Jonny Brodzinski scores twice as Rangers down Canucks

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Jonny Brodzinski scores twice as Rangers down Canucks

2025-03-23 13:26 Last Updated At：13:30

NEW YORK (AP) — Jonny Brodzinski scored his second goal of the game late in the third period and Igor Shesterkin made 36 saves as the New York Rangers downed the Vancouver Canucks 5-3 on Saturday to snap a three-game losing streak.

Brodzinski rifled his ninth goal of the season past Canucks netminder Kevin Lankinen at 15:47 to give the Rangers the lead 37 seconds after Vancouver’s Brock Boeser tied the contest.

Former Canuck J.T. Miller added an empty-net goal. New York lost to Edmonton, Calgary and Toronto at home this week.

K’Andre Miller and Adam Fox also scored for the Rangers. Alexis Lafreniere had two assists.

Dakota Joshua and Drew O’Connor also scored for the Canucks.

WILD 4, SABRES 1

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Marco Rossi, Justin Brazeau, Mats Zuccarello and Frederick Gaudreau scored, and the Minnesota beat Buffalo.

Comfortably in the Western Conference first wild-card spot, Minnesota moved within two points of third-place Colorado in the Central Division. The Wild finished a season-long seven-game homestand 4-2-1.

Filip Gustavsson improved to 6-2-1 in March by making 20 saves. He has a 1.65 goals-against average, a .941 save percentage and two shutouts this month.

JJ Peterka scored and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 17 shots for Buffalo, which lost its second straight game and is 3-8-1 in its past 12 outings.

STARS 3, FLYERS 2, OT

DALLAS (AP) — Defenseman Thomas Harley scored his second goal of the game nine seconds into overtime, giving the Dallas a win over the Philadelphia.

Defenseman Esa Lindell also scored for the Stars, who are 9-0-1 in their last 10 home games. Jake Oettinger made 22 saves to record his seventh consecutive home win and 32nd overall, third in the NHL. Harley’s second score was the fifth regular-season overtime goal of his career.

Travis Konecny and Ryan Poehling scored for the Flyers, who are 0-3-1 in their last four games and 1-8-1 in their last 10.

Poehling, a boyhood friend of Oettinger in Lakeville, Minnesota, won the opening faceoff in OT. The puck came back to Flyers goalie Samuel Ersson, who entered in the second period with a 2-0 deficit and played 40 minutes of shutout hockey stopping 15 shots. Ersson’s clearing attempt to Travis Sanheim just to the right of the net was intercepted by Jason Robertson, who fed Harley for the fastest overtime goal in franchise history.

BLUES 4, BLACKHAWKS 1

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Alexey Toropchenko had a goal and an assist and goalie Joel Hofer made 26 saves, leading St. Louis to a win over the Chicago.

Robert Thomas, Nathan Walker and Zach Bolduc also scored for St. Louis. Hofer improved to 4-0-1 in his last five starts as the Blues won their fifth straight and remain in sole possession of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

Ilya Mikheyev scored for the Blackhawks. Arvid Soderblom stopped 21 shots as Chicago slipped to 0-6-1 in its last seven games.

Thomas batted the airborne puck in at 15:13 of the second period for a 1-0 lead. The Blues went up 2-0 when Toropchenko beat Soderblom from the right side of the crease at 17:20.

Chicago cut the lead to 2-1 on an unassisted short-handed goal by Mikheyev at 19:06.

The Blues added two goals in the final period. Walker scored off a pass from Toropchenko at 1:12. Bolduc scored at 7:43.

KINGS 7, HURRICANES 2

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Andrei Kuzmenko had a goal and an assist for his first points for Los Angeles since being acquired in a trade, and the Kings pummeled Carolina.

Anze Kopitar, Tanner Jeannot, Quinton Byfield and Kevin Fiala also had a goal and an assist, Adrian Kempe and Trevor Moore scored, and the Kings won their fifth straight on home ice. David Rittich made 34 saves.

Dmitry Orlov and Mark Jankowski scored and Pyotr Kochetkov made 18 saves for the Hurricanes, who had their eight-game winning streak emphatically snapped.

FLAMES 4, ISLANDERS 3, OT

NEW YORK (AP) — Nazem Kadri scored at 3:51 of overtime and Calgary beat the New York Islanders.

Matt Coronato had two goals and Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and two assists for Calgary in its third straight win. Dan Vladar finished with 26 saves.

Bo Horvat, Marc Gatcomb and Kyle MacLean scored for the Islanders. Maxim Tsyplakov and Noah Dobson each had two assists, and Marcus Hogberg had 31 saves as New York snapped a three-game win streak but extended its point streak to five games (3-0-2).

Hogberg denied Morgan Frost on a breakaway shortly before Kadri scored the winning goal.

Huberdeau, playing in his 900th career NHL game, scored the tying goal with 2:22 remaining — just 29 seconds after MacLean gave the Islanders a 3-2 lead late in the third period.

CAPITALS 6, PANTHERS 3

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tom Wilson scored his 31st goal of the season, Alex Ovechkin had a pair of assists and Washington beat the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida to win their fourth game in a row and pad their lead atop the NHL.

Wilson set up Connor McMichael’s opening goal in the first period before scoring his own 7 seconds after the ensuing intermission. Dylan Strome scoring 52 seconds later made it eight goals combined between the teams in the first 21 minutes of a high-event game largely lacking in defense.

Anthony Beauvillier, John Carlson and Andrew Mangiapane also scored for the Capitals, who were the first team in the league to clinch a playoff spot and have won nine of their last 10. Logan Thompson made 33 saves to improve to 31-4-5 in his first season with Washington.

Ovechkin had five shots on net but remained at 888 career goals, seven back of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record.

Sam Bennett, Seth Jones and Jonah Gadjovich scored for the short-handed Panthers, who are without injured winger Matthew Tkachuk and suspended defenseman Aaron Ekblad and are awaiting trade deadline acquisition Brad Marchand to debut. Vitek Vanecek allowed six goals on 31 shots.

UTAH HOCKEY CLUB 6, LIGHTNING 4

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Logan Cooley had two goals and an assist and Alexander Kerfoot also scored twice to lead the Utah Hockey Club to a 6-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.

Josh Doan and Nick Schmaltz also had goals, and Karel Vejmelka made 22 saves for Utah.

Brayden Point had two goals for the Lightning, and Anthony Cirelli and Jake Guentzel also scored. Brandon Halverson made 19 stops in his first career NHL start.

PREDATORS 5, MAPLE LEAFS 2

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Filip Forsberg had two goals and an assist, Luke Evangelista had a goal and two assists, and Nashville snapped a four-game losing streak with a win over Toronto Maple Leafs.

Michael Bunting and Kieffer Bellows also scored goals, Fedor Svechkov had two assists and Juuse Saros made 24 saves for Nashville.

Mitch Marner had a goal and an assist, John Tavares also scored and Joseph Woll made 27 saves for Toronto, which had its three-game winning streak ended. Auston Matthews had two assists.

Toronto had a two-goal lead in the first with Tavares and Marner scoring less than four minutes apart.

Bunting halved the Toronto lead with a power-play goal 1:39 into the second. The goal was Bunting’s first as a Predator following his trade to Nashville from Pittsburgh.

Bellows made it 2-2 at 9:15 of the second.

Forsberg gave Nashville its first lead with 46.6 seconds remaining in the second.

Evangelista added an insurance goal midway through the third with an assist from Forsberg.

SENATORS 5, MAPLE LEAFS 2

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — David Perron scored a power-play goal to cap Ottawa’s three-goal second period, and the Senators held on to beat the New Jersey.

Brady Tkachuk and Drake Batherson also scored to help the Senators win for the seventh time in their last nine games. Linus Ullmark finished with 25 saves.

Nico Hischier and Erik Haula scored for the Devils, who have lost three of four. Jake Allen had 16 saves.

AVALANCHE 5, CANADIENS 4, SO

MONTREAL (AP) —Brock Nelson scored the shootout winner in the fourth round as Colorado spoiled a third-period comeback try by Montreal.

Colorado’s Charlie Coyle also scored in the shootout. Patrik Laine scored for Montreal.

Nelson had a goal and an assist in regulation, and Martin Necas, Sam Malinski and Ryan Lindgren also scored for Colorado (43-25-3). Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 25 shots.

Montreal’s Joshua Roy and Juraj Slafkovsky — with his second of the game — scored 30 seconds apart midway through the third to cut Colorado’s lead to 4-3. Christian Dvorak tied the game at 13:32.

Slafkovsky took a holding penalty with 2:25 remaining in OT, putting Colorado on the power play. But, Montreal killed off the man advantage.

Sam Montembeault made 33 saves for Montreal, which lost its second straight yet extended its point streak to six games.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS 6, RED WINGS 3

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Tomas Hertl scored his second hat trick this month and Vegas knocked off Detroit.

Jack Eichel had a goal and three assists while Nicolas Roy and Mark Stone also scored for Vegas, which got 28 saves from Adin Hill.

Lucas Raymond, Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat scored for the Red Wings. Cam Talbot had 30 saves.

Hertl scored twice in the first period to erase an early 1-0 deficit. His first goal came on the power play with 8:13 left when Stone flipped a pass across the front of the net and Hertl was there for the deflection.

Hertl’s second came with 3:28 left off another tip-in. His third, also on the power play, came at the 8:02 mark of the second.

OILERS 5, KRAKEN 4

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored three goals for his fourth career hat trick, and Edmonton held on to beat Seattle.

Adam Henrique and Jeff Skinner also scored, and Mattias Ekholm and Darnell Nurse each had two assists for the Oilers, who moved to 4-0-1 in their last five games despite playing without star forwards Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Stuart Skinner finished with 27 saves.

Kaapo Kakko had two goals, and Jaden Schwartz and Andre Burakovsky also scored for the Kraken, who have lost two straight. Jared McCann and Jani Nyman each had two assists, and Joey Daccord finished with 24 saves.

SHARKS 3, BRUINS 1

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Lucas Carlsson scored the go-ahead goal — his first of the season — with 3:23 left in the game and San Jose topped Boston.

William Eklund and Barclay Goodrow also scored and Alexander Georgiev made 22 saves for the Sharks.

Casey Mittelstadt scored the lone goal for Boston, which lost its fifth straight. Joonas Korpisalo had 19 saves.

Eklund’s 16th goal, which matched his career high, came at 2:13 of the second off a crossing pass from Macklin Celebrini to put San Jose up 1-0.

Boston tied it at 16:50 of the second when Mittelstadt scored off a turnover.

After Carlsson’s goal put the Sharks back up, Goodrow scored an empty-netter to seal the win.

Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini acquitted again at second trial of financial wrongdoing at FIFA

2025-03-25 19:05 Last Updated At：19:11

MUTTENZ, Switzerland (AP) — Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini won again in court Tuesday and now lead 2-0 in trial verdicts against Swiss federal prosecutors.

Once soccer’s most powerful men, former FIFA president Blatter and former UEFA president Platini were acquitted for a second time in a case now in its 10th year on charges of fraud, forgery, mismanagement and misappropriation of more than $2 million of FIFA money in 2011.

Blatter, now aged 89, gave little reaction listening to the verdict of three cantonal (state) judges acting as a federal criminal appeals court. Sitting in the row in front of Platini, Blatter alternately tapped his fingers on his desk or held his left hand over his mouth.

Only when the 55-minute verdict statement was over did Blatter smile before reaching across to shake his lawyer's hand. Blatter then shared a long hug with his daughter, Corinne.

“You have seen my daughter was coming with tears because she believed in (her) father and I believed in myself,” said Blatter, who spoke of a sword of Damocles being removed from over his head. “To wait such a long time affects the person and my family was very much affected."

Platini sat with his arms folded or rubbing his hands as he listened to a translator sitting beside him relating the court's verdict in German into his native French.

“This persecution by FIFA and some Swiss federal prosecutors for 10 years is now finished, is now totally finished," Platini said leaving the court, insisting his honor was restored. "So I’m very happy.”

The attorney general’s office in Switzerland had challenged a first acquittal in July 2022 and asked for sentences of 20 months, suspended for two years. The indictment alleged the payment “damaged FIFA’s assets and unlawfully enriched Platini.”

“Michel Platini must finally be left in peace in criminal matters,” his lawyer Dominic Nellen said in a statement. ”After two acquittals, even the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland must realize that these criminal proceedings have definitively failed."

A further appeal to the Swiss supreme court can be filed by the prosecutors' office, which said in a statement it “will decide about how to further proceed.”

Blatter and Platini have consistently denied wrongdoing in a decade-long case that ultimately came to nothing in court yet totally altered world soccer body FIFA.

The legal case swung on their claims of a verbal agreement to one day settle the money in question.

Blatter approved FIFA paying 2 million Swiss francs (now $2.21 million) to France soccer great Platini in February 2011 for supplementary and non-contracted salary working as a presidential advisor from 1998-2002.

The latest win for Blatter and the 69-year-old Platini came exactly 9½ years since the Swiss federal investigation was revealed and kicked off events that ended the careers of the two men.

That September 2015 day in Zurich, police came to interrogate them at FIFA after an executive committee meeting when Platini was a strong favorite to succeed his one-time mentor in an upcoming election.

With Platini soon suspended and banned by FIFA, European soccer body UEFA ran his long-time secretary general Gianni Infantino as its election candidate. Infantino was a surprise winner in February 2016 and is set to lead FIFA until at least 2031.

Though federal court trials have twice cleared their names, Blatter’s reputation likely always will be tied to leading FIFA during corruption crises that took down a swath of senior soccer officials worldwide.

Platini, one of soccer’s greatest players and later Blatter’s protégé in soccer politics, never did get the FIFA presidency he often called his destiny.

Neither Blatter nor Platini has worked in soccer since they were suspended by the FIFA ethics committee in October 2015. They were later banned and failed to overturn the bans in separate appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in 2016.

”The criminal proceedings have had not only legal but also massive personal and professional consequences for Michel Platini, although no incriminating evidence was ever presented," Nellen said, suggesting further legal action "against those responsible for the criminal proceedings.”

Platini’s ban expired in 2019 and Blatter was given a subsequent ban by FIFA in 2021 months before his first was due to end.

Blatter is exiled from soccer until late in 2028 — when he will be 92 — because of an ethics prosecution of alleged self-dealing in eight-figure management bonuses paid for successfully organizing the men’s World Cup in 2010 and 2014.

The verdict was given Tuesday in a low-key provincial courthouse where a four-day trial was held three weeks ago.

Blatter and Platini have claimed at five different judicial bodies — twice at FIFA, then the Court of Arbitration for Sport and now two Swiss federal criminal courts — that they had a verbal “gentleman’s agreement” to one day settle the unpaid and non-contracted salary.

Platini was a storied former captain and coach of the France national term when he worked to help Blatter get elected to lead FIFA in Paris on the eve of the 1998 World Cup he organized.

The two men said Platini agreed to be a presidential adviser on an annual salary of 300,000 Swiss francs (now $340,000) through 2002. They claim there was a verbal deal to later get the balance of 1 million Swiss francs for each year that FIFA could not pay at the time.

Platini started asking for the money early in 2010, citing seven-figure payments made to senior Blatter aides who left FIFA which showed the soccer body could afford to pay him. The payment was finally made in February 2011.

Details of the payment only emerged in the crisis that hit FIFA in May 2015 when U.S. federal investigators unsealed a sweeping investigation of international soccer officials. Swiss authorities made early-morning arrests at hotels in Zurich before seizing FIFA financial and business records.

In 2015, Swiss federal prosecutors already were handling a criminal complaint filed by FIFA. That was about suspected financial wrongdoing linked to votes in December 2010 that picked Russia and Qatar as future World Cup hosts.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer