NEW YEARS DAY SPORTS: CANADA INTO THE PLAYOFFS, NLL, NHL, WHL WRAP

WORLD JUNIORS

Jordan Dumais scored the winner on a power play in the third period and Macklin Celebrini had two goals as Canada beat Germany 6-3 to wrap up the preliminary round at the world junior hockey championship today. Brayden Yager and Owen Beck, into an empty net, provided the rest of the offence for Canada, which lost 2-0 to Sweden on Friday and finished second in Group A.

The teams will have New Year’s Day off, then quarterfinal action begins Tuesday.

Canada (2-01-0) will face Czechia (2-0-1-1) in one quarterfinal game, while Finland (1-1-2-0) plays Slovakia (3-0-1-0), Latvia (1-03-0) faces the U.S. (3-1-0-0), and Switzerland (1-0-3-0) plays Sweden (3-0-0-1).

NLL

Saskatoon, SK – Sunday night at SaskTel Centre, 60 minutes wasn’t enough to settle the score between Saskatchewan and Albany on New Year’s Eve.

Ryan Keenan and Zach Manns had hat tricks, plus Frank Scigliano made 46 saves, but the Rush fell 11-10 in overtime.

Next up, the Rush will head to Philadelphia to take on the Wings on Saturday, January 13th. 

(SaskRush.com)

NHL

PITTSBURGH (AP) – Alex Nedeljkovic made 37 saves, Lars Eller scored twice and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the New York Islanders 3-1 on Sunday night in NHL action.

Elsewhere:

LIGHTNING 4 CANADIENS 3

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Calvin de Haan ended his 46-game goal drought with the tiebreaking score in the third period, and Tampa Bay rallied past Montreal.

SENATORS 5 SABRES 1

OTTAWA, Ont. (AP) – Anton Forsberg made 45 saves and Ottawa beat Buffalo in Senators interim coach Jacques Martin’s 1,300th NHL game.

JETS 3 WILD 2

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Dominic Toninato scored the tiebreaking goal in the third period and Winnipeg swept a weekend home-and-home series against Minnesota.

BRUINS 5 RED WINGS 3

DETROIT (AP) – Trent Frederic scored twice, Charlie Coyle had the go-ahead goal and Boston beat Detroit for its third straight win.

AVALANCHE 3 SHARKS 1

DENVER (AP) – Valeri Nichushkin scored a tiebreaking goal late in the third period and Colorado beat slumping San Jose.

FLAMES 4 FLYERS 3

CALGARY, Alta. (AP) – Mikael Backlund, Dennis Gilbert, Nazem Kadri and Blake Coleman scored and Calgary outlasted Philadelphia. Jacob Markstrom made 27 saves to help the Flames improve to 15-16-5. Andrew Mangiapane had three assists and Jonathan Huberdeau added an assist to snap a 12-game points drought.

OILERS 7 DUCKS 2

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) – Warren Foegele had two goals and a career-high five points, Leon Draisaitl scored for the third straight game and Edmonton extended its winning streak to five games.

STARS 7 BLACKHAWKS 1

DALLAS (AP) – Mason Marchment had three goals and an assist, Scott Wedgewood made 24 saves to improve to 11-2-2 and Dallas routed Chicago. Chicago’s Connor Bedard assisted on the power-play goal 39 seconds into the third period for his rookie-leading 33rd point.

WHL

PORTLAND, Ore. – Portland peppered 52 shots at Vancouver goalie Brett Mirwald and managed to beat him twice as the Winterhawks posted a 3-0 Western Hockey League victory over the visiting Vancouver Giants on Sunday night.

Elsewhere in the WHL on Sunday:

WILD 5 THUNDERBIRDS 1

WENATCHEE, Wash. – Briley Wood scored twice and Kenta Isogai chipped in with four assists as the Wenatchee Wild beat the visiting Seattle Thunderbirds 5-1.

CHIEFS 11 AMERICANS 3

KENNEWICK, Wash. – Chase Bertholet scored three times and added two assists as the visiting Spokane Chiefs crushed the Tri-City Americans 11-3.

NFL

Jordan Love threw three touchdown passes and ran for a major to put the Green Bay Packers in control of a spot in the NFL playoffs with a 33-10 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. Aaron Jones rushed for 120 yards and Jayden Reed had two touchdown catches for the Packers, who can snag the NFC’s final wild-card spot by beating the Chicago Bears at home next week.

Elsewhere in the NFL Sunday:

Buffalo 27 New England 21

Arizona 35 Philadelphia 31

San Francisco 27 Washington 10

Baltimore 56 Miami 19

Chicago 37 Atlanta 17

Jacksonville 26 Carolina 0

L.A. Rams 26 N.Y. Giants 25

Indianapolis 23 Las Vegas 20

New Orleans 23 Tampa Bay 13

Houston 26 Tennessee 3

Pittsburgh 30 Seattle 23

Kansas City 25 Cincinnati 17

Denver 16 L.A. Chargers 9

(CP)