The Winnipeg Jets didn’t get any breaks on the NHL Scoreboard Tuesday Night. Nashville, St. Louis, and Dallas all gained ground in the Central Division race. The Predators shutout Toronto for the second time this season as Pekka Rinne stopped 22 shots for a 3-0 win over the struggling Leafs, who lost for the fourth time in five games. Nashville is back to within a single point of Winnipeg, who will try to widen that gap again when they play in Anaheim tonight.
St. Louis jumped on Edmonton for a 4-0 lead and went on to stomp the Oilers 7-2 as Jaden Schwartz scored a hat trick and had a helper while David Perron had a four-point night as well with two goals and two assists. The third place Blues remained two points up on Dallas who doubled Florida 4-2 as the Stars’ Big Three of Radulov, Benn and Seguin combined for three goals and 10 points. Take that, Tom Gagliardi and Jim Lites.
Minnesota lost 3-1 at home to Colorado to remain a point behind Arizona for the last playoff spot — while the Avalanche pulled to within a couple of points of the Coyotes.
That loss by the Wild also clinched a playoff spot for San Jose. But the Sharks are now three points behind Calgary for the Western Conference lead as the Flames were 4-2 winners on home ice over Columbus. The Blue Jackets lost ground to Carolina in the battle to avoid powerhouse Tampa Bay in the first round after the Hurricanes edged Pittsburgh 3-2 in a shootout. And their lead over Montreal for that last playoff spot has also been whittled down to a single point as the Canadiens beat Philadelphia 3-1.
Washington regained sole possession of top spot in the Metro with a 4-1 win over New Jersey while the Islanders were getting manhandled 5-0 by Boston. Tuukka Rask faced just 13 shots in collecting his 45th career shutout.
A huge win for the Manitoba Moose as they slipped past San Diego 4-3 in overtime. Kristian Vesalainen scored the game winner with just 13 seconds left in extra time as the Jets farm team moved to within two points of Rockford for a playoff spot.
“Play Ball!” was the call earlier this morning at the Tokyodome, where 45,000 Japanese fans cheered wildly for Ichiro Suzuki and the Seattle Mariners in the opening game of the Major League Baseball season versus the Oakland Athletics. The Mariners outlasted the A’s 9-7 in a game that featured a combined five home runs, including a third-inning grand slam from Seattle DH Domingo Santana. The rest of the major league teams will play their home openers a week from tomorrow- including the Toronto Blue Jays who will host Detroit.
The NCAA Tournament “First Four” play-in games at Daylton, Ohio saw Belmont University of Nashville top Temple 81-70 for their first ever Tourney victory after going 0 for 7. And Farleigh Dickinson of New jersey was an 82-76 winner over Prairie View A&M of Texas. The first full day of Tournament play gets underway tomorrow.
Mike Trout is on the verge of becoming the highest paid athlete in the history of North American Professional sport — once a 12-year, $432 million contract extension to remain with the LA Angels has been signed. Houston has also reportedly locked up their soon-to-be 25-year-old star third baseman Alex Bregman — after coming to terms on a six-year deal for $100 million.
Longtime Green Bay Linebacker Clay Matthews has agreed to a two-year deal with the LA Rams.
Canada’s Chelsea Carey is pretty much out of contention for a playoff spot with a 3-4 record at the World Women’s Curling Championship in Denmark after losing to Scotland and the United States on Tuesday.
And Mississauga’s Bianca Andreescu plays Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania tonight at the Miami Open. It will be the first match for the Toronto-area 18-year-old since winning at Indian Wells on the weekend.