THURSDAY SPORTS: RAIDERS SCORE CLUTCH WIN OVER PATS

WHL

RAIDERS 5 PATS 1

Aiden Oiring led the host Raiders with a pair of goals, with Justice Christensen, Brayden Dube and Ryder Ritchie each contributing one.

Raiders goaltender Max Hildebrand saved 25 of 26 shots. The victory dropped the Raiders’ magic number to clinch a playoff spot to one.

Tanner Howe scored once for Regina. Pats goaltender Kelton Pyne saved 32 of 37 shots.

Elsewhere in the WHL on Wednesday:

BRONCOS 6 REBELS 3

Connor Hvidston scored a goal and had two assists for the Swift Current Broncos in a 6-3 win over the visiting Red Deer Rebels in the Western Hockey League on Wednesday. Josh Filmon, Connor Gabriel, Ryan McCleary, Mathew Ward and Clarke Caswell were Swift Current’s other goal scorers. Broncos goaltender Reid Dyck made 30 saves for the win.

BLADES 4 HITMEN 3 (OT)

Brandon Lisowsky scored twice, including the overtime winner at 1:05, for the host Blades. Trevor Wong and Easton Armstrong were Saskatoon’s other goal scorers. Blades goalie Evan Gardner stopped 22 of 25 shots.

ROYALS 7 WILD 3

Dawson Pasternak and Tyson Laventure each scored twice to lead the host Royals, which also got goals from Escalus Burlock, Teydon Trembecky and Nate Misskey. Royals goaltender Braden Holt made 20 saves for the win.

NHL

WASHINGTON (AP) — Auston Matthews scored his NHL-leading 56th and 57th goals of the season and matched his career high with five points, leading the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 7-3 rout of the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night despite Alex Ovechkin moving closer to Wayne Gretzky.

Ovechkin scored goals 844 and 845 of his career to move 50 back of breaking Gretzky’s record that long seemed unapproachable. He’s now at 23 this season after scoring 15 goals since Jan. 22 to make up for just eight in his first 43 games.

And while Ovechkin and Matthews combined for four goals in a showcase of the best scorer of this generation and perhaps his successor, they were far from the only ones lightning the lamp. Connor McMichael also scored for Washington, and William Nylander, Jake McCabe, Bobby McMann, Tyler Bertuzzi and John Tavares had Toronto’s other goals.

Elsewhere in the NHL on Wednesday:

STARS 5, COYOTES 2

DALLAS (AP) — Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and Logan Stankoven scored in the second period to help Dallas beat Arizona.

Dallas, Winnipeg and Colorado all have 93 points atop the Central Division. The Jets have played 68 games, the Avalanche 69 and the Stars 70. Clayton Keller and John Leonard scored for Arizona, and Connor Ingram stopped 28 shots. The Coyotes are 18 points behind the Western Conference’s final playoff position with 13 games to play.

KINGS 6, WILD 0

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Captain Anze Kopitar had a goal and an assist while recording his 1,200th career point, David Rittich made 30 saves in his third shutout of the season, and Los Angeles routed Minnesota.

CURLING

Canada’s Rachel Homan stayed unbeaten at the women’s world curling championship in Sydney, Nova Scotia with an eighth straight win to secure a playoff spot. The skip made a big shot in the 10th end to score five points in a 9-5 win over Turkey. Homan faces Estonia and New Zealand on Thursday.

The 12-team playoffs are set at the Canadian mixed doubles curling championship in Fredericton. The top three teams get berths in Olympic trials starting later this year. The winner represents Canada at next month’s world championship. The duos of Laura Walker and Kirk Muyres and Kadriana and Colton Lott are undefeated heading into the playoff round.

MLB

• SEOUL, South Korea. (AP) — Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter and close friend Ippei Mizuhara has been fired by the Los Angeles Dodgers following allegations of illegal gambling and theft from the Japanese star. Othani is playing in Seoul, South Korea, this week in a two-game series with the San Diego Padres to open the major league baseball season. Mizuhara was seen regularly chatting with Ohtani, who was the Dodgers’ designated hitter, seemingly discussing his at-bats over a tablet computer during Wednesday’s game. Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said a different interpreter would be used and he said he did not know Mizuhara’s whereabouts.
• The Toronto Blue Jays have made a trade, sending infielder Santiago Espinal (ESS’-pih-nall) to the Cincinnati Reds for minor league pitcher Chris McElvain. The 23-year-old McElvain is a rightie who played single-A ball last summer.

NFL

The NFL competition committee is proposing a rule to penalize so-called “hip-drop” tackles and a radical change to kickoffs to add more returns without compromising safety. The proposals will be presented to owners at the league meetings later this month, with 24 out of 32 votes needed for approval. The committee didn’t propose any rule changes to limit the use of the “tush push” quarterback sneak that has been so successful for the Philadelphia Eagles the past few seasons or any change to the rule giving the defensive team a touchback if the team with the ball fumbles through the end zone.

MARCH MADNESS

• Purdue returns to the men’s NCAA Tournament as the number one seed in the Midwest region with the goal of regrouping from last year’s shocking loss to Fairleigh Dickinson. The Boilermakers became the second top seed to lose to a Number 16 seed. The Boilermakers open this year’s tournament tomorrow against Grambling.
• The women’s NCAA Tournament field is set and now the fun begins, with 68 teams trying to win the national championship. The Final Four will be in Cleveland. LSU ended a run of 10 straight national championships by No. 1 seeds. Look for that to be a one-year exception. Associated Press Basketball Writer Doug Feinberg is picking South Carolina, Ohio State, Stanford and UCLA to reach the Final Four.

(AP/CP)