The Florida Panthers on Saturday matched the best 11-game start in NHL history and kept the Carolina Hurricanes from what would have been a league record-tying start of their own, with Anthony Duclair netting two goals and two assists in a 5-2 victory.
“I don’t think it’s a statement game,” Panthers interim coach Andrew Brunette said. “There are none in November. They don’t really present trophies in November.”
They do put entries in history books.
Photo: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY
Spencer Knight made 28 saves for Florida (10-0-1), which tied the 1994-95 Pittsburgh Penguins and 2006-07 Buffalo Sabres as the only NHL teams to reach 21 points after 11 games. Carolina (9-1-0) was bidding to join the 1993-94 Toronto Maple Leafs and those 2006-07 Sabres as the lone teams to start a season with 10 consecutive wins.
It was the first game in NHL history pitting two teams with season-opening point streaks of at least nine games.
Duclair put Florida on the board 2 minutes, 28 seconds into the contest and the Panthers led the rest of the way.
“Tonight was a good test,” Duclair said. “Obviously, the whole league’s watching. It was a really big game.”
The Hurricanes had not trailed by more than two goals in any of their first nine games, but were down 4-0 in the first period against Florida and could not pull off a comeback.
Vincent Trocheck had a goal and an assist for Carolina, and Jesper Fast also scored for the Hurricanes.
“I mean, 9-1’s a great start,” Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin said. “It’s definitely a good start and gets us going in the right direction.”
Frank Vatrano, Anton Lundell and Patric Hornqvist also had goals for Florida, which had two assists from Carter Verhaeghe and Brandon Montour.
Duclair clinched it with an empty-netter with 58.5 seconds left.
“Special teams was the difference tonight,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We were terrible on those, and they were good. End of story.”
The Major League Baseball World Series trophy is headed to Los Angeles, but the party is extending all the way to Japan. People milled around local train stations yesterday morning in Tokyo as newspaper extras were ready to roll off the presses, proclaiming Japanese stars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto as world champions along with their Dodgers teammates after a stirring Game 5 victory over the New York Yankees. The 30-year-old is a national hero in Japan whose face adorns billboards and TV adverts all over the country. Ohtani this year became the first player in history to hit 50 home runs and
STAR IN DOUBT: After partially dislocating his shoulder in a feetfirst slide into second base, the status of Japanese slugger Ohtani is uncertain for Game 3 as he undergoes tests Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Saturday walked back to his dugout and made the slightest tip of his cap to cheering fans. He left Japan for moments like this, an opportunity to put the Los Angeles Dodgers in control of the World Series. Yamamoto allowed one hit over 6-1/3 innings and Freddie Freeman homered for the second straight night as Los Angeles beat the New York Yankees 4-2 for a 2-0 Series lead. However, the Dodgers head to New York uncertain whether Shohei Ohtani can play after their biggest star partially dislocated his left shoulder on a slide at second base. “We’re going to get
Three-time reigning world champion Kaori Sakamoto on Saturday led a Japanese podium sweep at Skate Canada, locking up a second straight Canadian women’s title despite two falls in her free skate. Sakamoto, who led 19-year-old American Alysa Liu after the short program, looked a little tight during her jazzy free skate, falling on a Salchow jump and again on a triple flip while fighting to hang on to a few other moves. Her second-best free skate score of 126.24 was enough for gold in the second Grand Prix event of the season in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She finished with 201.21 points, well ahead
Kevin Durant and Devin Booker on Monday combined for 63 points as the Phoenix Suns sent LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers tumbling to their first defeat of the season. Booker bagged 33 points and Durant 30 to give the Suns a thrilling 109-105 win at Phoenix’s Footprint Center, avenging the Lakers’ 123-116 win over the Suns in Los Angeles on Friday last week. The Lakers arrived in Phoenix buoyed by an impressive 3-0 start to the campaign under new head coach J.J. Redick. They looked poised to keep that run going after making a blistering start, sprinting into an early 26-8