Sports FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015

England recall Parling for showdown

LONDON: Leicester lock was recalled by head coach Stuart Lancaster yesterday for tomorrow’s decisive Six Nations showdown with France at Twickenham. Parling comes into the second row in place of Dave Attwood, who drops out of the squad, in the only change to the team that overcame Scotland 25-13 last weekend. Harlequins num- ber eight returns to the bench. “Geoff did well off the bench against Scotland and now that he has got some games under his belt we feel it is the right time to start him and use his experience and quality in the starting line-up,” Lancaster said in a statement. “The same goes for Nick Easter, who has really impressed in camp and in his appearances off the bench. Nick is a quality ball-carrier and great defender-things we feel we’ll need in the latter stages of the game.” Seeking a first Championship suc- cess since 2011, England go into the final weekend level on points with and at the top of the table, but with a points difference NEW YORK: Chicago Blackhawks’ Andrew Shaw (65) loses his footing as he trips over the stick of ’ Dan Boyle (22) during advantage of +4 and +25 over their the third period of an NHL hockey game Wednesday, in New York. The Blackhawks won the game 1-0. — AP respective pursuers. Wales play away to tomor- row, while Ireland tackle Scotland in Blackhawks win defensive Edinburgh. “Finishing off the tourna- ment at home is going to be a great occasion,” Lancaster added. “The support against Scotland last struggle at Rangers week was fantastic and this weekend we really need the crowd to get NEW YORK: Chicago’s Brad Richards broke all NHL lead with 97 points after rallying for BLUE JACKETS 4, OILERS 3, SO behind the team and drive them for- a scoreless deadlock in the third period to its NHL-best 12th comeback victory when Alexander Wennberg scored the shootout ward in what will be an exciting finale give the Blackhawks a 1-0 win at New York trailing after two periods this season. Justin winner. David Savard, Ryan Johansen and to this year’s Championship.” on Wednesday, cooling off the Rangers’ hot Williams scored the tying with 4:18 Mark Letestu scored in regulation for the Parling’s selection is the reward streak of form. left for the Kings, who still took sole pos- Blue Jackets (31-35-4), who have won four of for a powerful 30-minute cameo The Rangers had won their previous five session of third place in the Pacific Division. their last five. Derek Roy, Ryan Nugent- from the bench against Scotland and games to take a share of the Eastern The defending champions Hopkins and Nail Yakupov had goals for the will see the British and Irish Lion Conference lead, but could not go clear in have earned points in seven of eight games Oilers (19-39-13), who have lost eight of their replace in running the standings as they could not find a way down the stretch. last nine games. — AP the line-out. Attwood misses out past Chicago’s backup goaltender Scott despite having started in all four Darling. Darling, who played for just the NHL results/standings matches of the tournament so far, third time since Dec. 13, made 25 saves to with 36-year-old Easter’s experience improve to 7-3 and earn his first NHL giving him the edge. shutout in 10 career games. Chicago 1, NY Rangers 0; Columbus 4, Edmonton 3 (SO); Anaheim 3, Los Angeles 2 (OT). Rangers defenseman Dan Boyle came Tighthead prop will win Western Conference Tampa Bay 43 21 7 230 184 93 his 50th and Lancaster said: “It’s a close to beating Darling as he rang a shot off the crossbar, but soon after, Richards Pacific Division Detroit 38 19 11 200 183 87 great achievement for Dan to win his W L OTL GF GA PTS Boston 36 23 11 185 177 83 50th cap, especially coming back got the puck in front of the New York net, waited patiently and snapped a shot past Anaheim 45 20 7 211 197 97 Ottawa 34 24 11 196 181 79 from his injury last year. “He is one of the goalie for the winner. Vancouver 40 25 4 197 185 84 Florida 31 25 14 172 195 76 the cornerstones of our squad and Los Angeles 34 22 14 188 175 82 Richards, a member of the Rangers last Toronto 27 38 6 188 226 60 we all wish him all the best.” Calgary 38 27 5 205 185 81 season, has five career goals against New Buffalo 20 43 7 134 235 47 York. The Blackhawks stretched their win- San Jose 34 28 8 195 198 76 England (15-1) Edmonton 19 39 13 167 243 51 Metropolitan Division ning streak to four and moved within three NY Rangers 44 18 7 207 159 95 ; Anthony Watson, points of Central Division leader St. Louis. Arizona 21 41 8 145 231 50 Jonathan Joseph, Luther Burrell, Jack Central Division NY Islanders 43 25 4 222 203 90 Nowell; George Ford, ; DUCKS 3, KINGS 2, OT St. Louis 45 20 5 218 170 95 Pittsburgh 39 21 10 196 175 88 , (capt), scored 45 seconds into over- Nashville 43 21 8 205 176 94 Washington 38 23 10 209 175 86 ; Courtney Lawes, Geoff time, and the Anaheim Ducks rallied from Chicago 43 21 6 203 158 92 Philadelphia 29 28 15 187 206 73 Parling; Dan Cole, , Joe another third-period deficit in the final Minnesota 39 24 7 199 175 85 New Jersey 30 29 11 160 179 71 Winnipeg 35 23 12 196 188 82 Marler Replacements: , Freeway Faceoff meeting of the regular Columbus 31 35 4 184 221 66 Colorado 32 26 11 184 193 75 season. Patrick Maroon and Jakob Carolina 26 34 9 162 189 61 , , Nick Dallas 32 28 10 218 229 74 Easter, , Richard Silfverberg scored third-period goals for Note: Overtime losses (OTL) are worth one the Ducks, who took four of five in this live- Eastern Conference Wigglesworth, Danny Cipriani, Billy Atlantic Division in the standings and are not included Twelvetrees. — AFP ly rivalry. John Gibson made 29 saves as in the loss column (L). Anaheim took sole possession of the over- Montreal 44 20 7 187 159 95