WEDNESDAY SPORTS: HOMAN WINS CLASH OF THE TITANS

SCOTTIES

CALGARY – They may meet again in the Canadian women’s curling championship playoffs, but the intense on-ice battles between Rachel Homan and Jennifer Jones are coming to an end.

Homan beat Jones 7-5 at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts on Tuesday night in an entertaining tussle of tough, tight shots befitting a pair of skips with nine national titles between them.

It became a heavily marketed matchup when Curling Canada declared last spring that Homan and Jones had pre-qualified for this year’s Hearts based on their Canadian rankings.

Six-time champ Jones has said this season will be her last in team curling, although she’ll continue in mixed doubles with her husband Brent Laing.

Homan’s Ontario foursome was the only unbeaten team in Pool B at 5-0 after wins over Jones and Manitoba’s Kate Cameron on Tuesday.

Alberta’s Selena Sturmay had the only other unbeaten team in the field at 5-0 atop Pool A, with defending champion Kerri Einarson chasing her at 5-1.

Einarson continued to curl without regular lead Briane Harris, who was declared ineligible to compete on opening day for reasons still unexplained by Curling Canada or the skip. Alternate Krysten Karwacki has played in Harris’s absence.

Quebec’s Laurie St-Georges and Northern Ontario’s Krista McCarville (3-2), Saskatchewan’s Skylar Ackerman (3-3), Manitoba’s Kaitlyn Lawes and B.C’s Corryn Brown (2-3), Newfoundland and Labrador’s Stacie Curtis (1-4) and Prince Edward Island’s Jane DiCarlo (0-6) rounded out Pool A.

NHL

PANTHERS 3 SENATORS 2 (OT)

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Anton Lundell scored 1:36 into overtime and the Florida Panthers beat the Ottawa Senators 3-2 on Tuesday night to jump over the idle Boston Bruins and into the top spot in the NHL’s Eastern Conference. Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour also scored while Sergei Bobrovsky made 28 saves in the Panthers’ sixth straight victory.

Elsewhere in the NHL on Tuesday:

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ISLANDERS 5 PENGUINS 4 (OT)

PITTSBURGH, (AP) — Adam Pelech beat Alex Nedeljkovic 57 seconds into overtime to lift the Islanders past the skidding Penguins 5-4. Pittsburgh is 1-4-1 in its last six games.

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AVALANCHE 3 CANUCKS 1

DENVER (AP) — Ryan Johansen broke out of a scoring slump with two goals, Alexandar Georgiev stopped 24 shots and Colorado beat NHL-leading Vancouver 3-1. J.T. Miller had a goal for a Canucks team that’s dropped three in a row for the first time this season.

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PREDATORS 5 GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Tommy Novak scored his fourth goal in five games and Nashville upset Vegas 5-3. The victory marked the first time the Predators have won consecutive games since Jan. 12 and 13.

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RANGERS 3 STARS 1

NEW YORK (AP) — Igor Shesterkin made 41 saves and the Rangers beat the Stars 3-1 for their eighth straight win. Adam Fox, Kaapo Kakko and Vincent Trocheck scored for the Rangers in the matchup of division leaders.

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CAPITALS 6 DEVILS 2

WASHINGTON (AP) — Alex Ovechkin and Connor McMichael each scored twice, and Washington beat New Jersey 6-2 to boost the team’s playoff chances and deal its division rivals a tough blow in their pursuit.

Ovechkin’s goals give him 838 in his NHL career. He has 16 this season, eight in the past eight games to reignite talk of him breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record.

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JETS 6 WILD 3

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Gabriel Vilardi scored twice and added an assist to lift Winnipeg to a 6-3 victory over Minnesota, ending the Wild’s six-game point streak.

Kyle Connor had a goal and pair of assists, while Mason Appleton, Sean Monahan and Nino Niederreiter also scored for the Jets, who rebounded from a 6-3 Monday loss to the Calgary Flames.

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KINGS 5 BLUE JACKETS 1

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Quinton Byfield had a highlight-reel goal, Pierre-Luc Dubois had his second two-goal game of the season and Los Angeles extended its winning streak to four with a 5-1 victory over Columbus.

(Canadian Press)