Sunday Sports: Junior Scoop & More

WHL CONFERENCE FINALS

BLADES 3 WARRIORS 2 (OT)
(Best-of-seven series tied 1-1)

SASKATOON, Sask. — Fraser Minton’s goal at 13:06 of overtime lifted the Saskatoon Blades to a 3-2 victory over the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors Saturday night and allowed them to tie the best-of-seven WHL Eastern Conference final series at a game apiece.

Tanner Molendyk and Brandon Lisowsky also scored for the Blades, who outshot the visitors 37-27. Atley Calvert and Kalem Parker scored for the Warriors, who won Friday’s series opener 4-3 in overtime. The Warriors led 2-0 after the first period and the teams were tied 2-2 heading into the third.

The attendance at SaskTel Centre was 9,328. Game 3 is Tuesday in Moose Jaw, Sask.

WINTERHAWKS 5 COUGARS 3
(Best-of-seven series tied 1-1)

James Stefan’s power-play goal at 7:33 of the third period snapped a 2-2 deadlock and lifted the visiting Portland Winterhawks to a 5-3 victory on Saturday night over the Prince George Cougars to tie the Western Hockey League’s Western Conference final series at a game apiece.

Gabe Klassen, Jack O’Brien, Diego Buttazzoni and Marcus Nguyen (empty-netter) also scored for the Winterhawks, who lost 5-0 in Friday’s opener of the best-of-seven series at the CN Centre. Josh Zakreski and Nate Danielson each chipped in with two assists.

Zac Funk, Borya Valis and Oren Shtrom scored for the Cougars, who were outshot 38-32.

The teams were scoreless after the first period and were tied 2-2 heading into the third.

The Winterhawks went 1-for-2 on the power play, while the Cougars were 1-for-4.

Game 3 is Monday night in Portland, Ore.

SJHL FINAL

For the second consecutive game, the Flin Flon Bombers avoided elimination in the SJHL’s Canterra Seeds Cup final.

Alexi Sylvestre’s goal at 15;38 of the second period was the winner as the hometown Bombers upended the Melfort Mustangs 5-2 on Saturday night at Whitney Forum.

Flin Flon’s victory cut Melfort’s lead in the Best-of-7 affair to 3-2.

The Mustangs will try again to close out the Bombers Tuesday night the Northern Lights Palace.

STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS (Round 1)

ISLANDERS 3 HURRICANES 2 OT

NEW YORK (AP) — Mathew Barzal scored his second goal of the game on a deflection 1:24 into the second overtime and the New York Islanders beat the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 in Game 4 on Saturday to avoid a sweep in their first-round playoff series. Game 5 is Tuesday night in Raleigh, North Carolina.

LIGHTNING 6, PANTHERS 3

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Steven Stamkos scored his fourth and fifth goals of the series and Tampa Bay avoided elimination with a victory over Florida in Game 4 of the first-round playoff matchup. Game 5 is Monday night at Florida. Only four times in 206 tries has an NHL team rebounded from a 3-0 deficit to win a series.

BRUINS 3, MAPLE LEAFS 1

TORONTO (AP) — Brad Marchand broke the Boston playoff goals record with his 56th and the Bruins beat Toronto in Game 4 to move within a victory of advancing to the second round. Marchand also had an assist, James van Riemsdyk and David Pastrnak scored and Jeremy Swayman made 24 saves. Boston can wrap up the series Tuesday night at home.

Mitch Marner scored for Toronto. Auston Matthews, the NHL goals leader in the regular season with 69, sat out the third period. He missed practice Friday. Fellow forward William Nylander played after missing the first three games of the series because of an undisclosed injury.

STARS 3, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 2, OT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Wyatt Johnston scored his second goal of the game in overtime to give Dallas a victory over Vegas, cutting the defending champion Golden Knights’ series lead to 2-1.

Johnston, who had a team-high eight shots, dragged the puck down the left side to the goal line, drawing goalie Logan Thompson into a low position, and beating him with a high shot 16:23 into the extra period.

Miro Heiskanen also scored for the Stars, and Jake Oettinger made 32 saves. The Stars had lost six straight against Vegas.

Brayden McNabb and Jack Eichel scored for Vegas, and Thompson stopped a career-high 43 shots. Dallas, which averaged 31.5 shots per game during the regular season, held a whopping advantage of high-danger shots, 27-4.

Game 4 is Monday night in Las Vegas.

MLB

The Toronto Blue Jays lost their fifth consecutive game today, dropping a 4-2 decision to the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers. Mookie Betts went 3-for-5, including a triple and an R-B-I single, for the Dodgers. Chris Taylor and Shohei Ohtani each had an R-B-I single in the second inning as L-A stretched its win streak to six.

NFL DRAFT

Some teams see an immediate impact from a draft class. Others have to wait on a return. The Houston Texans went from worst to first in their division last season after selecting quarterback C.J. Stroud and edge Will Anderson Jr. back to back with the second and third overall picks. The Carolina Panthers ended up with the worst record despite taking Bryce Young No. 1 overall so they have to be patient. The Chicago Bears are the leading contender to have a Texans-like turnaround after getting QB Caleb Williams with the first pick and wide receiver Rome Odunze at No. 9. The Arizona Cardinals, Philadelphia Eagles, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Washington Commanders also had excellent drafts.

NBA PLAYOFFS (Round 1)

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Franz Wagner had 34 points and 13 rebounds, and the Orlando Magic held the Cleveland Cavaliers scoreless for a second-half stretch of almost seven minutes Saturday in a 112-89 victory that tied the Eastern Conference first-round series at 2-2.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 24 points and Oklahoma City beat New Orleans 106-85 to take a 3-0 lead in their first-round playoff series.

MIAMI (AP) — Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown each scored 22 points, and Boston soundly beat Miami 104-84 to a take a 2-1 lead in their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series. Game 4 is Monday in Miami, where the Celtics are 9-2 in their last 11 games and 6-1 in their last seven playoff games.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — LeBron James scored 30 points, Anthony Davis added 25 points and 23 rebounds, and the Los Angeles Lakers avoided playoff elimination with a 119-108 victory over Denver in Game 4 of their first-round series.

(Canadian Press)