LOCAL SPORTS
AUS: The nationally 8th ranked X-Men Basketball team played a trio of exhibition games at the Laval Rouge et Or Tournament in Quebec. The X-Men posted a 3-0 record with wins over Laval, Ottawa and Winnipeg. The X-Men currently sit tied for second place in the AUS conference with a 5-3 record. They are back in action Friday night when they host the first place Memorial Sea-Hawks at Coach K Court at the St. FX Saputo Centre.
The X-Women were also in Laval, but went 0-3, dropping games to Laval, Windsor and Guelph. They currently sit seventh in the AUS conference with a 2-6 record. They will also host Memorial at the Saputo Centre on Friday.
MHL: The Pictou County Weeks Crushers took it all the way to a shootout before defeating the Summerside Western Capitals 4-3.
U18: The Pictou Weeks Majors defeated the Rush 6-5 in overtime, while the CB West Islanders lost 5-4 to the Cole Harbour Wolfpack. The teams meet again in Cole Harbour at 10 am.
Maritime Major Female League: The Northern Selects remain atop the standings after a dominating 7-1 victory over the Western Wind on PEI.
NATIONAL SPORTS
Derek Ryan’s goal in the fourth round of a shootout gave the visiting Edmonton Oilers a 3-2 come-from-behind victory over the Los Angeles Kings. Adrian Kempe and Kevin Fiala had given the Kings a 2-0 lead before the Oilers stormed back with goals from Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. The Oilers have won four straight games.
Artemi Panarin scored three goals, Igor Shesterkin made 34 saves on his 28th birthday, and the NHL-leading New York Rangers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-1. Vincent Trocheck had a goal and three assists for the Rangers, who are the first team to reach 50 points. N-H-L points leader Nikita Kucherov scored his 25th goal for the Lightning.
Sebastian Aho had one goal and two assists in leading the visiting Carolina Hurricanes to a 3-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. It was the Canes’ third straight win. Timothy Liljegren and Nicholas Robertson scored for the Leafs, who have dropped five of their last six games. Elsewhere, the Florida Panthers won their fourth straight by beating the visiting Montreal Canadiens 4-1, and the Winnipeg Jets dumped the visiting Minnesota Wild 4-2.
The Detroit Pistons’ 28-game losing skid is history. The host Pistons edged the short-handed Toronto Raptors 129-127. Cade Cunningham scored 30 points as the Pistons ended their record-tying streak. The Pistons, who hadn’t won since October 28th, matched the Philadelphia 76ers’ record of 28, split over the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons. Pascal Siakam scored 35 points for the struggling Raptors, while Dennis Schroder added 30.
Anthony Edwards scored 31 points, Naz Reid added 21 off the bench and Minnesota held on to beat the Los Angeles Lakers 108-106 on LeBron James’ 39th birthday. Anthony Davis had 33 points for Los Angeles, which has lost seven of 10 since winning the N-B-A’s In-Season Tournament. James, who was questionable for the game with a non-COVID illness, added 26 points.
Dak Prescott threw for 345 yards and two touchdowns and the Dallas Cowboys stopped the Detroit Lions on the third try of a two-point conversion with 23 seconds remaining, preserving a 20-19 N-F-L victory on Saturday to extend their home winning streak to 16 games. On the first conversion try after Jared Goff’s 11-yard touchdown pass to Amon-Ra Saint Brown, Goff completed a pass to lineman Taylor Decker, but the Lions were called for illegal touching.
Saturday’s Scoreboard
NHL
Edmonton 3 Los Angeles 2 (SO)
Winnipeg 4 Minnesota 2
Carolina 3 Toronto 2
Florida 4 Montreal 1
Buffalo 3 Columbus 2 (OT)
N.Y. Rangers 5 Tampa Bay 1
Nashville 3 Washington 2 (SO)
Boston 5 New Jersey 2
Pittsburgh 4 St. Louis 2
World Junior Hockey Preliminary round at Gothenburg, Sweden
Switzerland 6 Norway 2
Latvia 6 Germany 2
Spengler Cup Semifinals at Davos, Switzerland
Davos 4 Frolunda 3 (OT)
Dynamo Pardubice 4 Canada 3
NBA
Detroit 129 Toronto 127
Utah 117 Miami 109
Indiana 140 New York 126
Minnesota 108 L.A. Lakers 106
Chicago 105 Philadelphia 92
Dallas 132 Golden State 122
NFL
Dallas 20 Detroit 19
Sunday’s Games (All times Eastern)
NHL
Winnipeg at Minnesota, 2 p.m.
Boston at Detroit, 5 p.m.
Buffalo at Ottawa, 6 p.m.
N.Y. Islanders at Pittsburgh, 6 p.m.
Montreal at Tampa Bay, 7 p.m.
Edmonton at Anaheim, 8 p.m.
Philadelphia at Calgary, 8 p.m.
Chicago at Dallas, 8 p.m.
San Jose at Colorado, 8 p.m.
World Junior Hockey Preliminary round at Gothenburg, Sweden
Slovakia vs. United States, 6 a.m.
Finland vs. Sweden, 8:30 a.m.
Switzerland vs. Czechia. 11 a.m.
Germany vs. Canada, 1:30 p.m.
Spengler Cup Final at Davos, Switzerland
Davos vs. Dynamo Pardubice, 6:10 a.m.
NBA
Atlanta at Washington, 3 p.m.
Boston at San Antonio, 7 p.m.
Brooklyn at Oklahoma City, 7 p.m.
L.A. Lakers at New Orleans, 7 p.m.
Orlando at Phoenix, 8 p.m.
Sacramento at Memphis, 8 p.m.
NFL
Arizona at Philadelphia, 1 p.m.
Atlanta at Chicago, 1 p.m.
Carolina at Jacksonville, 1 p.m.
L.A. Rams at N.Y. Giants, 1 p.m.
Las Vegas at Indianapolis, 1 p.m.
Miami at Baltimore, 1 p.m.
New England at Buffalo, 1 p.m.
New Orleans at Tampa Bay, 1 p.m.
San Francisco at Washington, 1 p.m.
Tennessee at Houston, 1 p.m.
Pittsburgh at Seattle, 4:05 p.m.
Cincinnati at Kansas City, 4:25 p.m.
L.A. Chargers at Denver, 4:25 p.m.
Green Bay at Minnesota, 8:20 p.m.