SATURDAY SPORTS: RUSH HIT JACKPOT IN VEGAS

Friday night, the Saskatchewan Rush topped the Desert Dogs 17-5 at Michelob ULTRA Arena at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

Ryan Keenan finished with a career high 10-point night. Patrick Dodds was spectacular with seven assists. Goaltender Frank Scigliano made 38 saves in the win. 

Next up, the Saskatchewan Rush will face the Albany Firewolves on New Year’s Eve. 

NHL

NEW YORK (AP) – David Pastrnak scored in the third round of a shootout to give the Boston Bruins a 5-4 National Hockey League victory over the New York Islanders on Friday night.

Elsewhere in the NHL:

RANGERS 5 DUCKS 1

NEW YORK (AP) – Chris Kreider scored twice to move into third place on New York’s career goals list, Jonathan Quick made 28 saves to continue his stellar start and the Rangers beat Anaheim.

SABRES 5 GOLDEN KNIGHTS 2

LAS VEGAS (AP) – Casey Mittelstadt scored twice in Buffalo’s four-goal third period, Devon Levi made 32 saves and the Sabres rallied to beat Vegas.

STARS 5 SENATORS 4

DALLAS (AP) – Miro Heiskanen and Matt Duchene scored 44 seconds apart in the third period, and Dallas beat short-handed Ottawa after Stars goalie Jake Oettinger departed with a lower-body injury.

COYOTES 1 SHARKS 0

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) – Connor Ingram made 21 saves for his third shutout of the season, Matias Maccelli scored and Arizona beat San Jose to end a four-game losing streak.

PREDATORS 6 HURRICANES 5 (OT)

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – Filip Forsberg scored his third overtime goal of the season 35 seconds into the extra session to lift Nashville past Carolina.

WHL

Lethbridge, Alta. – The Regina Pats began their three game Alberta road trip with a convincing 5-2 win over the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Friday inside the Enmax Centre.

The Pats have now won three of their last four games. Dru Mushumanski (2G-1A), Braxton Whitehead (3A) and Carson Haynes (2G) led the way offensively for the Pats tonight while Kelton Pyne made 34 saves for his third straight win and seventh win of the season. Tanner Howe also scored his team leading 18th of the season, which opened the scoring two minutes into the contest.

Brayden Edwards (1G-1A) and Noah Chadwick scored for the Hurricanes while Koen Cleaver made 22 saves as Lethbridge dropped their third straight game.

“We knew we have a long trip in front of us and we didn’t want to get ahead of ourselves, so we really put a focus on the three periods tonight. It was a great team win for us. From our goaltender, to our defence and to our forwards. We got some contributions from throughout our lineup and some timely goal scoring.” – Assistant Coach Evan McFeeters

MOOSE JAW, Sask. – The Kamloops Blazers, who hosted and played in the 2023 Memorial Cup, have had a rough followup to that Western Hockey League feel-good story.

The Blazers, last in the B.C. Division this season with 19 points, rolled the clock back to better days on Friday by upsetting the Moose Jaw Warriors 5-3 in Saskatchewan.

Ashton Ferster scored twice for the Blazers (8-20-3-2), who were tied 1-1 after the first period but took a 3-1 lead into the final frame.

Shea Van Olm, Jordan Keller and Kai Matthew also scored for the Blazers.

Atley Calvert scored twice for the Warriors (17-14-0-2), while Pavel McKenzie netted a single.

The Blazers outshot the Warriors 44-42.

NFL

There are three games in the NFL on Saturday. The Minnesota Vikings visit the Cincinnati Bengals in a battle of 7-6 teams; the Pittsburgh Steelers visit the Indianapolis Colts in another battle of 7-6 teams; and the 7-6 Denver Broncos visit the 9-4 Detroit Lions.

CURLING

SASKATOON – Kerri Einarson and her foursome from Gimli, Man., scored a single in the eighth end to edge Delaney Strouse’s crew from Traverse City, Mich., 5-4 on Friday in the WFG Masters at Merlis Belsher Place.

With the win, Einarson extended her playoff streak in the Grand Slam of Curling series to 11 events following the final women’s round-robin draw Friday.

Einarson finished first among the nine teams tied with 2-2 records and earned the No. 5 playoff seed by virtue of a closest-to-the-button skills contest.

Elsewhere in Friday’s 15th draw, Winnipeg’sJennifer Jones edged Stefania Constantini of Italy 9-7 in an extra end, Winnipeg’s Kate Cameron beat Eun-Ji Gim of South Korea 5-4, and Tabitha Peterson from the U.S. topped Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa 8-6.

Jones and Gim, both at 3-1, are through to Saturday’s quarterfinals. Ottawa’s Rachel Homan and Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland wrapped up round-robin play in the morning draw and are also taking 3-1 records into the playoffs.

Only a total of three women’s games could be set for the Saturday morning tiebreaker draw as one tiebreaker game is guaranteed on the men’s side.

Sweden’s Isabella Wran will play Fujisawa, Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg will face Strouse and Kim will take on Peterson.

Cameron and Kaitlyn Lawes, also of Winnipeg, were both eliminated despite their 2-2 records as they had the worst shootout scores.

Tirinzoni, Jones and Homan will await the tiebreaker winners in Saturday’s quarterfinals, while Gim will go up against Einarson.

On the men’s side, Brad Gushue and his St. John’s, N.L. crew advanced to Saturday’s quarterfinals with a 3-1 record following a 5-4 win over Brendan Bottcher’s Calgary-based crew.

Switzerland’s Yannick Schwaller also advanced with a 3-1 record after beating Ross Whyte of Scotland 7-4. And Magnus Ramsfjell of Norway advanced to the quarterfinals with a 3-1 record after edging Korey Dropkin of the U.S. 4-3.

Whyte will play Nicklas Edin of Sweden on Saturday morning in a tiebreaker.

In Friday’s late draw, James Craik of Scotland beat Kevin Koe of Calgary 7-5; Joel Retornaz of Italy defeated Edin 7-5 to improve to 3-1; Cameron Bryce of Scotland beat Reid Carruthers of Winnipeg 7-3, who finished 3-1; and Matt Dunstone of Winnipeg beat Bruce Mouat of Scotland 7-6 in an extra end to finish 3-1.

(Canadian Press)

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

BROOKINGS, S.D. (AP) – Mark Gronowski threw for three touchdowns, Isaiah Davis ran for two and Tucker Large returned a punt for a score – all in the first half – and defending national champion South Dakota State rolled back into the FCS championship game with a 59-0 win over Albany on Friday night.

After the dominant first half, Jason Freeman had a 34-yard scoop-and-score on the second play of the third quarter that made it 42-0 for the Jackrabbits.

That was the fourth turnover, to go with three turnover on downs, for the Great Danes, who were outgained by 221 yards in total offense in the first half.

Top-seeded South Dakota State (14-0), which has won 28-straight wins, faces the winner of Saturday’s game between North Dakota State and second-seeded Montana in the championship on Jan. 7 in Frisco, Texas. The Jackrabbits beat NDSU 45-21 in the title game last year and 33-16 in a Missouri Valley Football Conference matchup on Nov. 4.