Saturday Sports: Warriors Shock Blades

WHL CONFERENCE FINALS

EAST: Warriors 4 Blades 3 OT
(Moose Jaw leads best-of-seven series 1-0)

Brayden Yager’s goal at 12:34 of overtime lifted the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors to a 4-3 victory over the Saskatoon Blades in Friday’s opening game of the Western Hockey League’s Eastern Conference final series.

The Warriors led 3-2 with 90 seconds remaining in regulation time, but Egor Sidorov’s second goal of the game for the Blades — scored at 18:33 of the third — tied the game and forced overtime.

Brayden Schuurman, Atley Calvert and Matthew Savoie also scored for the Warriors, who were outshot 31-26. Denton Mateychuk chipped in with two assists.

Charlie Wright also scored for the Blades, who led 1-0 after the first period. The teams were tied 2-2 heading into the third.

The Blades went 0-for-1 on the power play. The Warriors did not have a power play.

Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is Saturday at the SaskTel Centre.

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COUGARS 5 WINTERHAWKS 0
(Prince George leads best-of-seven series 1-0)

PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. — The Prince George Cougars erupted for three goals in the second period and cruised to a 5-0 victory over the visiting Portland Winterhawks in the opening game of the WHL’s Western Conference final series at the CN Centre.

Terik Parascak, Bauer Dumanski, Hudson Thornton, Ondrej Becher and Koehn Ziemmer scored for the Cougars, who led 1-0 after the first period and 4-0 heading into the third.

Cougars’ netminder Joshua Ravensbergen made 33 saves to record the shutout.

The Cougars outshot the Winterhawks 35-33.

Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is Saturday in Prince George

STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS (Round 1)

RANGERS 3 CAPITALS 1
(New York leads series 3-0)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vincent Trocheck had a power-play goal and a short-handed assist, Igor Shesterkin made 27 saves and the New York Rangers moved one win away from advancing by beating the Washington Capitals 3-1 in Game 3 Friday night, taking a 3-0 lead in their first-round NHL playoff series.

The Rangers scored goals at even-strength 5 on 5, up 5 on 4 and down 4 on 5 in a special teams showcase from the Presidents’ Trophy winners who finished atop the NHL regular season in part because of their potent power play.

Elsewhere in the NHL on Friday:

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CANUCKS 2 PREDATORS 1
(Vancouver leads series 2-1)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Casey DeSmith made 30 saves for his first post-season victory as Vancouver held on to beat Nashville for a 2-1 lead in their best-of-seven series.

This was DeSmith’s second straight start and third all-time in the playoffs with Thatcher Demko out since the series opener with an injury.

J.T. Miller had a power-play goal and an assist, and Brock Boeser’s power-play goal wound up the game-winner. Quinn Hughes had two assists as Vancouver took back home-ice advantage.

Game 4 is Sunday in Nashville.

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AVALANCHE 6 JETS 2
(Colorado leads series 2-1)

DENVER (AP) — Nathan MacKinnon and Valeri Nichushkin scored on the power play during a five-goal, third-period outburst and Colorado rallied for a victory over Winnipeg.

Alexandar Georgiev stopped 22 shots to give the Avalanche a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven first-round playoff series. Game 4 is Sunday in the Mile High City.

Trailing 2-1 in the final period, Colorado, the highest-scoring team in the league, began pouring it on. The Avalanche scored four times in a 10:24 span to energize the crowd and stun the Jets.

MacKinnon sparked the scoring run with the tying goal and Nichushkin knocked in the go-ahead tally with 15:21 remaining. Nichushkin’s goal came after Jets centre Gabriel Vilardi was given a double-minor for hitting Devon Toews in the face with his stick and drawing blood. Toews left the ice with a towel held to his face.

Artturi Lehkonen and Ross Colton added goals to make it 5-2. Toews, returning from a bloodied face, scored an empty-netter with 3:35 remaining to seal the win.

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OILERS 6 KINGS 1
(Oilers lead series 2-1)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Leon Draisaitl had two goals and an assist, Zach Hyman also scored twice and Edmonton rode the momentum of three first-period goals to a victory over Los Angeles to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round NHL playoffsseries.

Connor McDavid (one goal, two assists) and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (three assists) also had three-point nights. McDavid is the first player since Wayne Gretzky in 1987 to have at least eight assists in the first three games. Gretzky had nine in 1987 and eight in 1981.

Evander Kane added a goal and an assist while Stuart Skinner stopped 27 shots as the Oilers posted a Game 3 rout on the Kings’ home ice for the second time in three years.

Drew Doughty had the Kings’ lone goal early in the second period and Cam Talbot made 35 saves.

Game 4 in the best-of-7 series is Sunday night.

MLB

Shohei Ohtani smashed a homer as the Los Angeles Dodgers crushed the Toronto Blue Jays 12-2 on Friday. Max Muncy’s three-run homer was part of a six-run third inning as Los Angeles won its fifth straight. Danny Jansen had a home run in the fourth inning as Toronto could only muster five hits in its fourth straight loss. Jays starting pitcher Chris Bassitt gave up seven runs on nine hits in two-and-two-third innings.

NFL DRAFT

Months of preparation and indecision ended for Canadian Isaiah Adams on Friday night.

The Arizona Cardinals selected the Illinois offensive lineman with the seventh pick of the third round, No. 71 overall, of the NFL draft. Adams, of Ajax. Ont., earned the distinction of being the first Canadian taken in this year’s draft.

The NFL draft will conclude Saturday with the final four rounds. That means Canadian tight ends Theo Johnson and Tanner McLachlan, and tackle Anim Dankwah will have to wait until then to hear their names called.

Another player hoping to be drafted Saturday is Qwan’Tez Stiggers, the CFL’s top rookie last year. The six-foot, 197-pound cornerback had a team-high five interceptions and 56 tackles in 16 regular-season games with the Toronto Argonauts.

Stiggers finished high school in 2020 and had committed to Tennessee’s Wayne College on scholarship. But when his father died in September 2020, Stiggers fell into a deep depression and didn’t attend school. Eventually, with help from his mother and fiancée, Stiggers returned to football in 2022, playing in the Fan Controlled League, a seven-man indoor circuit. His coach was John Jenkins, a former Toronto offensive assistant who recommended Stiggers to the CFL team.

NBA

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Tyrese Haliburton completed a three-point play with 1.6 seconds left, capping his first postseason triple-double in his first home playoff game to give the Indiana Pacers a 121-118 overtime victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday night. Indiana leads the best-of-seven series 2-1, with Game 4 on Sunday in Indianapolis. Two-time league MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo again sat out for Milwaukee because of a strained left calf.

DALLAS (AP) — Luka Doncic had 22 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists, and suddenly defensive-minded Dallas took a chippy 101-90 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers for a 2-1 lead in the first-round series.

PHOENIX (AP) — Anthony Edwards scored 36 points, Rudy Gobert added 19 points and 14 rebounds and Minnesota used a hot-shooting third quarter to beat Phoenix 126-109 and take a 3-0 lead in the first-round series. Minnesota goes for the sweep in Game 4 on Sunday in Phoenix.

(Canadian Press)

NLL

It took all 135 regular season games to secure the final National Lacrosse League postseason bracket, and the much-awaited playoffs are here. The top eight NLL teams square off in Quarterfinal matchups highlighted by a Saturday tripleheader of action beginning at 4:30 p.m. ET.

Saturday Tripleheader

No. 8 Rochester Knighthawks (8-10) at No. 1 Toronto Rock (15-3), 4:30 p.m., TSN, ESPN+ (Abbott, Gregoire, Docking)
No. 5 Georgia Swarm (10-8) at No. 4 Buffalo Bandits (11-7), 7 p.m., ESPNU, ESPN+, TSN+ (Gurtler, Bermel, Buchanan)
No. 7 Panther City Lacrosse Club (9-9) at No. 2 San Diego Seals (13-5), 10 p.m., ESPN+, TSN+ (Perkins, Ossello, Michaels

Saturday