The Carolina Hurricanes scored twice in the final 80 seconds to stun the New Jersey Devils 4-3 on Tuesday and advance to the NHL Eastern Conference semi-finals with the Game Seven victory.
The win before 17,625 stunned fans at the Prudential Center gave Carolina a 4-3 victory and put them into a best-of-seven series against the top-seeded Boston Bruins.
The second-seeded Washington Capitals, who advanced with a 2-1 Game Seven victory against the New York Rangers on Tuesday, will meet the fourth-ranked Pittsburgh Penguins in the other conference semi-final.
PHOTO: EPA
The Devils appeared poised to advance with NHL all-time wins leader Martin Brodeur protecting a 3-2 lead when Jussi Jokinen blasted home the equalizer off a pass from Joni Pitkanen at 1:20.
With 31.7 seconds remaining in regulation, Eric Staal beat Brodeur with another rocket from in close to seal an improbable victory for sixth-seeded Carolina.
“We were battling so hard the whole third period,” Jokinen told reporters by his locker. “We had some chances, they had some chances. Then Joni had a great pass to me and I had a great shot. It’s a great feeling. Obviously it feels good if you can be a difference maker in a game like that.”
PHOTO: EPA
CAPITALS 2, RANGERS 1
At Washington, thanks to sage Sergei Fedorov and a monumental comeback, the home side headed to the second round of the playoffs for the first time in more than a decade.
The 39-year-old Fedorov beat New York goalie Henrik Lundqvist with 4:59 left in the third period for the Capitals to become the 21st team in NHL history to win a series after trailing 3-1.
It’s also the franchise’s first series victory since the 1997-1998 season, when Washington made it all the way to the Stanley Cup finals. It must feel particularly sweet to the 16 players who were on the team a year ago, when the Capitals also trailed 3-1 in the first round, and also forced a Game 7 at home — only to lose to Philadelphia in overtime.
New York’s Nik Antropov and Washington’s Alexander Semin traded first-period goals. Fedorov, a three-time Stanley Cup winner with Detroit, took a pass from Matt Bradley on his winner and, with Rangers defenseman Wade Redden screening Lundqvist, sent a shot inside the far post.
Marloon Herrera was crying — happy tears. With Cuba trailing in the fifth inning of its Little League World Series (LLWS) opener on Thursday, Herrera lined a two-run double to give his team the lead. When the Czech Republic, representing Europe-Africa, made a pitching change, he ran over to give his third base coach a hug. Cuba went on to win 4-1. It was the first game at this year’s tournament for both sides, but it was also the beginning of Cuba’s second appearance in the series ever — and it was emotional. “You breathe baseball in Cuba,” manager Everaldo Machado said on
Taiwan on Friday beat Australia 11-0 at the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Taiwan are represented at the tournament by Taoyuan’s Gueishan Elementary School, who won the Asia-Pacific regional tournament to earn the trip to the US. Australia are represented by the Hills Red team from Sydney. Taiwan advanced to a game tomorrow against Santa Clara, representing Cuba, who won 4-1 against the Czech Republic’s Brno, the Europe-Africa regional qualifiers. Australian starter Sayre Howick had a tough time controlling his pitches at Volunteer Stadium, one of which allowed Taiwan to open their account. They scored six in the inning and
World Boxing, an international amateur boxing organization formed last year after a breakdown in relations between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Boxing Association (IBA), has announced the admission of Taiwan, along with four other nations, into its growing list of members. In a statement released on its Web site on Friday, the Swiss- based organization said that in addition to Taiwan, admitted as Chinese Taipei, Bhutan, Ecuador, Fiji and Pakistan have also become members. The new members all have well-rounded national and international boxing programs as well as transparency in the leadership and management of their national boxing programs,
COOLED DOWN: Du Plessis apologized after the fight for comments about his Nigerian-born opponent, after Adesanya said he planned to take the belt back to Africa South African Dricus du Plessis yesterday took a flurry of body hits across four rounds before defeating Israel Adesanya by submission to retain his middleweight championship at UFC 305. After scoring some early takedowns, Du Plessis (22-2) had to withstand a flurry of body strikes from Adesanya through the middle rounds, which appeared to be taking a toll on the 30-year-old South African as the fight progressed. However, a left hook followed by three rights helped bring Adesanya down, giving Du Plessis the opening he wanted as he swiftly got the choke hold that forced the Nigerian-born New Zealander to tap out