charlie Coyle and Ryan Suter each had two assists for the Wild, who improved to an NHL-best 22-6-2 since trading for goalie Devan Dubnyk on Jan. 14.
Dubnyk, acquired from Arizona for a third-round draft pick, has started all 30 of those games. He made 26 saves to beat the Blues on a second straight weekend.
Vladimir Tarasenko and Jaden Schwartz each had a goal and an assist, while Paul Stastny scored late for the Blues.
Vancouver’s Radim Vrbata set up the equalizer for Nick Bonino in the second period and scored the go-ahead goal during a five-on-three power play in the third, leading the Canucks over the Los Angeles Kings 4-1.
Eddie Lack made 25 saves for Vancouver.
Daniel Sedin and Bo Horvath scored empty-net goals in the final minute.
In Calgary, Alberta, Rene Bourque scored his second goal of the game at 4 minutes, 1 second of overtime to give the Columbus Blue Jackets a 3-2 win over the Flames.
Artem Anisimov also scored for Columbus, who have won six of seven overall, including their first sweep of western Canada.
Sean Monahan and Jiri Hudler scored for Calgary.
Jesper Fast and J.T. Miller scored, while Mats Zuccarello had the lone goal for New York in the shootout as the Rangers edged the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2.
Fast’s goal at 12:59 of the second gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead after Miller had tied it at 3:39.
Carolina struck first as Elias Lindholm scored 2:01 in, but the Rangers swept the five-game season series.
The Florida Panthers beat the Boston Bruins 2-1 after Brandon Pirri scored the winning shootout goal. Pirri beat Tuukka Rask in the second round of the shootout. Roberto Luongo turned aside all three of Boston’s shooters.
Jimmy Hayes scored in regulation for the Panthers, while Luongo made 26 saves in his second start since returning from injury.
Tomas Plekanec scored in the first period and Carey Price made 29 saves for his second shutout in a row and ninth of the season as the Montreal Canadiens beat the San Jose Sharks 2-0, while Jaroslav Halak made 26 saves in his return to the lineup as the New York Islanders ended a four game losing streak with a 3-0 win over the New Jersey Devils.
In other games, Kyle Turris scored the winning goal as the Ottawa Senators extended their winning streak to six games by topping the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-3, the Winnipeg Jets blanked the Washington Capitals 3-0 and the Nashville Predators shut out the Buffalo Sabres 3-0.
The Dallas Stars had a 4-0 win over the Chicago Blackhawks, the Pittsburgh Penguins downed the Arizona Coyotes 3-1 and the Edmonton Oilers were 5-4 winners over the Philadelphia Flyers.
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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