LOCAL SPORTS
The semi-finals were played last night at the Love Me Fish & Lobster U15 Provincial Tournament at the Antigonish Arena, In the first semi, the Bedford Bandits defeated the Wearwell Bombers 6-5, then the host Novas lost 6-3 to the Gulls. The Bombers and Novas play for bronze this morning at 10, with the gold medal match between the Bandits & Gulls at 1 pm.
The Veterans Cup final is even again, as the Antigonish Junior B Bulldogs held off the Lumberjacks to win Game 4 in Lunenberg 5-4. Game 5 will be on Friday at 7:30 at the Antigonish Arena.
At the Atlantic U18 Female Championships in Corner Brook, two members of the Northern Subway Selects received awards. Jorja Burrows was named top goaltender, while Kendall Doiron was awarded tournament MVP. The Selects will play the PEI Eastern Stars in the gold medal game beginning at Noon.
NATIONAL SPORTS
Evan Bouchard scored the go-ahead goal 10:36 into the third period and the Edmonton Oilers kept on rolling with a 4-2 victory over the Calgary Flames. Leon Draisaitl hit the 40-goal mark for the third straight season and fifth time in his career, good for third in franchise history. Connor McDavid also collected his 98th and 99th assists of the season, as the Oilers got within three points of the Canucks for the top spot in the Pacific Division.
Adrian Kempe had two goals and an assist, Trevor Moore reached 30 goals for the first time in his career and the Los Angeles Kings got closer to securing a playoff spot with a 6-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks. Los Angeles moved out of a wild-card spot and into third place in the Pacific Division with five games remaining in the regular season.
Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Rizzo homered, and the New York Yankees chased Kevin Gausman in the second inning of a 9-8 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. The Yankees scored six runs in the first two innings and held a 9-2 edge after the sixth. Toronto scored three runs apiece in the seventh and ninth innings but ultimately fell short.
Canada’s Jamal Murray returned to the Denver Nuggets’ lineup after a seven-game absence with a strained right knee and scored 16 points over 21 minutes in a 142-110 clobbering of the Atlanta Hawks. Nikola Jokic recorded his 25th triple-double of the season, propelling the Nuggets into sole possession of first place in the Western Conference.
Joel Embiid had 30 points and 12 rebounds in just 23 minutes and the Philadelphia 76ers pulled within a half-game of seventh place in the Eastern Conference by beating the short-handed Memphis Grizzlies 116-96. It was Embiid’s third game back from a three-month absence after having surgery on the meniscus in his left knee.
UConn kept its bid to repeat as national champion intact by surviving its first true test of the N-C-A-A Tournament. The Huskies got 21 points from freshman Stephon Castle while clamping down defensively in the second half of an 86-72 win over Alabama in the Final Four. UConn will meet Purdue and star Canadian big man Zach Edey in the title game on Monday.
Newfoundland and Labrador’s Brad Gushue will again play for gold at the world men’s curling championship. Gushue and his team of Mark Nichols, E-J Harnden and Geoff Walker advanced to the championship final with a 9-4 semifinal win over Scotland’s Bruce Mouat yesterday. Gushue will face Sweden’s Niklas Edin in the final match this morning at 10 am Atlantic time. It’s his fifth world championship final, but he’s won only once, in 2017.
Saturday’s Scoreboard
NHL
Pittsburgh 5 Tampa Bay 4
Boston 3 Florida 2 (OT)
Winnipeg 4 Minnesota 2
Chicago 3 Dallas 2
San Jose 3 St. Louis 2 (OT)
Toronto 4 Montreal 2
New Jersey 4 Ottawa 3
Columbus 6 Philadelphia 2
N.Y. Islanders 2 Nashville 0
Edmonton 4 Calgary 2
Los Angeles 6 Vancouver 3
Women’s World Hockey Championship at Utica, N.Y.
Germany 4 Japan 1
United States 5 Finland 3
NBA
L.A. Lakers 116 Cleveland 97
Brooklyn 113 Detroit 103
Philadelphia 116 Memphis 96
Denver 142 Atlanta 110
NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship Final Four at Phoenix
Purdue 63 NC State 50
UConn 86 Alabama 72
MLB
American League
Oakland 4 Detroit 0
Cleveland 3 Minnesota 1
N.Y. Yankees 9 Toronto 8
Texas 7 Houston 2
Kansas City 3 Chicago White Sox 0
L.A. Angels 2 Boston 1
National League
St. Louis 3 Miami 1
L.A. Dodgers 4 Chicago Cubs 1
Philadelphia 5 Washington 2
Cincinnati 9 N.Y. Mets 6
Atlanta 9 Arizona 8
San Diego 4 San Francisco 0
Interleague
Pittsburgh 5 Baltimore 4 (11 innings)
Seattle 5 Milwaukee 3
Tampa Bay 8 Colorado 6
MLS
Vancouver 4 Toronto FC 0
New York 2 Cincinnati 1
D.C. United 1 Columbus 1
Colorado 2 Miami 2
Atlanta 1 New York City FC 1
New England 1 Charlotte FC 0
Los Angeles FC 2 LA Galaxy 1
Austin FC 4 San Jose 3
Chicago 2 Houston 1
Real Salt Lake 1 Minnesota 1
Philadelphia 2 Nashville 1
FC Dallas 0 St Louis City 0
Seattle 5 CF Montréal 0
Sunday’s Schedule (All times Eastern)
NHL
Buffalo at Detroit, 1 p.m.
Minnesota at Chicago, 3:30 p.m.
Columbus at Carolina, 5 p.m.
Arizona at San Jose, 6 p.m.
Ottawa at Washington, 6 p.m.
Montreal at N.Y. Rangers, 7 p.m.
Nashville at New Jersey, 7 p.m.
St. Louis at Anaheim, 8 p.m.
Dallas at Colorado, 10 p.m.
Women’s World Hockey Championship at Utica, N.Y.
Canada vs Czechia, 3 p.m.
China vs Denmark, 7 p.m.
NBA
Cleveland at L.A. Clippers, 3:30 p.m.
Houston at Dallas, 3:30 p.m.
Miami at Indiana, 5 p.m.
Chicago at Orlando, 6 p.m.
New Orleans at Phoenix, 6 p.m.
Oklahoma City at Charlotte, 6 p.m.
Portland at Boston, 6 p.m.
Washington at Toronto, 6 p.m.
New York at Milwaukee, 7 p.m.
Philadelphia at San Antonio, 7 p.m.
Sacramento at Brooklyn, 7:30 p.m.
Utah at Golden State, 8:30 p.m.
Minnesota at L.A. Lakers, 10 p.m.
MLB
American League
Toronto (Francis 0-1) at N.Y. Yankees (Gil 0-0), 1:35 p.m.
Oakland (Boyle 0-1) at Detroit (Flaherty 0-0), 1:40 p.m.
Chicago White Sox (Crochet 1-1) at Kansas City (Marsh 1-0), 2:10 p.m.
Cleveland (McKenzie 0-1) at Minnesota (Ober 0-1), 2:10 p.m.
Boston (Houck 1-0) at L.A. Angels (Silseth 0-0), 4:07 p.m.
Houston (Blanco 1-0) at Texas (Dunning 1-0), 7:10 p.m.
National League
Arizona (Nelson 0-0) at Atlanta (Sale 0-0), 1:35 p.m.
Philadelphia (Sánchez 0-0) at Washington (Gore 0-0), 1:35 p.m.
N.Y. Mets (Manaea 0-0) at Cincinnati (Abbott 0-0), 1:40 p.m.
Miami (Meyer 0-0) at St. Louis (Gibson 1-0), 2:15 p.m.
L.A. Dodgers (Stone 0-0) at Chicago Cubs (Imanaga 1-0), 2:20 p.m.
San Diego (Waldron 0-1) at San Francisco (Webb 0-1), 4:05 p.m.
Interleague
Baltimore (Kremer 0-0) at Pittsburgh (Gonzales 0-0), 1:35 p.m.
Seattle (Hancock 1-0) at Milwaukee (Rea 1-0), 2:10 p.m.
Tampa Bay (Pepiot 0-1) at Colorado (Hudson 0-1), 3:10 p.m.
MLS
Portland at Sporting Kansas City, 1:45 p.m.