Saturday Sports: Vegas Forces Game 7, Vancouver Advances, Blades Take Game 5

STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS (Round 1)

GOLDEN KNIGHTS 2, STARS 0

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Noah Hanifin broke a scoreless tie at 9:54 of the third period, Adin Hill stopped 23 shots and defending champion Vegas kept alive their season by beating Dallas to force Game 7.

The deciding game in the first-round series is Sunday in Dallas.

Mark Stone also scored on a empty-netter from near his own goal line.

This was a classic goalie duel, with Hill getting his first shutout since having two in three games in early November.

On the other side, Jake Oettinger made 28 saves and entered the game without giving up a goal in this series in the third period or overtime. Hanifin’s goal ended Oettinger’s streak at 60 saves.

CANUCKS 1 PREDATORS 0

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Pius Suter scored with 1:39 left and the Vancouver Canucks advanced to the second round of the NHL playoffs with a 1-0 victory over the Nashville Predators on Friday night in Game 6.

Vancouver’s Arturs Silovs made 28 saves to become the 14th rookie goalie in NHL history to finish off a series with a shutout and just the fifth in 30 years. He joined Akira Schmid (2023), Matt Murray (2017 against Nashville in the Stanley Cup Final winner), Carey Price (2008) and Ilya Bryzgalov (2006) in that select group.

Vancouver will play Edmonton in Round 2. The Oilers finished second behind the Canucks in the Pacific Division and beat the Los Angeles Kings in the first round.

The Canucks continued the streak started in Game 2 of the road team winning each of the final five games. They won their first playoff series outside the pandemic bubble since 2011 when Vancouver reached the Stanley Cup Final, a run that included a Game 6 win over the Preds in Nashville.

• The Toronto Maple Leafs visit Boston for a winner-take-all contest against the Bruins Saturday night. Toronto has won the last two games to even the first-round series at 3-3 without star centre Auston Matthews who was out with an illness. The Leafs have only won a series after being down 3-1 once in franchise history, back in 1942.
• Rick Bowness of the Winnipeg Jets, Rick Tocchet of the Vancouver Canucks and Andrew Brunette of the Nashville Predators are the finalists for this season’s Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year. Bowness guided Winnipeg to a fourth-overall finish with a 52-24-and-6 record. Tocchet helped the Canucks finish first in the Pacific Division with a 50-23-and-9 record, and Brunette led Nashville to a 47-30-and-5 record in his first season coaching the Predators. 

WHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINAL

Fraser Minten capped a two-goal effort with the game-winning goal 18:15 into overtime as the Saskatoon Blades topped the Moose Jaw Warriors 5-4 on Friday in Western Hockey League playoff action.

Egor Sidorov, Charlie Wright and Brandon Lisowsky also scored for Saskatoon, which took a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven third-round series.

Evan Gardner made 39 saves.

Denton Mateychuk, with two goals, Brayden Schuurman and Jagger Firkus replied for Moose Jaw, which scored four unanswered goals to force overtime after entering the third period down 4-0.

Jackson Unger surrendered four goals on 17 shots before exiting at 14:23 of the second period. Dimitri Fortin stopped 24 shots in relief.

Game 6 will be Sunday at Moose Jaw Events Centre in Moose Jaw, Sask.

CFL

A career that started on the practice roster has earned Chad Owens a spot in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. The electrifying returner/receiver topped a stellar 2024 class announced yesterday. Also named were players S-J Green, Weston Dressler, Marvin Coleman and Vince Goldsmith with former CFL coach Ray Jauch and amateur football icon Ed Laverty, posthumously, selected as builders. All will be enshrined September 13th in Hamilton.

MLB

Luis Garcia Junior hit a three-run shot deep to centre field in the seventh inning for his first career pinch-hit home run, helping the Washington Nationals rally for a 9-3 victory over the reeling Toronto Blue Jays. The Blue Jays led 3-0 in the second but have now lost three in a row and lost eight of their last 11.

NBA