Jarry rebounds, Penguins even series with Islanders
Tristan Jarry bounced back from a shaky performance to stop 39 shots, and the Pittsburgh Penguins evened their first-round playoff series with the New York Islanders with a taut 2-1 victory on Tuesday night on home ice.
Jarry, who gave up four goals in the opener, picked up the first playoff win of his career as Pittsburgh won for just the second time in its past 12 postseason games.
Game 3 is Thursday night in New York.
Bryan Rust and Jeff Carter scored during a dominant first period, and Jarry did the rest to outduel New York’s Semyon Varlamov.
Varlamov, unavailable for Game 1, made 43 saves. Josh Bailey’s slick backhand in the later stages of the second period drew the Islanders within a goal, but Jarry hung tough down the stretch, particularly in the final 90 seconds after Rust took an inexplicable delay-of-game penalty when he grabbed a loose puck and threw it like a baseball out of the Pittsburgh zone.
New York couldn’t find the equalizer, sending the series to Long Island tied.
The Islanders pulled off a 4-3 overtime stunner in the series opener on Sunday, taking advantage a subpar effort by Jarry to steal home-ice advantage.
Russian star Evgeni Malkin sat out again for the Penguins with an undisclosed health issue. VASILEVSKIY STOPS 32, LIGHTNING GO UP 2-0 >> Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 32 shots, Steven Stamkos and Ondrej Palat had first-period goals, and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Florida Panthers 3-1 to take a 2-0 lead in their Central Division first-round playoff series.
The series shifts to Tampa on Thursday night.
Florida played without Sam Bennett, suspended for Game 2 by the NHL because of his boarding penalty against Tampa Bay’s Blake Coleman on Sunday night.
HIGH-SCORING MCDAVID, OILERS START SERIES WITH JETS >> The NHL’s leading scorer starts the playoffs as Connor McDavid and Edmonton open against Winnipeg. McDavid led the NHL with 105 points — 21 more than runner-up and teammate Leon Draisaitl — in only 56 games. He also racked up seven goals and 22 points in nine games against the Jets.
Led by McDavid, the Oilers finished second in the North Division. On the way, they took seven of nine
games against the third-place Jets.
Tennis FEDERER LOSES COMEBACK MATCH AT GENEVAOPEN>>
Roger Federer lost his comeback match after two months away from tour on Tuesday, falling to Pablo Andujar 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in the second round of the Geneva Open.
His first match on clay in almost two years kept him on court for almost two hours in only his second tournament since the 2020 Australian Open. The past 15 months have included two surgeries on his right knee.
Before going on court, Federer was a spectator for part of the ATP Tour debut of perhaps the best prospect in Swiss men’s tennis since his own rise in the 1990s. With Federer watching some of the match, 18-year-old Dominic Stephan Stricker beat Marin Cilic 7-6 (5), 6-1.
SERENA LOSES IN STRAIGHT SETS IN ITALY>> Serena Williams’ disappointing return to tennis continued when she lost in straight sets to 68th-ranked Katerina Siniakova in the second round of the Emilia-Romagna Open in Parma, Italy.
Top-seeded Williams, who accepted a wild-card invitation for the Parma tournament after losing her opening match at the Italian Open last week, was beaten 7-6 (4), 6-2.
Former U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens reached the quarterfinals after rallying to beat fourthseeded Daria Kasatkina 1-6, 6-4, 7-5.
Third-seeded Coco Gauff eliminated Kaia Kanepi 7-6 (6), 7-6 (7) in a first-round match.
College football
BAMA-MIAMI; CLEMSON-GEORGIA HIGHLIGHT OPENING WEEKEND >> ESPN’s opening weekend of college football features defending national champion Alabama facing Miami in Atlanta and Clemson vs. Georgia in Charlotte, North Carolina.
In anticipation of a return to normal this season, ESPN announced its featured matchups for Labor Day weekend and the first three Saturday night games on ABC.
Notre Dame will play at Florida State on Sunday, Sept. 5. The Labor Day night game will be Louisville against Mississippi in Atlanta.
The ABC Saturday night matchups for the next two weeks of the season will be Washington at Michigan on Sept. 11 and Auburn at Penn State on Sept. 18.
Soccer RED BULLS, USMNT D AARON LONG (ACHILLES) OUT FOR SEASON >>
New York Red Bulls and United States men’s national team defender Aaron Long will miss the remainder of the MLS season after undergoing surgery to repair a ruptured Achilles’ tendon.
The 28-year-old Long sustained the injury following an aerial challenge during second-half stoppage time of New York’s 1-0 loss to the Philadelphia Union on Saturday.
Long has recorded eight goals and three assists in 110 career MLS matches (105 starts). Named as the 2018 MLS Defender of the Year, Long also has three goals in 21 international appearances with the USMNT.
WNBA IONESCU’S FIRST TRIPLE-DOUBLE LIFTS LIBERTY OVER LYNX >>
Sabrina Ionescu had the first triple-double of her WNBA career to lead host New York to an 86-75 win over the Minnesota Lynx, giving the Liberty its first 3-0 start in 14 years.
Ionescu, who had an NCAA record 26 triple-doubles in college, recorded the first in franchise history with 26 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds.
The triple-double was the first by a Liberty player, and at 23-years-old Ionescu is the youngest player in league history to accomplish the feat.