Goooooooddddddd Morning.
Whether it’s “The Storm Surge” celebrations — or carrying on like a “Bunch of Jerks” — it’s working for the Carolina Hurricanes. After being held scoreless for 40 minutes, Carolina came out firing, with goals less than a minute apart in the opening 65 seconds of the third period to erase an early deficit for a 2-1 win over the Islanders and a 2-0 series lead.
And it didn’t help New York’s cause when a late second period goal by defenceman Devon Toews was disallowed because referees said he directed the puck with his skate behind the Carolina net to deflect in off of Curtis McEhlinney. Nor did the Isles help themselves by cranking what seemed to be like a half dozen shots off goal posts and cross bars.
Colorado survived a late rally, led by San Jose star defenceman Brent Burns, to edge the Sharks 4-3 and earn a split. It’s the first win for the Avs in the Shark Tank since December of 2015, but Burns made it very interesting right to end the by scoring twice in the final 4.5 minutes — sandwiched around an empty net goal by Nathan MacKinnon. You get the feeling from listening to defenceman Erik Karlsson that not everyone in teal was operating on the same page.
And with both games ending in regulation, that halted a streak of seven consecutive nights with an overtime decision.
The US beat Canada 5-2 in the Bronze Medal game of the World Under 18 Hockey Championship in Sweden. Pembina Valley beat the Canucks 5-1 at the St. James Civic Centre to force a Game 7 of the Manitoba Major Junior League’s McKenzie Trophy championship series tomorrow night in Morris. The Anavet Cup Series resumes tomorrow night in Battleford, with the Portage Terriers and the North Stars tied 1-1 after a pair of one goal games in Portage on the weekend.
The opening weekend of the Canadian Premier League’s inaugural season was capped off by a 1-0 win for host Pacific FC over Halifax. York 9 FC and Hamilton Forge tied 1-1 on Saturday in front of a crowd of more than 17,000 at Tim Horton’s Field. Valour FC heads off to Victoria tomorrow for Wednesday’s season opener against Pacific FC, then returns for Saturday’s 5 p.m. home opener at Investors Group Field versus Edmonton FC.
Gimli’s Kerri Einarson and her new rink finished off a very successful first season together. The points gained in 6-3 loss to Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni in the women’s final of the Champions Cup in Saskatoon left Einarson third in the final World Curling Tour Standings, behind only Rachel Homan and Anna Hasselborg of Sweden.
Golden State and Boston opened their NBA second round playoff series on the right side of the scoreboard. Kevin Durant scored 35 points in the Warriors 104-100 win over Houston, and Kyrie Irving had 26 points and 11 assists as the Celtics downed Milwaukee 112- 90. The Raptors look to take a 2-0 lead over Philadelphia tonight by extending their franchise record playoff to a sixth game.
The Toronto Blue Jays completed their second sweep in as many weeks over Oakland, edging the A’s 5-4 in 11 innings on a game-tying three-run homer from Brandon Drury, and then a walkoff single from Justin Smoak. The Jays are now at .500 for the first time in April after a 4-11 start, in large part thanks to going 6-0 against the A’s.
Minnesota also finished off a six-game regular season series sweep of Baltimore with a 4-1 win. Orioles pitching has been lit up for 71 homers in 29 games this season, with the Twins accounting for 23 of those round-trippers. The Yankees won for the 11th time in 13 games, pounding San Francisco 11-5.
Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers hit his tenth home run of April, and his 14th overall, to move into a tie with Christian Yelich of Milwaukee for the major league lead as the Dodgers completed a weekend sweep of Pittsburgh with a 7-6 win over the Pirates. Yelich MIGHT be spending some time on the injured list after hurting his back and having to leave the sixth inning of the Brewers 5-2 loss to the Mets. Chris Sale is now 0-5, and Boston is winless in all 6 of his starts after losing 5-2 to Tampa Bay. Not what Sale or the Red Sox envisioned, I’m sure. when the star leftie was signed to a six-year, $160 million deal in spring training.
Aussie Minjee Lee, 22, won the L-A Open, shooting three under 68 in the final round for a four-shot victory for her fifth career LPGA Tour title, closing with a three-under-68 for a four-stroke victory. Canada’s Brooke Henderson finished in a tie for tenth at six under.
Comments