Thursday Sports: Lightning Upset Leafs, Broncos Sweep Canes
Photo: Tampa Bay Lightning
NHL
LIGHTNING 4 MAPLE LEAFS 1
TORONTO (AP) — Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves as the Tampa Bay Lightning topped Toronto 4-1 on Wednesday despite Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews adding to his NHL lead with the sniper’s 63rd goal of the season.
Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman, Brayden Point and Nicholas Paul scored for Tampa.
Nikita Kucherov, who entered the night tied with Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon for the league lead with 127 points, added three assists.
Brandon Hagel also set up two goals for the Lightning, who moved within four points of the Leafs for third in the Atlantic Division.
Elsewhere in the NHL on Wednesday:
RANGERS 4, DEVILS 3
NEW YORK (AP) — Chris Kreider scored a power-play goal late in the third period and the New York Rangers rallied to beat New Jersey Devils in a game that started with a 10-player brawl. Rangers forward Matt Rempe took on New Jersey’s Kurtis MacDermid in the main fight and eight of 10 players received game misconducts in the eventual 4-3 Rangers win.
“There was a lot going on. Five fights to start the game. I don’t think anyone expected that,″ Devils interim head coach Travis Green said.
Green also exchanged words with Rangers coach Peter Laviolette between the benches after the fracas.
“I have no idea why Peter was upset,” Green said. ”Their players were lining up fights before the game. We all know why it happened tonight. Something happened the game before.”
Artemi Panarin and Alexis Lafreniere each had a goal and an assist, and Kaapo Kakko also scored for the NHL-leading Rangers. Igor Shesterkin finished with 17 saves as New York won for the sixth time in seven games and 11th in its last 14.
BRONCOS 4 HURRICANES 4 (2OT)
(Broncos win series in 4)
Conor Geekie scored the game-winning goal in double overtime, and the Swift Current Broncos edged the Lethbridge Hurricanes 5-4 on Wednesday night to complete a first-round sweep in the Western Hockey League playoffs.
Josh Filmon, Clark Caswell, Luke Mistelbacher and Grayson Burzynski also scored for Swift Current.
Elsewhere in the WHL on Wednesday:
REBELS 3 TIGERS 2
(Rebels lead best-of-seven series 3-1)
RED DEER, Alta. — Cashe Wutzke made 33 saves as the Red Deer Rebels edged the Medicine Hat Tigers.
Jhett Larson, Carson Birnie and Kalan Lind scored to Red Deer.
Tyler MacKenzie and Hunter St. Martin replied for Medicine Hat. Ethan McCallum stopped 31 shots.
BLADES 4 RAIDERS 1
(Blades lead best-of-seven series 3-1)
PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. — Misha Volotovskii had a goal and an assist as the Saskatoon Blades defeated the Prince Albert Raiders.
Easton Armstrong, Tanner Molendyk and Egor Sidorov also scored for Saskatoon. Evan Gardner made 15 saves.
Ryder Ritchie replied for Prince Albert. Max Hildebrand stopped 32 shots.
WARRIORS 6 WHEAT KINGS 4
(Warriors lead best-of-seven series 3-0)
BRANDON, Man. — Matthew Savoie had two goals and an assist as the Moose Jaw Warriors beat the Brandon Wheat Kings.
Owen Berge, Brayden Yager, Connor Schmidt and Denton Mateychuk also scored for Moose Jaw. Jackson Unger made 35 saves.
Matteo Michels, Roger McQueen, Brett Hyland and Jayden Wiens replied for Brandon. Carson Bjarnason stopped 35 shots.
COUGARS 3 CHIEFS 2
(Cougars win best-of-seven series 4-0)
SPOKANE, Wash. — Zac Funk scored the game-winning goal as the Prince George Cougars edged the Spokane Chiefs and completed a first-round sweep.
Viliam Kmec and Koehn Ziemmer also scored for Prince George. Ty Young made 30 saves.
Conner Roulette replied with two goals for Spokane. Dawson Cowan stopped 28 shots.
WINTERHAWKS 4 ROYALS 1
(Winterhawks win best-of-seven series 4-0)
VICTORIA — Josh Zakreski had two goals and an assist as the Portland Winterhawks swept the Victoria Royals.
Josh Davies and Kyle Chyzowski also scored for Portland. Jan Spunar made 20 saves.
Cole Reschny produced the lone goal for Victoria. Braden Holt stopped 41 shots.
SILVERTIPS 3 GIANTS 1
(Silvertips lead best-of-seven series 2-1)
LANGLEY, B.C. — Ben Hemmerling scored the game-winning goal as the Everett Silvertips topped the Vancouver Giants.
Parker Berge and Dominik Rymon also scored for Everett. Tyler Palmer made 30 saves.
Logen Hammett replied for Vancouver. Brett Mirwald stopped 32 shots.
ROCKETS 3 WILD 1
(Best-of-seven series tied 2-2)
KELOWNA, B.C. — Tij Iginla scored the game-winning goal as the Kelowna Rockets defeated the Wenatchee Wild.
Max Graham and Gabriel Szturc also scored for Kelowna. Jari Kykkanen made 34 saves.
Kenta Isogai replied to Wenatchee. Daniel Hauser stopped 30 shots.
WOMENS WORLD HOCKEY
Canada hits the ice against Finland tonight for its first game at the world women’s hockey championship in Utica, New York. Captain Marie-Philip Poulin and the 2023 tournament MVP Sarah Fillier will lead the Canadian team into battle. Poulin has been dealing with an injury heading into the worlds. Canada fell 6-3 to the United States in last year’s final.
MLB
- Yordan Alvarez homered twice and matched his career high with four hits, Cristian Javier and four relievers combined on a one-hitter, and the Houston Astros beat the Toronto Blue Jays 8-0. It’s the second game in the series in which the Blue Jays were shut out after Ronel Blanco threw the 17th no-hitter in franchise history in a 10-0 victory Monday night.
- Shohei Ohtani hit his first home run for the Los Angeles Dodgers, a solo drive in the seventh inning in a 5-4 win over the San Francisco Giants that finished a three-game sweep. The home run came in the 41st plate appearance for the two-time MVP, who left the Los Angeles Angels after last season as a free agent and agreed to a record $700 million, 10-year contract with the Dodgers.
NBA
Anthony Edwards scored 28 points, Naz Reid added 23 and the Minnesota Timberwolves routed the short-handed Toronto Raptors 133-85 to move into a tie for first-place in the Western Conference. Minnesota’s 48-point win marked its largest margin of victory this season. Meanwhile, Toronto lost a 15th straight game since its last win on March 3rd.
CFL
Jim Hopson, the former Saskatchewan Roughriders player who later served as president and CEO of the CFL club, has died. He was 73. Hopson had battled colon cancer for three years. The Regina native was president and chief executive officer of the Riders from 2005 to 2015. The team won two Grey Cup titles over that span.
NFL
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — The Buffalo Bills have agreed to trade their top receiving threat, Stefon Diggs, to the Houston Texans. The Bills acquired the Texans’ second-round pick in the 2025 draft, which Houston acquired in a trade with Minnesota. Houston also acquired Buffalo’s sixth-round pick in this year’s draft, and a fifth-rounder in 2025. Diggs’ departure from Buffalo leaves quarterback Josh Allen without his favorite target, and breaks up a tandem that has re-written the team’s passing records since the receiver’s arrival in a trade with Minnesota in March 2020. For the Texans, Diggs gives the offense another playmaker to team with Nico Collins and Tank Dell.
WORLD MENS CURLING
Canada’s Brad Gushue is rolling at the world men’s curling championship in Switzerland. Gushue’s team from St. John’s improved to 7-and-1 with wins today over the Netherlands and South Korea. Sweden’s Niklas Edin tops the standings at 8-and-0. Gushue and Edin square off in tomorrow’s late draw.
(Canadian Press)
