Duncan Keith scored with 3 minutes, 48 seconds left as the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Nashville Predators 4-3 on Saturday night to win the first-round playoff series 4-2.
Keith beat a screened Pekka Rinne with a laser from the left point. The defenseman, who had the winning goal in a 4-3 double-overtime victory in Game 1, also had two assists.
Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Patrick Sharp also scored for Chicago, and Corey Crawford stopped 13 shots after replacing Scott Darling in the first period after the rookie gave up three goals.
Photo: AFP
Chicago will face St Louis or Minnesota in the Western Conference semi-finals.
FLAMES 7, CANUCKS 4
In Calgary, Alberta, Matt Stajan broke a tie with 4:17 left as Calgary beat Vancouver to win the Western Conference playoff series 4-2.
The Flames are to face the Anaheim Ducks in the second round.
Michael Ferland and Jiri Hudler each scored twice, while Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau added goals for Calgary. Hudler tied it at 4 with a power-play goal at 6:14 of the third period.
Luca Sbisa, Brandon McMillan, Jannik Hansen and Radim Vrbata scored for Vancouver. The Canucks had a 3-0 lead midway through the first period.
ISLANDERS 3, CAPITALS 1
In Uniondale, New York, Nikolay Kulemin scored the go-ahead goal with 9:27 left and New York beat Washington to force Game 7 in the Eastern Conference series.
Islanders captain John Tavares had a goal and assist, and Nick Leddy had two assists in what could still be the franchise’s final game at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Cal Clutterbuck then got the loud crowd on its feet to seal the win with an empty-net goal with 53 seconds remaining.
John Carlson scored for the Capitals, who will host the deciding game Monday night. The series winner advances to face the Presidents’ Trophy-winning New York Rangers.
Jaroslav Halak made 38 saves to bounce back from a 5-1 loss in Game 5 on Thursday night.
RED WINGS 4, LIGHTNING 0
In Tampa, Florida, Petr Mrazek stopped 28 shots and Detroit rebounded from a disappointing loss to shut down Tampa Bay and take a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference series.
Riley Sheahan, Drew Miller, Pavel Datsyuk and Danny DeKeyser scored for the Red Wings. They can close out the Eastern Conference matchup by winning Game 6 at home Monday night.
The shutout was the second of the series for the young Mrazek, who had no previous NHL playoff experience before being named Detroit’s starter over veteran Jimmy Howard. The 23-year-old goalie blanked the Lightning 3-0 in Game 3 at home and also had the only shutout against the league’s highest-scoring team during the regular season.
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Taiwanese tennis veteran Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) and her Latvian partner Jelena Ostapenko finished runners-up in the Wimbledon women's doubles final yesterday, losing 6-3, 2-6, 4-6. The three-set match against Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Elise Mertens of Belgium lasted two hours and 23 minutes. The loss denied 39-year-old Hsieh a chance to claim her 10th Grand Slam title. Although the Taiwanese-Latvian duo trailed 1-3 in the opening set, they rallied with two service breaks to take it 6-3. In the second set, Mertens and Kudermetova raced to a 5-1 lead and wrapped it up 6-2 to even the match. In the final set, Hsieh and
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