Patric Hornqvist had his first playoff hat-trick as the Pittsburgh Penguins pulled away from the New York Rangers 5-2 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarter-finals on Wednesday night.
Hornqvist added an assist, while Sidney Crosby had a goal and two assists and backup goaltender Jeff Zatkoff excelled in his first post-season start, finishing with 35 saves. Tom Kuhnhackl also scored for Pittsburgh, who took advantage when New York goalie Henrik Lundqvist left with a facial injury after the first period.
Lundqvist played just 20 minutes after taking a stick to the face from teammate Marc Staal. Antti Raanta was shaky in Lundqvist’s place, stopping 16 of 19 shots.
Derek Stepan scored twice for the Rangers, but New York never led as their quest to knock the Penguins out of the playoffs for a third straight year got off to an underwhelming start.
LIGHTNING 3, RED WINGS 2
In Tampa, Florida, Nikita Kucherov scored twice and Alex Killorn snapped a third-period tie, lifting Tampa Bay past Detroit in Game 1 of their series.
Ben Bishop had 34 saves for the defending Eastern Conference champions, who got the winner from Killorn less than two minutes after a potential go-ahead goal was waived off when Detroit coach Jeff Blashill successfully challenged that Tampa Bay was offside, before Victor Hedman scored.
Killorn took a feed from Tyler Johnson and slipped the puck past Jimmy Howard at 8 minutes, 52 seconds of the third.
Kucherov scored in the first and second periods and also assisted on the winner.
Mike Green and Justin Abdelkader scored for Detroit.
Game 2 tonight at Amalie Arena.
BLUES 1, BLACKHAWKS 0, OT
In St Louis, Missouri, David Backes scored at 9:04 of overtime on a shot that deflected off a Chicago Blackhawks defenseman to help the St Louis Blues take the series opener 1-0 over the defending Stanley Cup champions on Wednesday night.
Backes’ shot got past Corey Crawford after bouncing off Trevor Van Riemsdyk’s skate. Defensemen Jay Bouwmeester and Alex Pietrangelo assisted on the winner.
Brian Elliott earned his first career playoff shutout. Elliott, who led the NHL with a .930 save percentage, made 35 saves.
Badminton world No. 3 Anders Antonsen clinched his first Indonesia Open title yesterday after beating Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen, while South Korea’s An Se-young won her second championship in Jakarta. The 28-year-old Dane sank world No. 7 Chou at the Indonesian capital’s Istora Senayan arena, winning 22-20, 21-14 in a 60-minute match to secure the prestigious Super 1000 event. Antonsen came out on top in a tightly contested first game before cruising to victory in the second. In a more closely fought women’s singles final, South Korean ace and world No. 1 An fought back from one game down to beat China’s
Spain starlets Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams dazzled on Thursday as La Roja beat France 5-4 in a thriller in Stuttgart, Germany, to set up a UEFA Nations League final with Portugal. Yamal bagged a brace, while Williams scored and provided an assist as the two wingers cut France’s makeshift defense to ribbons. Mikel Merino and Pedri were also on the score sheet for the UEFA Euro 2024 champions. Kylian Mbappe netted a second-half penalty, but Spain were 5-1 up and cruising, before Les Bleus suddenly woke up as their opponents took their foot off the pedal. France’s three late goals — a
Italy crashed to a 3-0 loss away to Norway, as the four-time FIFA World Cup champions made a disastrous start to their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign on Friday, while Belgium had to settle for a draw in North Macedonia. Alexander Sorloth, Antonio Nusa and Erling Haaland all scored in the first half in pouring rain in Oslo as Norway made it a night to forget for Italy, who missed out on the past two World Cups. “I have no explanation. Our supporters don’t deserve this kind of match. We need to do some soul-searching. It’s unacceptable,” Italy captain and goalkeeper Gianluigi
The Crusaders yesterday produced a clinical performance in difficult conditions to beat the Queensland Reds 32-12 and claim home advantage in next week’s Super Rugby semi-finals. Lock Scott Barrett and prop Tamaiti Williams scored first-half tries to reward an outstanding performance from the Crusaders’ forwards in wet, slippery conditions and bitterly cold temperatures. Scrumhalf Noah Hotham defied the conditions in the second half to score a superb solo try and, after kicking a conversion and penalty to make the score 22-0 at the hour mark, flyhalf Rivez Reihana scored a try which took the game beyond the Reds. “Typical Christchurch weather, cold, wet
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