SUNDAY SPORTS: STARS HONOUR MODANO, WHL, USPORTS, CURLING ROUND-UP
Photo: Dallas Stars
NHL
STARS 4 KINGS 1
DALLAS (AP) — Scott Wedgewood made 27 saves to win a matchup of backup goaltenders and defenceman Thomas Harley had a goal and an assist to help lead the Dallas past Los Angeles.
Meanwhile the Stars unveiled a statue of Hockey Hall of Famer Mike Modano during Saturday night’s home game against the Los Angeles Kings.
Modano is the franchise leader in goals, assists and games played.
“It’s hard to put into words what this has meant,” Modano said after wiping away tears following a one-minute standing ovation. “Thirty years ago we got on a plane in 1993 to come here (when the Minnesota North Stars moved to Dallas) and didn’t know what to expect. Five years later we gave you a Stanley Cup in 1999. … We feel we’ve turned Dallas into a hockey town.”
Elsewhere in the NHL on Saturday:
AVALANCHE 3 OILERS 2 (OT)
EDMONTON, Alta. (AP) — Artturi Lehkonen scored with one second remaining in overtime and Colorado battled their way to their sixth straight win, beating the Edmonton Oilers Saturday night at Rogers Place.
Nathan MacKinnon sent the puck across to a hard-charging Lehkonen, who scored his 12th of the season. With the assist, MacKinnon extended his points streak to 15 games.
Warren Foegele and Sam Carrick scored for the Oilers, who had won two in a row. Connor McDavid was held without a point, ending his home points scoring streak at 26 games. Stuart Skinner stopped 40 shots.
RANGERS 7 PENGUINS 4
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Artemi Panarin had two goals and three assists, and the New York Rangers zoomed past the Pittsburgh Penguins for a 7-4 win.
Elsewhere in the NHL on Saturday:
—
BRUINS 6 FLYERS 5
BOSTON (AP) — Charlie Coyle scored the tying and go-ahead goals, John Beecher and Jake DeBrusk added insurance markers 19 seconds apart early in the third period, and Boston held off Philadelphia in a wild third period that included seven goals.
—
LIGHTNING 5 PANTHERS 3
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Steven Stamkos scored two goals, Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 47 shots and Tampa Bay beat Florida. The Lightning are now four points ahead of the Detroit Red Wings for the top wild card in the Eastern Conference.
—
CAPITALS 2 CANUCKS 1
VANCOUVER, B.C. (AP) — Alex Ovechkin scored his 841st career goal and Washington beat Vancouver. Ovechkin pulled 53 goals behind Wayne Gretzky for first place on the NHL’s career scoring list.
—
PREDATORS 4 KRAKEN 1
SEATTLE (AP) — Roman Josi scored twice in the first 10 minutes of the third period, Filip Forsberg scored his 35th of the season into an empty net with 1:20 left and Nashville extended their points streak to 14 games with a win over Seattle.
—
HURRICANES 5 MAPLE LEAFS 4 (SO)
TORONTO (AP) — Jake Guentzel scored in the shootout and Carolina rallied from two goals down late to beat Toronto. John Tavares had a goal and an assist, and William Nylander, Nick Robertson and David Kampf also scored for Toronto. Morgan Rielly had two assists and Ilya Samsonov made 36 saves.
—
SENATORS 4 ISLANDERS 3 (OT)
NEW YORK (AP) — Brady Tkachuk scored on the power play in overtime to complete a hat trick and Joonas Korpisalo made 30 saves to help the Ottawa beat the New York Islanders.
—
BLUES 3 WILD 2 (SO)
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jordan Kyrou and Brayden Schenn scored in the shootout, lifting St. Louis Blues over Minnesota.
—
RED WINGS 4 SABRES 1
DETROIT (AP) — Patrick Kane scored a tiebreaking goal late in the second period and James Reimer stopped 25 shots, lifting Detroit over Buffalo in a matchup of teams vying for a wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
—
FLAMES 5 CANADIENS 2
CALGARY, Alta. (AP) — Mikael Backlund had two goals and an assist, and Calgary beat Montreal in the first game since coach Martin St. Louis took an indefinite leave because of family reasons.
Nazem Kadri had a goal and an assist, helping Calgary to its second straight victory. Martin Pospisil and Daniil Miromanov also scored. The Flames remained in distant playoff contention with 15 games remaining in their regular season.
Dustin Wolf made 36 saves for his second straight win since Jacob Markstrom was sidelined by a lower-body injury. Markstrom is day to day.
—
BLUE JACKETS 4 SHARKS 2
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Alex Nylander scored twice and added an assist, Daniil Tarasov stopped 39 shots, and Columbus snapped a three-game losing streak with win over San Jose.
—
COYOTES 4 DEVILS 1
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Karel Vejmelka stopped 37 shots and Arizona rode a three-goal first period to a victory over New Jersey.
WHL
WARRIORS 6 BLADES 3
The Moose Jaw Warriors spotted the Saskatoon Blades a 3-0 first-period lead, then stormed back with six unanswered goals to beat the visitors 6-3 in Western Hockey League action on Saturday.
Jagger Firkus scored three goals for the Warriors — his 52nd, 53rd and 54th of the season — and added an assist.
Brayden Yager, Matthew Savoie and Brayden Schuurman also scored for the Warriors (42-20-0-3), who were outshot 36-29.
Easton Armstrong scored twice for the East Division-leading Blades (47-13-2-3), while Fraser Minten added a single. The Blades led 3-0 after the first period but trailed 4-3 heading into the third.
The Warriors went 2-for-5 on the power play, while the Blades were 1-for-3.
Elsewhere in the WHL on Saturday:
—
WINTERHAWKS 5 WILD 3
WENATCHEE, Wash. — Marcus Nguyen scored twice as the visiting Portland Winterhawks defeated the Wenatchee Wild 5-3.
—
COUGARS 10 ROYALS 4
VICTORIA, B.C. — Ondrej Becher scored four goals as the visiting Prince George Cougars thumped the Victoria Royals 10-4.
—
WHEAT KINGS 3 RAIDERS 2
BRANDON, Man. — Nolan Flamand scored the game-winning goal at 17:11 of the second period as the Brandon Wheat Kings edged the visiting Prince Albert Raiders.
—
TIGERS 4 BRONCOS 2
MEDICINE HAT, Alta. — Andrew Basha scored twice as the Medicine Hat Tigers defeated the visiting Swift Current Broncos 4-2.
—
GIANTS 9 BLAZERS 2
KAMLOOPS, B.C. — Cameron Schmidt scored three goals as the visiting Vancouver Giants blitzed the Kamloops Blazers 9-2.
—
HURRICANES 3 REBELS 2 (OT)
RED DEER, Alta. — Noah Chadwick scored at 2:35 of overtime as the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes edged the Red Deer Rebels 3-2.
—
CHIEFS 7 AMERICANS 6
SPOKANE, Wash. — Berkly Catton scored twice and added two assists as the Spokane Chiefs edged the visiting Tri-City Americans 7-6.
—
SILVERTIPS 4 ROCKETS 2
KELOWNA, B.C. — Julius Miettinen had a goal and two assists as the visiting Everett Silvertips edged the Kelowna Rockets 4-2.
USPORTS
SASKATOON – The Concordia Stingers of Montreal will be playing for a U Sports national women’s hockey championship after defeating the Waterloo Warriors 3-1 on Saturday.
Zoe Thibault, Courtney Rice and Jessymaude Drapeau scored for the top-seeded Stingers, who outshot the Warriors 40-20.
The Stingers will face Toronto in Sunday’s championship game after the Varsity Blues outlasted the Montreal Carabins 2-1 in a semifinal shootout on Saturday night.
TORONTO – Colton Kammerer and the New Brunswick Reds will have a shot at defending their Canadian university men’s hockey title and completing an unbeaten season.
Kammerer had a goal and two assists to lead the top-seeded Reds to a 7-0 semifinal win over the Toronto Metropolitan University Bold on Saturday. UNB will face the second-ranked Universite du Quebec a Trois-Rivières Patriotes in Sunday’s final.
—
WORLD WOMENS CURLING
Rachel Homan’s Team Canada had a successful opening day at the world women’s curling championship in Sydney, Nova Scotia. Homan defeated Anna Hasselborg of Sweden 7-6 in the first draw, then knocked off Madeleine Dupont of Denmark 7-4 in the later draw. Canada’s next game is tomorrow afternoon against Tabitha Peterson of the United States.
—
NLL
Saskatoon, SK – St.Patty’s Day lacrosse didn’t disappoint in Saskatchewan.
Saturday night (Mar.16) at SaskTel Centre, the Saskatchewan Rush defeated the New York Riptide 17-15 thanks to a few huge offensive performances.
Ryan Keenan finished the game with a team high seven points, while Jake Boudreau and Mike Triolo had hat tricks.
Next up, a rematch. The Rush and Riptide will meet in New York on Saturday, March 23rd. Faceoff is at 5:30PM Sask Time and fans can tune in to the game on 92.9 The Bull with Cody Janzen.
(SaskRush.com)
NFL
CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago Bears traded quarterback Justin Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers a 2025 sixth-round draft pick that could potentially become a fourth-rounder this year in return. The move is a strong signal the Bears will draft a QB — perhaps USC’s Caleb Williams — with the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. Fields figures to back up Russell Wilson, who signed a one-year deal with Pittsburgh on Friday.
GOLF
Xander Schauffele erased a four-shot deficit Saturday with another bogey-free round on a course where trouble is around every corner, capping off a 7-under 65 with a superb chip to save par and take a one-shot lead into the final round of The Players Championship.
U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark, who had a four-shot lead at the start and stretched it to five with a birdie on the opening hole, did well to make sure the deficit wasn’t greater.
They were tied going to the island green on the par-3 17th. Clark hit it so clunky that his wedge shot came up some 15 yards short of land. But he hit the next one to 7 feet and escaped with bogey, and then saved par on the 18th for a 70.
For a short time on a balmy afternoon, it looked like The Players could turn into a two-man race between Clark and Schauffele. But there were enough birdies, enough bold shots and big rallies, to suddenly make Sunday filled with possibilities.
MARCH MADNESS
As March Madness gets underway, more people than ever now can legally bet on sports. North Carolina became the latest state to allow online sports betting last week. A total of 38 states and the District of Columbia now allow some form of sports betting. That’s up from just one state, Nevada, where people could legally wager on games before a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling cleared the way for expansion. The American Gaming Association estimates $2.7 billion will be bet on the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments through legal sports betting operators.
(Canadian Press)
