SUNDAY SPORTS

NBA:  Lakers guard Steve Nash has announced his retirement after a 19-year NBA career that included two MVP awards. The 41-year-old Canadian made the announcement Saturday in a letter on The Players’ Tribune, a website where he is a senior producer.

Nash played in just 65 games over the last three seasons with the Lakers due to injuries. The eight-time All-Star is third in NBA history with 10,335 assists, trailing only John Stockton and Jason Kidd. Nash also is the best free-throw shooter in NBA history at 90.4 per cent.

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NHL:  The Montreal Canadiens continue to lead the NHL’s Eastern Conference by two points over the New York Rangers after both teams won tonight.

Carey Price notched his second consecutive shutout and ninth of the season by turning aside 29 shots in the Habs’ 2-0 shutout of San Jose. Tomas Plekanec put the Canadiens ahead late in the first period before Brendan Gallagher’s empty-netter secured Montreal’s third straight win.

The Canadiens lead the Atlantic Division by four points over Tampa Bay.

The Rangers kept pace with the Habs and maintained a five-point lead in the Metropolitan Division by beating Carolina 3-2 on Mats Zuccarello’s shootout goal. Cam Talbot had 28 saves as the Rangers improved to 15-2-2 in their last 19 games since Feb. 10.

Elsewhere on NHL ice:

– Kyle Turris snapped a 3-3 tie late in the second period before scoring into an empty net to cap Ottawa’s 5-3 triumph over Toronto. Erik Karlsson had a goal and an assist for the Senators, who’ve gone 14-1-1 in their last 16 games to pull within one point of Boston for the final Eastern Conference playoff berth.

– The Bruins lost to Florida 2-1 in a shootout, leaving the Panthers four points out of an East playoff berth. Jimmy Hayes scored in regulation, Roberto Luongo stopped 26 shots and Brandon Pirri provided the lone shootout tally as the Panthers won the first of their three remaining games versus Boston.

– Jaroslav Halak picked up his fifth shutout of the season and 35th of his career by stopping 26 shots in the New York Islanders’ 3-0 triumph at New Jersey. Ryan Strome scored the game-winner and had an assist as the Isles ended a season-high four-game losing streak and stayed two points ahead of Pittsburgh for second in the Metropolitan Division.

– Second-period goals by Brandon Sutter and Daniel Winnik lifted Pittsburgh over Arizona 3-1. Marc-Andre-Fleury stopped 31 shots and blanked the Coyotes after Tobias Rieder scored a short-handed goal 94 seconds into the game.

– Minnesota currently is seventh in the West and five points clear of the ninth-place Los Angeles Kings following a dominant 6-3 triumph over St. Louis. Justin Fontaine finished with a goal and two assists as the Wild improved to a league-best 22-6-2 since acquiring netminder Devan Dubnyk (DOOOB’-nihk) on Jan. 14.

– The Blues share the Central Division lead with Nashville after Pekka Rinne stopped 24 shots in the Predators’ 3-0 shutout of Buffalo. Taylor Beck, Craig Smith and Mike Fisher did the scoring to support Rinne’s fourth shutout of the season and 36th of his career.

– Chicago remains four points off the Central Division lead after Jason Spezza and Patrick Eaves each had a goal and an assist in the Stars’ 4-0 shutout of the Blackhawks in Dallas. Kari Lehtonen handled 33 shots in his fifth shutout of the season.

– Winnipeg got a 27-save effort from Ondrej Pavelev in a 3-0 shutout of Washington. Mark Schiefele had a goal and an assist as the Jets moved four points ahead of Los Angeles for the final Western Conference playoff berth.

– Vancouver is fourth in the West after knocking off the defending Cup champs, beating the Kings 4-1. Radim Vrbata scored the game-winner on a power play in the third period before Daniel Sedin and Bo Horvat added empty-netters.

– Calgary is just two points ahead of the ninth-place Kings following the Flames’ 3-2 overtime loss to Columbus. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 38 shots before Rene Bourque capped his two-goal day by scoring at 4:01 of overtime.

– Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored twice, including the game-winner at 2:46 of OT to send Edmonton past Philadelphia 5-4. Claude Giroux had two goals for the Flyers.

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MLB:  Baltimore Orioles manager Buck Showalter says catcher Matt Wieters is “unlikely” ‘to begin the season with the team.

Wieters underwent Tommy John surgery last June and caught in a game for the first time on Tuesday before reporting no ill effects after the game. But on Wednesday, the Orioles shut him down from catching for at least a week.

Showalter said that if Wieters is unable to catch the team’s opening game on April 6 at Tampa Bay, he would not be on the roster as a designated hitter.

Elsewhere;

– Chicago White Sox ace Chris Sale threw a bullpen session Friday and says he’s making progress while recovering from a broken foot suffered three weeks ago. Sale says he hopes to be back as soon as the second week of the regular season.

– Washington right-hander Stephen Strasburg will miss Sunday’s scheduled spring training start after injuring his left ankle during conditioning work Friday.

– Cole Hamels gave up two home runs and Chase Utley made his first start at second base this spring in the Philadelphia Phillies’ 6-3 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday.

Jose Reyes hit Hamels’ first pitch of the game for a home run to left field. Two batters later, Jose Bautista also took Hamels deep, sending a drive to straightaway centre field.

Hamels settled and didn’t allow any more runs during his 3 2-3 innings, limited by a pitch count. He also struck out five and didn’t issue a walk.

Utley went 0 for 2 but felt good after his first game in the field. He had been working back from a right ankle sprain.

The Phillies scored two unearned runs off Toronto starter R.A. Dickey in the fourth inning, aided by Reyes’ error at shortstop.

Josh Donaldson gave Toronto the lead, 3-2, in the sixth with a home run to left field.

(CP/AP)