Thursday Sports: Blades Advance, Warriors Close

WHL Playoffs (Round 2)

Blades 7 Rebels 0

(Blades Sweep best-of-seven series 4-0)

Egor Sidorov had a hat trick and two assists powering the Saskatoon Blades to a 7-0 thumping of the Red Deer Rebels to complete the second-round sweep on Wednesday in Western Hockey League playoff action.

Rowan Calvert and Brandon Lisowsky each had one goal and two assists, while Fraser Minten and Alexander Suzdalev provided the rest of Saskatoon’s offence. 

Evan Gardner earned a 26-save shutout as the Blades advanced to the Eastern Conference Championship series for the second year in a row.

Taylor Tabashniuk stopped 24 shots for Red Deer, which was outscored 21-7 across four consecutive losses in the best-of-seven series.

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WARRIORS 5 BRONCOS 2 

(Warriors lead best-of-seven series 3-1)

SWIFT CURRENT, SK — Jagger Firkus scored twice in a run of four unanswered goals from Moose Jaw that fuelled the Warriors’ 5-2 win over the Swift Current Broncos.

Ethan Hughes, Brayden Yager and Rilen Kovacevic contributed a goal apiece for Moose Jaw, which now sits one win away from taking the best-of-seven second-round series.

Conor Geekie and Caleb Wyrostok scored for Swift Current, which held a 2-1 lead by the 2:04 mark of the second period.

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ROCKETS 2 COUGARS 1

(Cougars lead best-of-seven series 3-1)

KELOWNA, B.C. — Gabriel Szturc scored the eventual winner with 58 seconds left in the second period as the Kelowna Rockets avoided elimination with a 2-1 win over the Prince George Cougars.

Szturc’s goal made it a 2-0 game for Kelowna, following Max Graham’s marker at 15:14 of the middle frame. 

Hudson Thornton made it a one-score contest with 3:23 remaining in the third period for Prince George, which will look to wrap up the best-of-seven second-round series at home on Friday.

NHL

ISLANDERS 5 PENGUINS 4

NEW YORK (AP) — Simon Holmstrom scored the go-ahead goal in the third period, Ilya Sorokin stopped Sidney Crosby on a late penalty shot and the playoff-bound New York Islanders edged the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-4 on Wednesday night.

LIGHTNING 6, MAPLE LEAFS 4

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Auston Matthews came up empty in his bid to become the ninth player in NHL history to score 70 goals in a season, but Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov became the fifth player to have a 100-assist season as Tampa Bay beat Toronto.

STARS 2, BLUES 1, SO

DALLAS (AP) — Jake Oettinger made 26 saves in regulation and overtime before stopping all three attempts in the shootout as Central Division champion Dallas beat St. Louis in their regular-season finale.

COYOTES 5, OILERS 2

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Arizona closed out their 28-year tenure as winners, getting a goal and an assist from Dylan Guenther in a 5-2 victory over Edmonton.

The Coyotes buzzed early at Mullett Arena and closed strong in their final game before moving to Salt Lake City.

MLB

Giancarlo Stanton homered in the ninth inning and Aaron Judge added a go-ahead two-run double to lead the New York Yankees to a 6-4 comeback win over the Toronto Blue Jays. Stanton hit a solo shot off Erik Swanson to kick off a four-run outburst that prevented a three-game sweep. Daulton Varsho had two home runs for the Jays, who took a two-run lead into the ninth inning.

NBA

76ERS 105 HEAT 104

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Joel Embiid had 23 points, 15 rebounds and one huge assist to Kelly Oubre Jr. on a go-ahead three-point play that led the 76ers to a 105-104 win over the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference play-in tournament on Wednesday night.

The 76ers earned the No. 7 seed and advanced to play the second-seeded New York Knicks in the opening round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. Game 1 is Saturday at Madison Square Garden.

The Heat — who went from the play-in tourney to the NBA Finals a year ago — play the Bulls on Friday night, with the winner getting the No. 8 seed.

BULLS 113 HAWKS 116

CHICAGO (AP) — Coby White scored a career-high 42 points, and Chicago advanced in the play-in tournament, knocking out Atlanta 131-116.

White, whose previous high was 37, went hard at the rim throughout the game and had fans chanting his name down the stretch as the Bulls rolled past the Hawks. Chicago visits Miami on Friday for a shot at the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs and a first-round matchup with Boston.

O.J. TOASTED

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Former football star and celebrity criminal defendant O.J. Simpson was cremated Wednesday, the lawyer handling his estate said following his death last week at home in Las Vegas at age 76.

Attorney Malcolm LaVergne told The Associated Press he was present, along with unspecified other people, for the morning event at Palm Mortuary in downtown Las Vegas.

“I am able to verify that O.J. Simpson was cremated today,” LaVergne said shortly afterward. “Others were present, but I’m not disclosing who.” He declined to provide details of the process.

LaVergne is handling Simpson’s trust and estate in Nevada state court. He said Simpson’s cremains will be given to Simpson’s children “to do with as they please, according to the wishes of their father.”

No public memorial was planned, the attorney said.

NO PLAYOFF FORMAT CHANGE FOR NHL

Sixteen teams, each one needing to win 16 games over four rounds of best-of-seven series to lift the Stanley Cup, has been the way the NHL decides its champion for nearly four decades. That isn’t changing any time soon.

The NHL is the only one of the major four North American professional sports leagues not to expand its playoffs in recent years. It is content with the current format and isn’t looking to add more teams, a play-in round or anything else amid plenty of discussion about doing so.

It has been that way since 1987, and in that era 16 of the league’s 21 teams qualified for the playoffs. Now the league has 32 teams and half of them make the cut.

The NFL went from 12 to 14 playoff teams starting in 2020, and two years later Major League Baseball expanded to 12 teams, with six division winners and six wild cards making it.

(Canadian Press)