MONDAY SPORTS PAGE: GOLD FOR CANADA
CURLING
Rachel Homan and her Ottawa-based team defeated Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni 7-5 on Sunday to win gold at the world women’s curling championship in Sydney, Nova Scotia. Homan scored three points in the decisive ninth end as Canada’s six-year title drought at this world event ended. It was Homan’s first world crown since taking gold at the 2017 playdowns in Beijing.
NHL
HURRICANES 2 MAPLE LEAFS 1
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Brady Skjei and Sebastian Aho scored as the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1 on Sunday night for their sixth win in seven games.
Elsewhere in the NHL on Sunday:
AVALANCHE 5 PENGUINS 4 (OT)
DENVER (AP) — Jonathan Drouin scored his second goal of the game 54 seconds into overtime, and Colorado rallied from a four-goal deficit to beat Pittsburgh 5-4 for their ninth straight win.
SENATORS 5 OILERS 3
OTTAWA, Ont. (AP) — Defenceman Jakob Chychrun broke a tie with 3:03 left with his second power-play goal of game to help Ottawa beat Edmonton 5-3.
CAPITALS 3 JETS 0
WASHINGTON (AP) — Alex Ovechkin scored twice to reach 26 goals this season, Charlie Lindgren stopped all 27 shots he faced and Washington beat Winnipeg 3-0 to move back into a playoff position. Ovechkin getting hot has fuelled Washington’s surge up the standings and reignited talk of him breaking Wayne Gretzky’s career goals record. He is 46 back.
DEVILS 4 ISLANDERS 0
NEW YORK (AP) — Jack Hughes and Timo Meier each had a goal and an assist, Kaapo Kahkonen made 37 saves in his first shutout of the season and New Jersey beat the New York Islanders 4-0.
PANTHERS 4 FLYERS 1
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Sam Reinhart scored two goals to reach 50 on the season, Brandon Montour added three assists and Florida snapped a four-game losing streak with a 4-1 victory over Philadelphia.
STARS 4 COYOTES 2
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Miro Heiskanen broke a tie with 5:28 left and Dallas won their fourth consecutive game, beating the Arizona 4-2.
LIGHTNING 3 DUCKS 2 (OT)
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Anthony Cirelli scored 59 seconds into overtime on a two-man breakaway to give Tampa Bay a 3-2 victory over Anaheim, extending the Lightning’s points streak to seven games.
CANADIENS 5 KRAKEN 1
SEATTLE (AP) — Alex Newhook scored twice and Montreal sent Seattle to its eighth straight loss 5-1.
SABRES 4 FLAMES 1
CALGARY, Alta. (AP) — Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 32 saves, Tage Thompson had a goal and an assist and Buffalo beat Calgary 4-1. Jonathan Huberdeau scored for Calgary, coming off a 4-2 loss at Vancouver on Saturday night. The Flames dropped to 33-32-5. Dustin Wolf made 25 saves for the Flames.
- Trea Turner and Alec Bohm drove in two early runs and the Philadelphia Phillies held on the rest of the way en route to a 2-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays in pre-season baseball action today. It was Toronto’s third loss in a row. The Blue Jays close out pre-season play tomorrow against Pittsburgh.
- Shohei Ohtani plans to speak to the media Monday for the first time since the illegal gambling and theft allegations involving the Los Angeles Dodgers star and his interpreter emerged during the team’s trip to South Korea. The interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, was fired by the Dodgers last week when the team opened the season with two games against the San Diego Padres in Seoul. Manager Dave Roberts says he’s glad Ohtani will “speak to what he knows and give his thoughts” on the situation. Ohtani received a huge cheer as he walked to the plate for the first time at Dodger Stadium on Sunday in the exhibition against his former team, the Los Angeles Angels.
- All eight top-two seeds are headed to the regional round for the fifth time. One double-digit seed will join them. Most of the Cinderellas that put the madness in March last year have already bowed out of the bracket. The bluebloods and big boys are headed to the Sweet 16.
- Last year’s Final Four was unlike any other, a bracket-busting foursome with no teams seeded better than No. 4 for the first time since the bracket expanded in 1979. This year, theupsets that punctuate March have been limited and the only true buzzer-beater was a tying 3-pointer by Texas A&M’s Andersson Garcia to force overtime against Houston. The average margin of victory the first two rounds was 15.8 points, second-highest since 1985.
GOLF
- PALM HARBOR, Fla. (AP) — Peter Malnati is a PGA Tour winner again and this time is going to the Masters. Malnati shot a 67 to win the Valspar Championship by two shots over hard-luck Cameron Young. It’s Malnati’s first win in more than eight years.
- PALOS VERDES ESTATES, Calif. (AP) — Nelly Korda won again on the LPGATour and made it far more exciting than it needed to be. Korda made bogey on her last two holes Sunday to fall into a playoff in the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship, and then ended it quickly with a 12-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole to beat Ryann O’Toole and return to No. 1 in the women’s world ranking.
NASCAR
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — William Bryon started on pole and delivered a dominant drive Sunday to win NASCAR’s first road race of the season at the Circuit of the Americas. The Daytona 500 winner earned his second win of the season and delivered the fourth in six races for Chevrolet. The Hendrick Motorsports driver led 42 of 68 laps and held off hard-charging Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell over the final two laps. Bell shaved nearly three seconds off Byron’s lead to create some late drama before Byron slammed the door over the final corners. Byron earned career win No. 12.
(Canadian Press)
