THURSDAY SPORTS: STREAKS CONTINUE IN THE DESERT

NHL

MAPLE LEAFS 6 COYOTES 3

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Auston Matthews scored his 50th and 51st goals of the season in his hometown to break a tie as the fastest U.S.-born player to reach 50 and help the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the crumbling Arizona Coyotes 6-3 on Wednesday night.

Matthews’ milestone goal came on a power play 5:01 into the game, his 54th game of the season — making him the fastest player to score 50 in a season since Mario Lemieux did it in 50 games in 1995-96. Wayne Gretzky holds the record, scoring his 50th in his 39th game for Edmonton in 1981-82. Matthews shared the previous U.S.-born mark with Kevin Stevens at 62 games.

Matthews scored off a rebound in the second period to make it 4-2. The 26-year-old center from nearby Scottsdale has nine goals in his last four games and 350 in his career in 535 games.

William Nylander also scored twice for the Maple Leafs, who won their fifth in a row and are 9-0-2 in their last 11. Bobby McMann and John Tavares also scored for Toronto, and Ilya Samsonov stopped 23 shots.

Matias Maccelli, Barrett Hayton and Dylan Guenther scored for the Coyotes. Arizona has lost 11 straight.

BRUINS 6, OILERS 5, OT

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Charlie McAvoy scored on a power play at 3:10 of overtime to lift Boston past Edmonton after the Bruins blew a three-goal lead.

Morgan Geekie, Brad Marchand, Trent Frederic, Jake DeBrusk and David Pastrnak also scored for Boston.

Warren Foegele scored twice and Mattias Janmark, Corey Perry and Zach Hyman added goals for Edmonton. The Oilers had won eight in a row at home.

DeBrusk made it 4-1 with six minutes left in the second before the Oilers rallied. Boston regained the lead at 5-4 with 7:19 left when Pastrnak scored his 36th of the season, but Edmonton tied it again on Hyman’s goal 42 seconds later.

FLYERS 3, BLACKHAWKS 1

CHICAGO (AP) — Travis Konecny, Travis Sanheim and Garent Hathaway scored, Samuel Ersson made 22 saves and Philadelphia beat Chicago.

Philadelphia is 5-1-1 in its last seven games. Chicago, last overall in the NHL, has lost 10 of 11.

Colin Blackwell scored for Chicago. Arvid Soderblom stopped 30 shots.

The Flyers’ puck-control attack and stingy defense limited Chicago’s chances. Philadelphia allowed 40 shots Saturday in a 6-3 outdoor loss to New Jersey.

BLUE JACKETS 7, DUCKS 4

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Yegor Chinakhov scored the tiebreaking goal early in the third period and Columbus blew a four-goal lead before rallying to beat Anaheim.

Sean Kuraly got his second goal of the night 49 seconds after Chinakhov’s score for Columbus, which finished its three-game California trip with two victories. Boone Jenner had two early assists and got an empty-net goal with 32 seconds left for his fifth goal in five games.

Zach Werenski scored two goals in the first period and Johnny Gaudreau ended his 17-game goal drought for the Jackets, who snapped their five-game losing streak against Anaheim.

The Ducks trailed 4-0 before they tied it up in an 11-minute burst to close the second period, with Mason McTavish getting two of the four goals. Alex Killorn made it 4-4 with a short-handed goal 24 seconds before the second intermission.

SABRES 3, CANADIENS 2

MONTREAL (AP) — Alex Tuch scored short-handed to break a second-period tie in Buffalo’s victory over Montreal.

Zemgus Girgensons and Jeff Skinner also scored and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 29 saves to help the Sabres improve to 25-27-4. Skinner has 27 goals against the Canadiens, the second-most among active players behind Alex Ovechkin (38).

Arber Xhekaj and Jayden Struble scored for Montreal and Sam Montembeault made 20 saves. Montreal has lost three straight and five of six to fall to 22-26-8.

SCOTTIES

CALGARY – Rachel Homan (6-0) locked in a playoff berth early at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts with a commanding 10-3 win over B.C.’s Clancy Grandy on Wednesday to secure a booking in the round of six in Calgary.

Alberta’s Selena Sturmay and defending champion Kerri Einarson (6-1), and Manitoba’s Jennifer Jones (5-1), were also playoff bound. The race for the third and final berth in each pool has extended into Thursday.

Sturmay (6-1) vaulted into playoffs via a come-from-behind 10-9 win in an extra end over Northern Ontario in the morning draw before dropping an 8-7 decision to Newfoundland and Labrador at night.

Einarson scored a deuce in the 10th end to edge Manitoba’s Kaitlyn Lawes 6-5.

B.C.’s Corryn Brown and Northern Ontario’s Krista McCarville (4-3) stayed in Pool A’s playoff hunt.

Saskatchewan’s Skylar Ackerman (4-4) fell 10-4 to Brown, while McCarville was a 6-4 winner over Quebec’s Laurie St-Georges tied with Lawes (3-4).

MLS/SOCCER

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL – Robert Taylor’s goal in the 39th minute set the tone, Diego Gómez added an insurance score in the 83rd minute and Inter Miami — to start Lionel Messi’s first full season with the club — opened the 29th season of MLS with a 2-0 win over Real Salt Lake on Wednesday night.

Messi was in midseason form, darting through and around defenders, almost giving the sellout crowd what they wanted to see by nearly scoring on a free kick and then a corner kick midway through the first half.

LANGFORD, B.C. – Orlando City SC beat the Cavalry FC 3-0 in CONCACAF Champions Champions Cup action at Starlight Stadium on Wednesday.

Facundo Torres had two goals while Duncan McGuire scored the opener, and eventual winner, for the U.S. side.

The opening leg of the first-round game was played on the artificial turf of Starlight Stadium in Langford, B.C., rather than Cavalry’s home venue of ATCO Field at Spruce Meadows due to the Alberta winter.

Cavalry opens the CPL regular season April 13 at Forge with its home opener not until April 28.

NFL

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Former NFL running back Marshawn Lynch resolved a drunken driving case without a trial or DUI conviction Wednesday, 18 months after police found him asleep in the driver’s seat of a damaged luxury sports car in Las Vegas.

A city judge accepted an agreement that did not involve plea, according to a court document and Lynch’s attorneys, David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld.

Lynch, 37, agreed to attend DUI traffic school and pay a $1,140 fine and will avoid a misdemeanor DUI conviction if he completes 200 hours of community service, attends a victim impact panel, undergoes an alcohol evaluation and remains out of trouble for one year. Misdemeanor charges of failure to drive in a travel lane and driving an unregistered vehicle were dismissed.

(Canadian Press)