TUESDAY SPORTS PAGE

The Edmonton Stingers came into the Canada Life Centre and picked up a 97-68 statement win over the Winnipeg Sea Bears on Monday night. The Stingers improve to 2-3 to begin the season, while the Sea Bears have their winning streak snapped and fall to 4-2. 

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MVP Nikola Jokic guided Denver to its first NBA title in franchise history on Monday, as the Nuggets overcame poor shooting and a late flurry from Miami’s Jimmy Butler to squeeze past the visiting Heat 94-89. The Nuggets won the best-of-seven series in five games. Jokic had 28 points and 16 rebounds, while teammate Jamal Murray of Kitchener, Ontario scored 14 points and added eight rebounds and eight assists. Butler led the visiting Heat with 21 points.

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Ryan Huska says he will have a captain, expect a much better season from a number of key players such as Nazem Kadri and Jonathan Huberdeau, and push to make the playoffs. Calgary’s newest head coach, who served the past five seasons as a Flames assistant, said Monday he wants to make a number of positive changes as he takes over from the fired Darryl Sutter. The Flames, who missed the playoffs by two points this year, have changed head coaches five times in eight years.

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The Vegas Golden Knights will have extra motivation for tonight’s fifth game of the Stanley Cup final against the visiting Florida Panthers. The Cup will be at T-Mobile Arena to be presented for the first time to the six-year-old Golden Knights should they win. Vegas leads the best-of-seven series 3-1.

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Mitch Haniger drove in two runs and Brandon Crawford hit a tie-breaking R-B-I single in the eighth inning to lead the visiting San Francisco Giants to a 4-3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday. Wilmer Flores had three hits for the Giants, who have won five of seven. Paul Goldschmidt and Paul DeJong homered for St. Louis, which has lost 10 of its last 13 games.

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Spencer Torkelson sparked a three-run, ninth-inning rally against Raisel Iglesias with a two-run homer and hit a game-ending single in the 10th, lifting Detroit over the Atlanta Braves 6-5 on Monday night to stop the Tigers’ nine-game losing streak. Andy Ibanez began the comeback from a 4-0 deficit with a seventh-inning homer as Detroit improved to 7-and-3 in extra-inning games this season.

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Nick Pivetta walked Randal Grichuk to force in the go-ahead run in the 10th inning, first baseman Triston Casas booted a potential inning-ending grounder and the Colorado Rockies beat the Boston Red Sox 4-3 on Monday night in a matchup of last-place teams. The game was rain delayed for one hour, 29 minutes after Colorado scored twice in the top of the 10th, giving the Rockies a similar victory to a day earlier.

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Golfers Billy Horschel and Justin Thomas aren’t expecting the pace of play to speed up for this year’s US Open, which tees off Thursday at the Los Angeles Country Club. They point to two key reasons: One is the 284-yard 7th hole, the other is the 290-yard 11th hole. Defending champion Matt Fitzpatrick agreed, saying it will likely take five hours to get around the course each day.

(CEBL Comms, Canadian Press)