The Los Angeles Kings advanced to the second round of the National Hockey League (NHL) playoffs with a 2-1 win over the St Louis Blues on Friday, boosting their hopes of back-to-back Stanley Cup titles.
Meanwhile in other games, Detroit beat Anaheim to stay alive and force a Game 7, while Toronto won at Boston to cut the series deficit to 3-2, and Washington downed the New York Rangers to go ahead 3-2.
LA’s Dustin Penner scored the tiebreaking goal in the final second of the second period, while Jonathan Quick made 21 saves and Drew Doughty scored his first goal of the postseason for the Kings, who came back from a 2-0 deficit in the series to win it 4-2.
Photo: AFP
Penner put the Kings ahead with his latest big playoff goal, ripping a slap shot from just inside the blue line past Brian Elliott right before time expired.
Elliott stopped 14 shots and Chris Porter scored his first career playoff goal for the Blues, who were eliminated by Los Angeles for the second straight season.
Detroit’s Henrik Zetterberg scored his second goal 1 minute, 4 seconds into overtime to give the Red Wings a 4-3 win over Anaheim.
Detroit blew a two-goal lead in the last 3.5 minutes of regulation time, sending the team to a fourth OT in a series for the first time in franchise history.
Anaheim’s Emerson Etem and Bobby Ryan scored 51 seconds apart late in regulation to pull the Ducks into a 3-3 tie.
Zetterberg, who scored earlier in the third period, had a shot to win it with about a minute left. However his shot hit the right post and slid across the crease, but he made up for it with the overtime winner.
The second-seeded Ducks are to host the seventh-seeded Detroit today in the deciding game.
Toronto’s Tyler Bozak and Clarke MacArthur scored to give the Maple Leafs a 2-1 win at Boston, staying alive in their series.
Maple Leafs goaltender James Reimer stopped 43 shots to preserve the win for Toronto, who are to host Game 6 before a switch back to Boston if there is a Game 7.
Boston has won both games in Toronto in the series and has not lost on the Leafs’ home ice in the playoffs since 1959.
Zdeno Chara scored for Boston to cut the deficit to 2-1 with 8:48 left. The Leafs killed off a delay-of-game penalty in the last four minutes and then protected the lead when the Bruins pulled their goalie for an extra attacker with 1:11 left.
Only once in their history have the Leafs come back to win a playoff series after falling behind 3-1: the 1942 Stanley Cup finals win over Detroit.
The Bruins are 15-2 in playoff series after taking a 3-1 lead, but they blew a 3-0 lead against Philadelphia in the 2010 Eastern Conference semi-finals.
Washington’s Mike Ribeiro scored in overtime to give the Capitals a 2-1 win over the New York Rangers, and the momentum in the series. Ribeiro put in the puck after Troy Brouwer deflected a shot from the blue line.
Game 6 is scheduled for today in New York.
The home team have won every game in the series, with Washington taking the first two and New York pulling even in Games 3 and 4. The Capitals have been fighting history along the way: The franchise have lost eight playoff series in which they have held a two-game lead.
Brian Boyle scored for New York in the first minute, but that was it for the Rangers, with Joel Ward tying it in the second period.
The US’ bid for a fourth consecutive CONCACAF Nations League title came to a stunning end as they fell 1-0 to Panama after a stoppage-time goal from Cecilio Waterman on Thursday in Inglewood, California. Despite dominating possession, the US struggled to break down a resilient Panama side for long periods. Panama spent the bulk of the match defending, but pounced on a giveaway by the US before substitute forward Waterman sent a shot from the right side of the area to the bottom left corner late in stoppage time. Up next for Panama in tomorrow’s final is to be Mexico, who beat
DOMINATION: McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris took the first two spots as Mercedes’ George Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen followed them Australian Oscar Piastri yesterday roared back from season-opening disappointment in his home race by winning the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix from pole position in a McLaren one-two with championship-leading teammate Lando Norris. George Russell finished third for Mercedes, ahead of Red Bull’s reigning champion Max Verstappen with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Saturday’s sprint winner Lewis Hamilton fifth and sixth respectively. Piastri’s win denied Norris a third victory in a row, including last year’s Abu Dhabi season-ender, but left champions McLaren unbeaten in two races so far this year. “Mega job guys. The car was very, very lovely,” Piastri said
TO FINAL FOUR: France had 22 chances and scored two goals, while Croatia could not manage a single shot on target in 120 minutes. Les Bleus won 5-4 on penalties France on Sunday overturned a two-goal deficit to qualify for the UEFA Nations League Final Four by eliminating Croatia 5-4 on penalties after a 2-0 victory in their quarter-final second leg at the Stade de France. Dayot Upamecano scored the winning spot kick in a nail-biting shootout in which France keeper Mike Maignan made two saves, sending Les Bleus into the semi-finals against Spain. Michael Olise opened the scoring and Ousmane Dembele doubled their lead 10 minutes from time to send the tie into extra time after their 2-0 loss in Split, Croatia, on Thursday. France had a total of
Armand Duplantis will be among the reigning Olympic champions adding star power to the world indoor championships this weekend when the Chinese city of Nanjing hosts the first major global athletics meet since the Paris Games last year. The three-day event was originally slated for 2020 and faced multiple postponements due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Nanjing’s Sports Training Center would finally welcome more than 570 athletes for the start of the showpiece today. One of the main attractions would be pole vaulter “Mondo” Duplantis, who soared 6.27m to break the world record for a staggering 11th time in Clermont-Ferrand last
RSS