LOCAL SPORTS
The ESSO Cup, Canada’s Women’s U18 National Club Championship, begins today in British Columbia with the Northern Subway Selects taking on the host Thompson-Okanagan Lakers this evening. Puck drop is 11 p.m. The selects play the North York Storm at 7 p.m. on Monday, and then face off with the Quebec representative at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, before playing the Edmonton Junior Oilers on Wednesday, and the Regina Rebels on Thursday. Crossovers begin on Friday.
It’s Day 2 of the Kings of the Court tournament, hosted by the Junior X-Men U10 Boys basketball team. Play begins with the semi-finals at 9:30 & 10:45 am, followed by the 7th place game at Noon, the 5th place game at 1:15, the Bronze Medal match at 2:30, and the Gold Medal game at 3:45. All games are at the Antigonish Education Centre.
NATIONAL SPORTS
The Boston Bruins got two goals from Jake DeBrusk and 35 saves from netminder Jeremy Swayman to whip the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs 5-1 in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series. Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy had two assists each for the Bruins. David Kampf scored for Toronto. Game 2 is Monday in Boston.
Stefan Noesen’s goal at 3:44 of the third period snapped a 1-1 tie and lifted the Carolina Hurricanes to a 3-1 win over the visiting New York Islanders in the opening game of their series. Evgeny Kuznetsov and Martin Necas also scored for the Canes. Kyle MacLean scored for the Islanders. Game 2 is Monday.
As the N-H-L embarks on its Stanley Cup playoffs, the Professional Women’s Hockey League is in the home stretch of its regular season. And last night, the league marked a huge milestone. Montreal’s Bell Centre — home of the N-H-L’s Montreal Canadiens — saw a record crowd for women’s hockey with more than 21-thousand fans in attendance watching Montreal lose to Toronto 3-2 in overtime. That beat the previous record set at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena in February. Montreal captain Marie-Philip Poulin said a women’s team drawing a capacity crowd in that arena was beyond her “wildest dreams.”
Daulton Varsho hit a three-run homer and José Berríos pitched six scoreless innings to lead the visiting Toronto Blue Jays to a 5-2 win over the San Diego Padres. Berríos allowed six hits and struck out six. He has won all four of his starts for Toronto, which has six victories in its last seven games. Jordan Romano pitched a scoreless ninth for his second save.
Luis Castillo pitched two-hit ball over seven innings to win for the first time in five starts this season, Cal Raleigh homered among a career-high four hits and the visiting Seattle Mariners overcame intermittent rain, snow and cold to beat the Colorado Rockies 7-0. Julio Rodríguez added four hits and two R-B-Is for the Mariners, who sent the Rockies to a sixth consecutive loss and dropped Colorado to four-and-16. The 20-game start is the worst in Rockies’ history.
All three Canadian Major League Soccer teams earned at least a point on Saturday. C-F Montreal surrendered a late goal to settle for a 2-2 draw against visiting Orlando City. Toronto F-C got a goal from Prince Owusu in the 66th minute to edge the visiting New England Revolution, and the visiting Vancouver Whitecaps got second-half goals from Ryan Gauld and Brian White to beat the Sounders 2-0 in Seattle.
Nikola Jokic had 32 points and 12 rebounds, and the defending N-B-A champion Denver Nuggets powered past LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers 114-103 in their Western Conference playoff opener. Jamal Murray of Kitchener, Ontario, added 22 points for the Nuggets. James had 27 points for the visiting Lakers and Anthony Davis had 32 points and 14 rebounds.
Saturday’s Scoreboard
NHL Playoffs First Round
Boston 5 Toronto 1 (Boston leads best-of-seven series 1-0)
Carolina 3 N.Y. Islanders 1 (Carolina leads best-of-seven series 1-0)
PWHL
Toronto 3 Montreal 2 (OT)
Ottawa 4 Minnesota 0
Boston 2 New York 1
NBA Playoffs First Round
Cleveland 97 Orlando 83 (Cleveland leads best-of-seven series 1-0)
Minnesota 120 Phoenix 95 (Minnesota leads best-of-seven series 1-0)
New York 111 Philadelphia 104 (Philadelphia leads best-of-seven series 1-0)
Denver 114 L.A. Lakers 103 (Denver leads best-of-seven series 1-0)
MLB
Interleague
Toronto 5 San Diego 2
Boston 4 Pittsburgh 2
Washington 5 Houston 4 (10 innings)
Philadelphia 9 Chicago White Sox 5
Cincinnati 7 L.A. Angels 5
Atlanta 5 Texas 2
Seattle 7 Colorado 0
American League
Tampa Bay 2 N.Y. Yankees 0 (10 innings)
Minnesota 4 Detroit 3
Cleveland 6 Oakland 3
Baltimore 9 Kansas City 7
National League
Milwaukee 12 St. Louis 5
Miami 3 Chicago Cubs 2 (1st game)
Chicago Cubs 5 Miami 3 (2nd game)
San Francisco 7 Arizona 3
N.Y. Mets 6 L.A. Dodgers 4
MLS
Vancouver 2 Seattle 0
Toronto FC 1 New England 0
Orlando City 2 CF Montréal 2
Cincinnati 2 Atlanta 1
Portland 2 Columbus 2
Miami 3 Nashville 1
New York City FC 2 D.C. United 0
Real Salt Lake 4 Chicago 0
Austin FC 1 Houston 0
Sporting Kansas City 3 St. Louis City 3
Colorado 2 FC Dallas 1
New York 2 Los Angeles FC 2
Sunday’s Games (All times Eastern)
NHL Playoffs First Round
Tampa Bay at Florida, 12:30 p.m. (First game best-of-seven series)
Washington at N.Y. Rangers, 3 p.m. (First game best-of-seven series)
Colorado at Winnipeg, 7 p.m. (First game best-of-seven series)
Nashville at Vancouver, 10 p.m. (First game best-of-seven series)
NBA Playoffs First Round
Miami at Boston, 1 p.m. (First game best-of-seven series)
Dallas at L.A. Clippers, 3:30 p.m. (First game best-of-seven series)
Indiana at Milwaukee, 7 p.m. (First game best-of-seven series)
New Orleans at Oklahoma City, 9:30 p.m. (First game best-of-seven series)
MLB
Interleague
Boston (Winckowski 1-1) at Pittsburgh (Pérez 1-0), 1:35 p.m.
Chicago White Sox (Nastrini 0-1) at Philadelphia (Nola 2-1), 1:35 p.m.
Houston (Javier 2-0) at Washington (Parker 1-0), 1:35 p.m.
L.A. Angels (Soriano 0-2) at Cincinnati (Montas 2-2), 1:40 p.m.
Seattle (Kirby 2-2) at Colorado (Quantrill 0-2), 3:10 p.m., 1st game
Toronto (Bassitt 2-2) at San Diego (Musgrove 2-2), 4:10 p.m.
Texas (Lorenzen 1-0) at Atlanta (Vines 0-0), 7:10 p.m.
Seattle (Hancock 1-2) at Colorado (Lambert 2-0), 8:10 p.m., 2nd game
American League
Tampa Bay (Civale 2-1) at N.Y. Yankees (Gil 0-1), 1:35 p.m.
Oakland (Stripling 0-4) at Cleveland (Bibee 1-0), 1:40 p.m.
Baltimore (Irvin 0-1) at Kansas City (Lugo 3-0), 2:10 p.m.
Detroit (Mize 0-0) at Minnesota (Varland 0-3), 2:10 p.m.
National League
Milwaukee (Rea 2-0) at St. Louis (Gray 2-0), 2:15 p.m.
Miami (Weathers 2-1) at Chicago Cubs (Hendricks 0-2), 2:20 p.m.
Arizona (Kelly 2-0) at San Francisco (Hicks 2-0), 4:05 p.m.
N.Y. Mets (Houser 0-1) at L.A. Dodgers (Glasnow 3-1), 4:10 p.m.
MLS
Minnesota at Charlotte FC, 6 p.m.
San Jose at LA Galaxy, 8:15 p.m.