Quinn Hughes scored twice, and the Vancouver Canucks beat NHL-leading Washington 2-1 on Saturday night, keeping Capitals star Alex Ovechkin 20 goals shy of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s league record.
Hughes has five goals and two assists in a five-game points streak.
Defenseman Filip Hronek added two assists, and Kevin Lankinen stopped 32 shots.
Photo: AFP
Pierre-Luc Dubois scored for Washington, capping the scoring midway through the third. Charlie Lindgren made 23 saves for the Capitals.
Ovechkin tested Lankinen just over four minutes into the game when he launched a rocket from the top of the circle off of a faceoff. Lankinen got his elbow into the puck’s path, sending it up into the netting.
On Thursday night, Ovechkin scored an empty-netter for his 875th NHL goal. Gretzky had 894.
Canucks coach Rick Tocchet mixed up his forward lines, playing star center Elias Pettersson with wingers Nils Hoglander and Linus Karlsson, and moving Pius Suter up to skate between Jake DeBrusk and Conor Garland. Defenseman Elias Pettersson, called up from the American Hockey League’s Abbotsford Canucks, played his first NHL game.
Lindgren was on his way to the bench with just more than a minute to go in the game when Canucks’ winger Danton Heinen sailed a shot toward the Washington net. The goalie sprinted back and dove to make a glove save.
Hughes has 57 career goals to tie Ed Jovanovski for the sixth among Canucks defensemen.
The Capitals are at Calgary, Canada, tomorrow night. The Canucks are at St. Louis, Missouri, tonight to open a three-game trip.
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia yesterday advanced to the women’s doubles final at the Australian Open after defeating New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 in their semi-final. Hsieh has won nine Grand Slam doubles titles and has a shot at a 10th tomorrow, when the Latvian-Taiwanese duo are to play Taylor Townsend of the US and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the championship match at the A$96.5 million (US$61 million) outdoor hard court tournament at Melbourne Park. Townsend and Siniakova eliminated Russian pair Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva 6-7
The San Francisco Giants signed 18-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Yang Nien-hsi (陽念希) to a contract worth a total of US$500,000 (NT $16.39 million). At a press event in Taipei on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Giants’ Pacific Rim Area scout Evan Hsueh (薛奕煌) presented Yang with a Giants jersey to celebrate the signing. The deal consisted of a contract worth US$450,000 plus a US$50,000 scholarship bonus. Yang, who stands at 188 centimeters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is of Indigenous Amis descent. With his fastest pitch clocking in at 150 kilometers per hour, Yang had been on Hsueh’s radar since playing in the HuaNan Cup
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
Things are somewhat out of control at the Australian Open this year, and that has only a little to do with the results on the courts. Yes, there were some upsets, including Madison Keys eliminating No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the women’s singles semi-finals on Thursday. It also was the first time since 1990 that three teenagers beat top-10 men’s seeds at a Grand Slam tennis tournament. The loser of one of those matches, Daniil Medvedev, got fined US$76,000 for behaving badly. Last year’s women’s singles runner-up exited in the first round. However, the real fuss is happening elsewhere. The rowdy fans, for one
RSS