Backstrom’s OT goal gives Caps victory

NHL: Nicklas Backstrom scored 2:56 into the second overtime Saturday afternoon to give the visiting Washington Capitals a 2-1 victory over the Boston Bruins and tie their first-round playoff series at a game apiece.

Early in the second overtime, Washington won a faceoff in the Boston zone and Marcus Johansson got the puck from behind the net. He passed it to Backstrom at the left faceoff circle and he wristed it past Thomas on his stick side.

• Neil’s OT goal lifts Senators: Chris Neil scored 1:17 into overtime, and the visiting Ottawa Senators rallied for a wild 3-2 victory over the New York Rangers in Game 2 to even the first-round Eastern Conference series. Former Spokane Chief Jared Cowen assisted on the winning goal.

• Blues blank Sharks: Brian Elliott and Jaroslav Halak combined for a shutout, the visiting San Jose Sharks put themselves in an early hole when Marc-Edouard Vlasic tapped the puck into his own net and the St. Louis Blues evened the first-round series at a game apiece with a 3-0 victory.

• Blackhawks win in OT: Bryan Bickell had his second goal 11:36 into overtime and the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Phoenix Coyotes 4-3 at Glendale, Ariz., after scoring in the closing seconds of regulation for the second straight game.

Paul leads Clippers past Warriors

NBA: Chris Paul had 28 points and 13 assists, and the Los Angeles Clippers beat the visiting Golden State Warriors 112-104 to close within a game of the Lakers for the Pacific Division lead.

• Mayo scores 17 in fourth to lead Grizzlies: O.J. Mayo scored 17 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter to rally the Memphis Grizzlies to a 103-98 victory over the Utah Jazz at Memphis, Tenn.

Isner now top-ranked American at No. 9

Tennis: John Isner defeated Feliciano Lopez 6-7 (5), 7-6 (4), 6-3 to advance to the final of the U.S. Clay Court Championship at River Oaks Country Club at Houston.

Isner became the top-ranked American, moving to No. 9 in the world. Isner will play Juan Monaco in today’s final.

• Top-seeded Wozniacki reaches final: Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki beat Petra Martic 6-3, 6-2 to set up an e-Boks Open final against Angelique Kerber of Germany in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Kerber beat third-seeded Jelena Jankovic 6-2, 6-1 in the other semifinal.

Pettersson leads RBC after third round

Golf: Carl Pettersson birdied five straight holes on the front nine and had a birdie on the 18th hole for a 5-under 66 and a one-stroke lead over Colt Knost after the third round of the RBC Heritage at Hilton Head Island, S.C.

• Allen has five-stroke lead at Pro-Am: Michael Allen shot a 4-under 67 to take a five-stroke lead after the second round of the Champions Tour’s Encompass Insurance Pro-Am in Lutz, Fla.

Former Pullman resident Kirk Triplett shot 71 and is tied for sixth place at 139.

• Malaysian Open suspended: South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen had a one-stroke lead with eight holes left when third-round play in the Malaysian Open was suspended because of a thunderstorm in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Five cities seeking 2020 Olympics

Miscellany: The five cities seeking to host the 2020 summer Olympics made presentations to heads of national Olympic committees.

The presentations by Tokyo, Madrid, Istanbul, Doha, Qatar and Baku, Azerbaijan, to the Association of National Olympic Committees offered a glimpse of their visions.

• Canada tops U.S. in finals: Caroline Ouellette scored 1:50 into overtime, lifting Canada to a 5-4 win over the United States in the gold medal game of the Women’s World Championship in Burlington, Vt.

Earlier, Florence Schelling made 50 saves to help Switzerland beat Finland 6-2 on in the bronze-medal game.

• Semenya defends 800 title: Caster Semenya retained her 800-meter title at the South African championships, but was still well off the qualifying time for the London Olympics in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

The world silver medalist runner finished in 2 minutes, 2.68 seconds.

It’s Tricky wins Distaff Handicap

Horse Racing: It’s Tricky, the 3-5 favorite, beat C C’s Pal by 3 1/2 lengths in the $200,000 Distaff Handicap for fillies and mares at Aqueduct in New York.

• Mizdirection wins Las Cienegas: Mizdirection beat Teroda by a half-length in the $100,000 Las Cienegas Handicap at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif.

• Deaths overshadows race: Grand National prerace favorite Synchronised was one of two horses to die during the world’s toughest steeplechase in Aintree, England.

Owner J.P. McManus announced that Synchronised, who won the Cheltenham Gold Cup last month, suffered a fatal injury after falling early in the Aintree race.

According To Pete also suffered a fatal injury.