TITAN AUTO SUNDAY SPORTS

NHL:  The New York Rangers are closer to wrapping up home-ice advantage throughout the NHL’s Eastern Conference playoffs.

The Blueshirts lead the East by three points over Montreal and Tampa Bay following a 6-1 rout of New Jersey Saturday night.

The Lightning have pulled even with the Canadiens for the Atlantic Division lead, although the Habs have one game in hand. Steven Stamkos scored the first two goals and had an assist as Tampa Bay blanked Florida 4-0. Ryan Callahan added a goal and an assist to support Ben Bishop, who stopped 34 shots in his fourth shutout of the season.

Elsewhere on NHL ice:

– Cody Eakin scored on his first career penalty shot in overtime to give Dallas a 4-3 verdict over Nashville. Colton Sceviour and Travis Moen each had a goal and an assist as the Stars caused the Predators to move just one point ahead of St. Louis for the Central Division lead.

– Gustav Nyquist and Riley Sheahan each scored once in regulation and once in a shootout before Darren Helm’s tally in the eighth round gave Detroit a 3-2 win over Minnesota. Zach Parise scored twice for the Wild, who moved a point closer to securing a playoff berth. The Red Wings moved into a three-way tie with Boston and Pittsburgh for the last three Eastern Conference playoff slots.

– Jaroslav Halak picked up his sixth shutout of the season and Kyle Okposo  scored the game-winner as the New York Islanders beat Buffalo 3-0. Brock Nelson and Nikolay Kulemin also scored for the Isles, who need another victory or an Ottawa loss to wrap up a playoff berth.

– The Senators squandered a 3-0 lead before getting a goal by Kyle Turris at 3:14 of overtime to knock off Washington 4-3. Clarke MacArthur and Mika Zibanejad each had a power-play goal and an assist for the Senators, who stayed three points behind Boston for the final Eastern Conference playoff berth. The Capitals fell one point behind the second-place Islanders in the Metropolitan Division.

– Patrice Bergeron scored once in regulation and added the lone shootout goal in the Bruins’ 2-1 verdict over Toronto. Maple Leafs netminder James Reimer made 49 saves to send the game to a shootout.

– Nick Foligno  notched his first career hat trick and the Columbus Blue Jackets picked up their team-record ninth consecutive win by downing Pittsburgh 5-3. Foligno snapped a 2-2 tie early in the third period and put his 30th goal of the season into an empty net. The Penguins are 2-7-1 in their last 10, leaving them three points behind the second-place Islanders with four games remaining.

– Winnipeg bolstered its playoff hopes as Lee Stempniak scored twice and Mathieu Perreault had three assists in a 5-4 triumph over Vancouver. Stempniak provided the go-ahead goal and the eventual game-winner as the Jets remained tied with Los Angeles in the race for the final Western Conference playoff berth.

– Markus Granlund scored twice and Jonas Hiller turned back 27 shots in Calgary’s 4-0 shutout of Edmonton. The Kings remain third in the Pacific Division and one point ahead of Winnipeg and Los Angeles for the final playoff berth.

– Alec Martinez scored the game-winner midway through the second period and Jonathan Quick faced just 10 shots in the Kings’ 3-1 triumph over Colorado. Dwight King and Marian Gaborik (GAB’-uh-rihk) also scored in the Kings’ fifth victory in seven games.

– Carolina blew a 2-0 lead before Nathan Gerbe and Chris Terry scored in a shootout to lift the Hurricanes over Philadelphia 2-0. Jordan Staal had a goal and an assist for the ‘Canes.

– Oliver Ekman-Larsson had two goals and an assist as Arizona beat San Jose 5-3. The Coyotes are now four points ahead of Buffalo as the two teams vie for the best chance of getting the No. 1 pick in the NHL draft.

– Hall of Fame forward Elmer Lach, who centred Montreal’s famed Punch Line with Toe Blake on left wing and Maurice “Rocket” Richard on the right, has died. He was 97 and had been the oldest living NHL player.

Lach retired as the league’s career leader in points with 623, a far cry from the current record of 2,857 by Wayne Gretzky but accomplished in an era of 50-game seasons in a super-competitive six-team league.

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MARCH MADNESS:  Kentucky’s bid for a perfect basketball season is over.

The Wisconsin Badgers have moved into the NCAA title game for the first time since 1941 by handing the Wildcats their only loss of the season, 71-64 at Indianapolis. AP Player of the Year Frank Kaminsky scored 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for Wisconsin, who were tied at 60 before closing on an 11-4 run in the final 1:42. Kaminsky and Nigel Hayes combined to go 7-for-8 from the line over the final 24 seconds to allow the Badgers to pull away.

Sam Dekker drained a 3-pointer that put Wisconsin ahead to stay, part of his 16-point performance.

Kentucky was trying to become the first unbeaten NCAA champion since Indiana in 1976. Karl-Anthony Towns had team highs of 16 points and nine rebounds for the Wildcats, who finish 38-1.

Monday’s championship game will pit Wisconsin against Duke in a matchup of No. 1 seeds. The Blue Devils rolled to an 81-61 win over Michigan State as freshmen Justise Winslow and Jahlil Okafor (jah-LIHL’ OH’-kah-fohr) combined for almost half of Duke’s points. Winslow got off to a poor start and was in early foul trouble before finishing with a team-high 19 points, one more than Okafor. The pair helped the Blue Devils maintain a double-digit lead in the second half after carrying a 36-25 advantage into intermission.

Senior Quinn Cook had 17 points for the Blue Devils, who shot 51 per cent and dominated the game after falling behind 14-6.

Denzel Valentine finished with 22 points for the Spartans.

Indianapolis remains Duke’s home away from home as the program seeks its fifth national championship, all under coach Mike Krzyzewski. The Blue Devils won national titles in 1991 and 2010, the last two times they played in a final at Indianapolis.

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NBA:  A bitter loss for the Toronto Raptors. Marcus Smart hit a buzzer beater as the Boston Celtics edged the Raptors in overtime 117-116, four seconds after Lou Williams sank a three to give Toronto the lead. DeMar DeRozan led all players with 38 points. Williams had 27 off the bench.

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CURLING:  Pat Simmons just couldn’t compete against Sweden’s Niklas Edin. The Canadian skip had a shooting percentage of just 72 as he dropped a 6-3 decision to Edin in the semifinal at the world men’s curling championship. Edin advanced to tomorrow’s gold-medal game against Norway while Canada is slated to play Finland for bronze.

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CRACK:  Toronto City Councillor Rob Ford has been appointed to the Hockey Hall of Fame and Museum’s board of directors. A museum spokesman says Ford was elected to the board for the first time at a member’s meeting on March 25. He won’t be on the committee that selects inductees to the Hall of Fame.

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MLB:  It was party time in the Olympic Stadium grandstands and in the Toronto Blue Jays batting order. Playing before 50,231 in the domed stadium, Josh Donaldson homered to lead a 15-hit Toronto attack as the Blue Jays downed the Cincinnati Reds 9-1 in their final pre-season game. Toronto opens the regular season in New York on Monday afternoon.

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PGA:  Jordan Speith has the lead after three rounds of the PGA’s Houston Open. He shot a third round 5-under-67 to stand 14-under par, one shot in front of three players, Scott Piercy, Johnson Wagner and Austin Cook.

Phil Mickelson entered the round one stroke back before carding a 75 that puts him six off the pace.  Weyburn, SK’s Graham DeLaet is tied for 26th at -7.