Nick Foligno scored twice and Ryan Donato's 30th goal of the season sparked an early-third-period run of three goals in 1:33 as the visiting Chicago Blackhawks beat the Boston Bruins 5-2 on Thursday.
The first three goals for Chicago (23-46-10, 56 points) were all scored by former Bruins. Foligno made it 1-1 at 7:55 of the second period, and after Donato's go-ahead goal at 3:14 of the third, Tyler Bertuzzi added insurance 1:09 later.
Kevin Korchinski scored at 4:47 of the third to make it 4-1, and Foligno added a last-minute empty-net goal. Arvid Soderblom made 31 saves for the Blackhawks, who won for just the third time in 16 games (3-11-2).
Donato is Chicago's first 30-goal scorer since Alex DeBrincat in 2021-22.
David Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie had a goal and an assist apiece for Boston (32-39-9, 73 points), which has lost 12 of its past 14 (2-11-1).
Boston's Jeremy Swayman stopped 16 shots.
Donato, a Boston native, broke the tie early in the third period. After Chicago's Sam Rinzel fired a shot from the left side, Philipp Kurashev pulled the rebound and found Donato open on the opposite post.
Bertuzzi followed with an unassisted tally, skating through center and slipping a perfect wrister over Swayman's blocker.
Finishing off Chicago's spurt just 24 seconds later to make it 4-1, Connor Bedard found Korchinski in the high slot, and the 20-year-old defenseman snapped a shot high past Swayman on the glove side for his first goal of the season.
Geekie brought the hosts closer at 11:08, burying Pastrnak's no-look centering feed from between the circles, but Foligno iced the game with a short-handed empty-netter with 28 seconds left.
Pastrnak put the Bruins in front at 10:39 of the first period, creating a turnover with a hard forecheck and getting a piece of Elias Lindholm's wrist shot as it sailed toward Soderblom. Geekie set up the initial shot with a centering pass from the right side into the middle.
The teams combined for just four second-period shots before Foligno knotted the score at 7:55, intercepting along Chicago's defensive-zone left wall and shooting up the wing to fire a hard wrister past Swayman's blocker.
Bruins rookie Fabian Lysell had a great chance for his first NHL goal just over three minutes later when linemate Pavel Zacha hit him with a cross-ice pass to the left circle, but Soderblom split to make the save against the post.
The Chicago netminder also stopped an incredible coast-to-coast effort from Pastrnak with 6:31 left in the second period as well as Fraser Minten's breakaway in the final minute of the frame.
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Top NHL analyst Stephan Roget of 'Canucks Army' believes the Canucks could definitely offer sheet Mason McTavish or Marco Rossi, but they likely won't. Offer sheets remain one of the less common NHL deals, so a midsummer offer sheet from the Vancouver Canucks would remain highly unlikely. The player must be a restricted free agent (RFA) to be offer-sheet eligible, and come mid-July, there are not many remaining who are. Two of them are strong possibilities for whom the Canucks would consider making an offer sheet: Anaheim Ducks' Mason McTavish and Minnesota Wild's Marco Rossi. And offer sheets are a two-part process. Your team has to first make an offer. And then there has to be acceptance of a player before his current team is in a position to counter. That is uncertainty enough. Any offer sheet from the Canucks would have to be at least $11.7 million per year The Canucks would only be able to give Mason McTavish or Marco Rossi at the absolute highest compensation level, above $11.7 million annually. That would cost four protected first-rounders across five drafts to the Canucks. While both Rossi and McTavish would certainly appreciate an offer of this nature, whether either is truly worth this kind of investment of this size, especially for Vancouver, a club not comfortably in a playoff position, is questionable. 'As it stands, the Canucks are still eligible to make offer sheets to McTavish and Rossi - but only certain offer sheets. 'Whether it's realistic to expect a mid-summer offer sheet from the Canucks, is no'. - Stephan Roget Bottom line: While theoretically, a Canucks summer offer sheet is conceivable, too high a price, in cap space and future equity, makes it extremely unlikely, per NHL analyst Stephan Roget of 'Canucks Army.'
Fabrizio Romano confirmed that Sporting CP have agreed the signing of Almeria striker Luis Suarez, who was a transfer target for Sunderland. The journalist explained that the Portuguese club will pay €25m for the 27-year-old Colombian forward, and Almeria will keep a 10% sell-on clause. This way, Sunderland misses out on another of their market targets to strengthen their attack, so they will have to look for other alternatives. This operation is a consequence of a 'domino effect', generated by the almost official, according to Romano, purchase of Viktor Gyokeres (27) by Arsenal. Fabrizio Romano drops huge €25m update on Sunderland transfer target "Sporting CP have agreed deal to sign Luis Javier Suarez from Almeria, here we go!," Romano began writing. "Deal confirmed as exclusively revealed in June. €25m fee package plus 10% sell-on clause," added the journalist, through his Twitter (X) account. This isn't the only complication for Regis Le Bris' team in this transfer window, as another attacking target, Gonzalo Garcia (21), appears to be finally extending his contract with Real Madrid, according to AS reports. "Now Gonzalo threatens Endrick's status and is negotiating a professional contract with Madrid," they explained in the cited outlet, after the mentioned 18-year-old Brazilian forward got injured again. Additionally, the failed signing of Sassuolo's Armand Lauriente (26) also joins the list of 'failures' by the Lads board this summer, specifically in their objective to strengthen the attack. Therefore, we cannot rule out that in the coming days, new rumors will emerge linking other offensive players with Sunderland, because it's clear that Le Bris wants to add talent in that area. Other forwards previously linked with the Black Cats are Nantes' Matthis Abline (22) and OGC Nice's Evann Guessand (24), although there haven't been recent updates. Read More:
The New York Mets are a half-game ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies for first place in the NL East, but their pitching staff is still injury-ravaged despite the recent returns of Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas. Brandon Waddell (hip), Dedniel Nuñez (elbow), Max Kranick (flexor), Paul Blackburn (shoulder), Tylor Megill (elbow), Griffin Canning (Achilles), Drew Smith (elbow), A.J. Minter (lat), Danny Young (elbow), and Christian Scott (elbow) are alll on the Mets' IL. The MLB Trade Deadline is July 31 at 6 p.m. EST, so the front office has one week to add healthy arms from around the league this season. ESPN's David Schoenfield predicted on Thursday that New York would trade for a Minnesota Twins reliever. "One guarantee of the trade deadline: The Mets will add to the bullpen, probably with more than one trade. Though the rotation still ranks fifth in ERA, that was built off a hot start," he wrote. "More importantly, the only Mets starter to complete six innings since June 7 has been David Peterson. As a result, manager Carlos Mendoza has run relievers Reed Garrett, Huascar Brazoban, Jose Butto and Ryne Stanek into the ground. The bullpen had a 2.78 ERA through May, but that figure is over 5.00 since the beginning of June (ranking near the bottom of the majors)." "The Twins have two high-profile relievers in [Jhoan] Duran and [Griffin] Jax, both of whom are under team control through 2027, so they'll be much more expensive than your usual short-term relievers if the Twins decide to trade one or both," he continued. "Duran would be harder to deal -- but bring more in return -- so we'll say Jax will go. Don't be fooled by his 4.09 ERA: He has 68 strikeouts and 12 walks in 44 innings with a 97-mph heater. He's an elite strikeout reliever, the type you want on the mound in October." The Mets are hot despite their injuries, as they're on a four-game winning streak and just swept the Los Angeles Angels. Next up is a road trip against the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres. New York right-handed pitcher Clay Holmes (8-5, 3.48 ERA) will face Giants right-hander Logan Webb (9-7, 3.08 ERA) on Friday.
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