LOCAL SPORTS
AUS: The X-Women are hosting Keltic Spring Cup Women’s Soccer cup this weekend. Play starts tonight, with UNB vs. Dalhousie at 5 p.m. and the X-Women vs Acadia at 7. The Keltic Plate Consolation Final is tomorrow at 11a.m. featuring the losers of Friday’s games. The Keltic Cup Championship Game will follow at 1 pm.
The Antigonish U11A Bulldogs play the Sydney Steelers for the North Conference Final today at 2 p.m. at the Membertou Sport and Wellness Centre. The winner advances to the Day of Champions.
The Pictou County Wellness Centre is the site this weekend of the U15 AA Provincials. In action yesterday, The Halifax Hawks defeated Pictou County 4-3, the TASA Ducks edged out Cumberland 2-1, the Antigonish Bulldogs & Yarmouth Mariners fought to a 3-3 draw, and the Northside Vikings tied the Hawks 4-4. Play continues through the day, beginning with the Bulldogs vs the Ducks at 8am, followed by the Mariners & Hawks at 10am.
Rural League: Finals continue tonight at the Arena with Game 5 at 7 pm. Heatherton leads Pleasantdale 3-1 in the series. Game 6, if necessary, will be played Sunday at 7 p.m.
NATIONAL SPORTS
Jamie Benn’s power-play goal at 16:52 of the third period snapped a 1-1 tie, lifting the visiting Dallas Stars to a 3-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks. Jason Robertson also scored an empty-net goal for the Stars, who won their sixth straight game. J-T Miller scored for the Canucks, who have dropped two in a row.
Connor McDavid scored a goal and added two assists as the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Los Angeles Kings 4-1 in a Pacific Division showdown. Leon Draisaitl had three helpers and Evan Bouchard had a goal and an assist for the Oilers. Arthur Kaliyev scored for the Kings, who had their four-game win streak halted.
Pavel Buchnevich scored twice as the St. Louis Blues doused the visiting Calgary Flames 5-3. Zack Bolduc, Jake Neighbours and Brandon Saad also scored for the Blues, while Andrei Kuzmenko scored twice for the Flames, who have lost five straight games.
Ivan Barbashev’s pair of late goals propelled the visiting Vegas Golden Knights to a 4-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets, who have now lost five straight, matching a season-high skid from late January. Jack Eichel had an empty-net goal and Pavel Dorofeyev also scored for the Golden Knights, who were playing the third contest of a four-game road trip.
Dejounte Murray scored a career-high 44 points, including a go-ahead jumper in the final second of overtime to power the Atlanta Hawks to a 123-122 N-B-A victory over the visiting Boston Celtics. Murray scored all of Atlanta’s 11 points in the extra period to give the Hawks their second win over Boston in four days. Jayson Tatum led Boston with 31 points and 13 rebounds.
George Springer, Cavan Biggio and Vladimir Guerrero Junior homered to lead the Toronto Blue Jays to a season-opening 8-2 victory over the host Tampa Bay Rays. Alejandro Kirk and Bo Bichette drove in two runs apiece for the Jays. Toronto starter Jose Berríos gave up a leadoff homer to Yandy Díaz before settling down to strike out six batters over six innings.
Thursday’s Scoreboard
NHL
Edmonton 4 Los Angeles 1
Toronto 5 Washington 1
Montreal 3 Philadelphia 1
Dallas 3 Vancouver 1
Ottawa 2 Chicago 0
St. Louis 5 Calgary 3
Vegas 4 Winnipeg 1
Pittsburgh 3 Columbus 2
N.Y. Islanders 3 Florida 2
Carolina 4 Detroit 0
Minnesota 3 San Jose 1
N.Y. Rangers 3 Colorado 2 (SO)
Seattle 4 Anaheim 2
Arizona 8 Nashville 4
MLB
American League
Toronto 8 Tampa Bay 2
N.Y. Yankees 5 Houston 4
Baltimore 11 L.A. Angels 3
Detroit 1 Chicago White Sox 0
Minnesota 4 Kansas City 1
Cleveland 8 Oakland 0
Boston 6 Seattle 4
National League
San Diego 6 San Francisco 4
L.A. Dodgers 7 St. Louis 1
Pittsburgh 6 Miami 5 (12 innings)
Cincinnati 8 Washington 2
Arizona 16 Colorado 1
Atlanta at Philadelphia, ppd.
Milwaukee at N.Y. Mets, ppd.
Interleague
Texas 4 Chicago Cubs 3 (10 innings)
NBA
Atlanta 123 Boston 122 (OT)
New Orleans 107 Milwaukee 100
Friday’s Games (All times Eastern)
NHL
New Jersey at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
MLB
American League
Toronto (Bassitt 0-0) at Tampa Bay (Civale 0-0), 6:50 p.m.
N.Y. Yankees (Rodón 0-0) at Houston (Javier 0-0), 8:10 p.m.
Boston (Pivetta 0-0) at Seattle (Kirby 0-0), 9:40 p.m.
Cleveland (Allen 0-0) at Oakland (Stripling 0-0), 9:40 p.m.
National League
Milwaukee (Peralta 0-0) at N.Y. Mets (Quintana 0-0), 1:40 p.m.
Atlanta (Strider 0-0) at Philadelphia (Wheeler 0-0), 3:05 p.m.
Pittsburgh (Pérez 0-0) at Miami (Puk 0-0), 7:10 p.m.
Colorado (Quantrill 0-0) at Arizona (Kelly 0-0), 9:40 p.m.
San Francisco (Harrison 0-0) at San Diego (Musgrove 0-0), 9:40 p.m.
St. Louis (Thompson 0-0) at L.A. Dodgers (Miller 0-0), 10:10 p.m.
NBA
Detroit at Washington, 7 p.m.
Golden State at Charlotte, 7 p.m.
L.A. Clippers at Orlando, 7 p.m.
L.A. Lakers at Indiana, 7 p.m.
Chicago at Brooklyn, 7:30 p.m.
Philadelphia at Cleveland, 7:30 p.m.
New York at San Antonio, 8 p.m.
Phoenix at Oklahoma City, 8 p.m.
Portland at Miami, 8 p.m.
Minnesota at Denver, 9 p.m.
Houston at Utah, 9:30 p.m.
Dallas at Sacramento, 10 p.m.