SUNDAY SPORTS

Don Cherry didn’t hold back Saturday night when discussing Evander Kane and the Winnipeg Jets.

Speaking on his weekly Coach’s Corner segment in a red blazer with a black tie covered in hearts, Cherry went off on the 23-year-old forward for showing up to a team meeting in a track suit – an incident that disrupted the Jets’ week and led to Kane being scratched from the lineup before Winnipeg’s 3-2 overtime loss in Vancouver on Tuesday.

“You are a jerk right now,” said Cherry. “What you did coming into a team meeting, everybody has shirts and ties on, and you come in in a track suit. You should be ashamed of yourself.”

Reports initially indicated Kane was benched because he broke the team’s dress code. A source confirmed to The Canadian Press that Kane had a run-in with teammates that included Dustin Byfuglien throwing Kane’s track suit into the shower.

Things took a turn for the worse after that.

Kane followed up Tuesday’s scratch by missing team practice Thursday to visit a doctor, according to coach Paul Maurice. Then on Friday it was announced he would undergo surgery on his left shoulder and will be out for four to six months.

Cherry refused to accept the timing of the injury as anything more than a much-needed separation from the team.

“Don’t think you can fool me with the operation,” said Cherry. “The operation is they didn’t want you around.”

Cherry then ran a clip of Jets forward Blake Wheeler speaking to reporters about Kane’s behaviour.

“There’s a standard that everyone needs to live up to,” said Wheeler in the video. “We’re professionals, we make a lot of money, we’re expected to uphold a certain standard and that’s a code we live by. That’s just the way it is. If you don’t like it then there’s other places to go.”

Winnipeg has one of the final playoff positions in the Western Conference. Cherry said a team can’t afford to have such a distraction while in the playoff hunt, before wrapping up his first-intermission segment.

“You disrupt the team, you’re the fork in the road. Either be a jerk or be a good player. If not, like Wheeler says, ‘get out of the game.’ Smarten up and don’t be a jerk.”

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Interim coach Peter Horachek scratched David Clarkson and started James Reimer and the Toronto Maple Leafs snapped an 11-game winless streak, beating the Edmonton Oilers 5-1. Richard Panik scored in Clarkson’s spot on the power play and Reimer, starting with Jonathan Bernier out sick, made 32 saves for Toronto. It was the Maple Leafs first win since January 9th and just the second time since Horachek took over for Randy Carlyle.

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Tomas Plekanec and Dale Weise each scored twice and P-K Subban assisted on three power-play goals as the Montreal Canadiens downed the New Jersey Devils 6-2. Carey Price made 21 saves for the win.

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Ryan Miller made 31 saves for his sixth shutout of the season and the 35th of his career as Vancouver defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-0. Alexandre Burrows had a goal and an assist for the Canucks while Daniel Sedin recorded the 115th power-play goal of his career – moving him past former captain Markus Naslund for the all-time franchise mark.

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Cam Atkinson, Nick Foligno, Scott Hartnell and Marl Letestu scored third-period goals as the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the Ottawa Senators 4-1. Curtis McElhinney made 34 saves for the Jackets. Erik Condra had the only goal for the Senators, who have now lost three straight. Robin Lehner made 29 saves.

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The Buffalo Bills have agreed in principle to sign offensive guard Richie Incognito.

The nine-year veteran didn’t play last season after being one of the central figures in the Miami Dolphins’ bullying scandal. He hasn’t played since being suspended and missing the final eight games of the 2013 season.

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Draymond Green had 20 points and 13 rebounds, and the Golden State Warriors beat the New York Knicks 106-92. Stephen Curry scored 19 points and Klay Thompson had 16 on a night neither shot well.

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Canada picked up three medals at a World Cup freestyle skiing event. Mikael Kingsbury won gold in men’s moguls, while fellow Canadians Chloe Dufour-Lapointe and Audrey Robichaud took silver and bronze, respectively, in the women’s event. Kingsbury posted his fifth straight World Cup win to keep the lead in the moguls standings.

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A pair of losses in singles play has Canada down 2-0 in its first-round tie against the Czech Republic in the Fed Cup’s world group stage. Montreal’s Francoise Abanda and Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski both lost in straight sets to their much-higher ranked Czech opponents.

(CP)