Sports FRIDAY, APRIL 4, 2014 Kings rout Coyotes 4-0 to clinch playoff berth

LOS ANGELES: Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar six 25-goal seasons in his career. scored power-play goals, made Los Angeles (45-26-6) needs one more victo- 17 saves in his sixth shutout of the season, and ry to match the franchise record of 46, done the clinched a playoff spot three times previously. The Kings, who have with a 4-0 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes on won eight straight road games, visit the Shark Wednesday night. Kopitar, Jeff Carter and rookie Tank on Thursday night to open a four-game Tanner Pearson each had a goal and an assist for trip. the surging Kings, who have all but locked up third place in the Pacific Division and a first- Red Wings 3, Bruins 2 round postseason matchup with California rivals Detroit’s Tomas Jurco and Gustav Nyquist San Jose or Anaheim. scored twice in a 1:42 span in the third period, Thomas Greiss stopped 28 shots for the and Jimmy Howard made 33 saves, Coyotes, whose playoff hopes have been hurt to give the Red Wings a come-from-behind win by three straight losses. Phoenix and Dallas are over the . even in eighth place in the Western Conference The loss snapped Boston’s franchise-record with 85 points apiece, but the Stars have seven nine-game road unbeaten streak and was the games still to play - two more than the Coyotes. Bruins’ first regulation loss in 17 games (15-1-1). Phoenix hadn’t been shut out since a 2-0 loss Tomas Tatar added a goal and an assist for to Columbus on Jan. 2, but the Coyotes man- Detroit (36-26-14), who are in the seventh play- aged few good chances against Quick and the off spot in the Eastern Conference. Johnny Kings’ formidable defense. Boychuk and Carl Soderberg scored for Boston BAHRAIN: Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany, left, jokes with his teammate Red Bull Quick’s shutout was the 31st of his career, (52-18-6). driver Daniel Ricciardo of Australia, back to camera, as they play for a tv interview in the pad- leaving him one shy of tying Rogie Vachon’s dock, ahead the Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix at the Formula One Bahrain International franchise record. Quick, whose six shutouts are Islanders 2, Senators 1 Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain, yesterday. — AP second-most in the NHL behind Boston’s A power-play goal by Casey Cizikas with Tuukka Rask, passed Vachon to become the win- 10:29 left in the third period proved to be the Perez hopes Bahrain can ningest goalie in Kings history last month. difference as the Islanders handed Ottawa a Pearson scored his third career goal and Alec defeat that further damaged what slim hopes Martinez had two assists for the Kings, who had the Senators had left of making the playoffs. make up for Sepang snooze lost three straight to Phoenix. Los Angeles has Islanders goalie Anders Nilsson turned in a been outstanding since the Olympic break, win- stellar performance, making 35 saves. Ottawa MANAMA: Force India’s Sergio Perez hoped Shiite opposition planning protests to ning 14 of 18 on the way to its fifth consecutive goalie Craig Anderson stopped 25 shots. Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix would mark the seize world attention for pro-reform playoff berth. The Kings have won seven of Islanders center Josh Bailey also scored, while real start of his Formula One season after dis- demands. eight over the past two weeks, solidifying their Milan Michalek replied for the Senators. missing last weekend’s Malaysian race as Demonstrations have been held during postseason plans after a prolonged skid before The Islanders (31-35-10) are far removed “boring” yesterday. the event every year since 2011 by oppo- the break. from the playoff race and the Senators (32-30- Los Angeles took the lead just 1:20 after the 14) are now pretty much in the same boat, the The Mexican did not start at Sepang due nents of the ruling Sunni Al-Khalifa dynasty opening faceoff when Jeff Carter feathered a loss leaving them five back of the last wildcard to a gearbox problem and spent the after- in an attempt to highlight those demands. beautiful cross-ice pass to Pearson, who spot with just six games remaining. noon watching as a spectator instead. Clashes frequently erupt on the out- dropped to one knee to take the shot. Pearson, It was not an experience the 24-year-old is skirts of Manama between security forces the Kings’ first-round pick in 2012, has earned a Ducks 3, Oilers 2 in any hurry to repeat. and protesters from the Shiite majority regular lineup spot after just 22 games in his Defenseman Francois Beauchemin scored “Malaysia for me was quite a boring race, demanding that the Khalifas surrender rookie season. the winning goal with 1:21 left and the Anaheim with Mercedes dominating and actually noth- their grip on all key cabinet posts in favour Doughty scored early in the second period, Ducks rallied for a victory over the Edmonton ing happening in the midfield,” he told of an elected government. putting a shot behind Carter’s moving screen. Oilers. Beauchemin delivered by ripping a shot reporters at a gusty and cloudy Sakhir circuit. This year’s Grand Prix begins Friday and The two-time, gold medal-winning defenseman past former teammate and Edmonton goalie “I think it was a boring race. runs through Sunday. played an outstanding two-way game, passing Viktor Fasth. “Here hopefully we can see good racing. Yesterday, police deployed along a main and shooting with the formidable skill show- Right winger Corey Perry scored twice for Hopefully for the fans and for the good of road linking Manama to the Sakhir cased while playing for Canada in Sochi. the Pacific Division-leading Ducks (50-18-8), Formula One we can have a good show here,” F1 circuit in the south, as more check- Carter scored on an end-to-end rush midway who topped 50 wins for the first time in fran- he added. points were set up on roads leading to Shiite through the third period, forcing a turnover and chise history, and also assisted on the winning Perez has just one point to his credit from villages, witnesses said. blowing a shot past Greiss. Kopitar scored his goal. Anaheim goalie Frederik Andersen two races in his first season with Force India, The influential Shiite opposition bloc Al- 25th goal of the season 40 seconds later on a stopped 30 shots and Fasth finished with 23 and that was thanks to Red Bull’s Australian Wefaq has called for a rally Friday on the main vicious one-timer, giving the Slovenian center saves. —Agencies Daniel Ricciardo being disqualified in Budaya highway, four kilometres (2.5 miles) Melbourne and remains subject to appeal. west of Manama, which links several Shiite vil- The former Sauber and McLaren driver’s lages. German team mate Nico Hulkenberg mean- Leader Sheikh Ali Salman has urged sup- while has 18 points after finishing fifth in porters to protest “peacefully... and exploit Malaysia and sixth in Australia. the presence of (foreign) media attending the Perez, whose Australian Grand Prix was F1... so the world could hear the voice of the ruined by a collision with the Sauber of com- opposition and its demands and the oppres- patriot Esteban Gutierrez on the first lap, said sion we suffer from in our country.” he had just had bad luck. Al-Wefaq’s peaceful rallies are usually tol- “The first two weekends have been really erated by the authorities and rarely end in unfortunate for me with too many issues. violence. Hopefully now that the car has the pace, Nico But protests by supporters of the radical has shown it has good pace, we can have a February 14 Revolution Youth Coalition clear weekend without the issues,” he said. cyber-group often degenerate into clashes “He has had two very strong races and a with police. lot of points, so I am quite behind...Basically The group, accused by authorities of links this is my start of the season so hopefully we to Shiite-majority Iran, called for demonstra- can have a great result. tions Friday in the Al-Seef Junction area, west “I think there is good potential on the car, of Manama, under the slogan: “Stop the every weekend we are learning a lot. Once we blood formula.” have no issues and problems we should be Public security chief General Tariq Hasan really competitive,” he added. said Tuesday the authorities have taken “all measures and plans” to secure the Formula Tight security One event. ANAHEIM: Philip Larsen #36 of the Edmonton Oilers is pursued by Patrick Maroon #62 of the Bahrain tightened security yesterday, as Meanwhile, Amnesty International has Anaheim Ducks for the puck in the third period at Honda Center on Wednesday in Anaheim, the three-day Formula One Grand Prix was raised concerns of a crackdown ahead of the California. The Ducks defeated the Oilers 3-2. — AFP about to get underway, with the country’s Grand Prix. — Agencies