LOCAL SPORTS
University Sport:
A three-goal spree in the opening five minutes of the third period helped the X-Men defeat Acadia 4-2 at the Keating Centre. St. FX forward and Subway Player of the game Matthew Struthers had two goals and an assist. The X-Men have home ice advantage in the quarterfinal round after finishing in fourth place. The best of three series begins on Wednesday with the same two teams at the Keating Centre. Tickets for Game 1 will go on sale tomorrow morning at 9 am.
In Basketball, the Acadia Axewomen won their final home game of the season, defeating the X-Women 90–67 in Wolfville. With the win, Acadia remains at the top of the conference with a 14-3 record, while the loss brings St. FX to 3-15.
The X-Men remain at the top of the AUS standings after beating Acadia 95–74. David Muenkat led the way for the X-Men with 20 points. St. FX has games against Acadia and Saint Mary’s before heading to Halifax for the AUS Championship weekend beginning February 24.
NS Junior: The Antigonish Bulldogs remain atop the Sid Rowe Division after shutting out the Strait Pirates 4-0 in Port Hawkesbury. This afternoon, the Scotians play the Eagles in Eskasoni at 2.
Maritime Junior: The Pictou County Weeks Crushers picked up a 5-4 win over the Western Capitals in Summerside.
U15: Four goals in the final period drove the Novas to a 6-3 victory over the Valley Wildcats, while the Wearwell Bombers fell 3-1 to the Hurricanes. The teams continue their road trips today: the Bombers will face off with the New Scotland Storm at 11 am in Cole Harbour, then the Novas tangle with the Dartmouth Whalers at 2:15.
U18: The CB West Islanders host the Weeks Majors at 3pm.
Maritime Major Female League: A literal last-second goal lifted the CB Lynx to a 4-3 victory over the Northern Subway Selects in the first game of their playoff series. Game 2 begins at 1:30 this afternoon at the Hector Arena in Pictou.
Rural League: Pleasantdale 5 Outlaws 1, Heatherton 4 St. Croix 1
NATIONAL SPORTS
The Winnipeg Jets got four goals from their top guns and dumped the visiting Chicago Blackhawks 4-1. Blake Wheeler scored twice, while John Morrissey and Mark Scheifele — with his 32nd of the N-H-L season — added singles for the Jets, who won their second straight. Tyler Johnson scored for the Blackhawks.
Calle Rosen had two goals and Ryan O’Reilly scored in overtime to lift the St. Louis Blues to a 6-5 win over the Arizona Coyotes. The Blues snapped a five-game losing skid and improved to 8-and-3 in overtime. Clayton Keller had two goals for the Coyotes, who earned a point in their sixth consecutive game.
Mats Zuccarello and Frederick Gaudreau scored in a shootout and the struggling Minnesota Wild rallied to beat the New Jersey Devils 3-2. Joel Eriksson Ek and Ryan Hartman scored in regulation and Filip Gustavsson stopped 27 shots for the Wild, which ended a three-game slide. Tomas Tatar had a pair of goals for the Devils, whose three-game winning streak ended, but New Jersey is 10-1-and-2 in its last 13 games.
Nikola Jokic had 30 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists for his league-leading 20th triple-double and the short-handed Denver Nuggets handed the Charlotte Hornets their seventh straight N-B-A defeat, 119-105. The Nuggets snapped a string of four straight road losses. P-J Washington had 22 points and Gordon Hayward added 21 for the Hornets.
D’Angelo Russell had 15 points, six assists and five rebounds in his Lakers return after being acquired from Minnesota at the N-B-A trade deadline, Dennis Schroder scored 26 points, and Los Angeles beat the Golden State Warriors 109-103 in a rivalry missing the star power of injured greats LeBron James and Stephen Curry. Jordan Poole had 29 points and six assists for the Warriors.
Calgary’s Stephen Ames fired a final round 73 on Saturday to finish off a wire-to-wire victory at the Trophy Hassan 2 tournament in Morocco. Ames finished the three-round P-G-A Tour Champions event with a 9-under total of 210, five shots better than runner-up Mark Hensby of Australia. Ames earned 320-thousand-dollars U-S for the victory, which was his third career win on the Champions Tour. His last win was in 2021 at the Principal Charity Classic.
Saturday’s Games
NHL
Winnipeg 4 Chicago 1
Columbus 4 Toronto 3
Detroit 5 Vancouver 2
Calgary 7 Buffalo 2
Edmonton 6 Ottawa 3
Montreal 4 N.Y. Islanders 3 (OT)
Washington 2 Boston 1
Tampa Bay 3 Dallas 1
Colorado 5 Florida 3
N.Y. Rangers 6 Carolina 2
Nashville 2 Philadelphia 1 (OT)
St. Louis 6 Arizona 5 (OT)
Minnesota 3 New Jersey 2 (SO)
Los Angeles 6 Pittsburgh 0
NBA
Philadelphia 101 Brooklyn 98
Denver 119 Charlotte 105
Washington 127 Indiana 113
Miami 107 Orlando 103 (OT)
Atlanta 125 San Antonio 106
New York 126 Utah 120
Cleveland 97 Chicago 89
L.A. Lakers 109 Golden State 103
Sacramento 133 Dallas 128 (OT)
Sunday’s Games (All Times Eastern)
NFL Championship
Kansas City vs Philadelphia, 6:30 p.m.
NHL
Edmonton at Montreal, 12:30 p.m.
Seattle at Philadelphia, 1 p.m.
San Jose at Washington, 1:30 p.m.
Anaheim at Vegas, 3 p.m.
NBA
Memphis at Boston, 2 p.m.
Detroit at Toronto, 3 p.m.