Andrei Vasilevskiy turned away 42 shots as the Tampa Bay Lightning eked out a 3-1 win over the rejuvenated Montreal Canadiens in a thrilling Game 2 of the Stanley Cup final. Blake Coleman dove to score the winner at the buzzer at the end of the second period. The Bolts now take a 2-0 series lead into Game 3 Friday in Montreal.
A person familiar with the decision tells The Associated Press the Arizona Coyotes are hiring junior coach Andre Tourigny as head coach. Tourigny replaces Rick Tocchet, who was fired in May after the Coyotes failed to reach the playoffs for the seventh time in eight seasons. The 47-year-old Tourigny has spent the past four seasons as coach and vice president of hockey operations for the Ottawa 67s of the Ontario Hockey League, as well as various roles with Hockey Canada.
Tom Dundon is now sole owner of the Carolina Hurricanes after buying out the remaining shares of the N-H-L club held by Peter Karmanos and others. The league’s board of governors unanimously approved the transaction today. Dundon became majority owner in early 2018 when he bought 52 per cent of the Hurricanes and their arena for $425 million dollars U-S. Karmanos had owned the team since moving the Whalers from Hartford in 1997.
The Phoenix Suns are headed to the N-B-A Finals for the first time in 28 years, defeating the Los Angeles Clippers 130-103 to close out the Western Conference finals in six games. Chris Paul tied his career playoff high of 41 points and Devin Booker added 22 points to send the Suns to their third Finals appearance in franchise history. They will face either the Atlanta Hawks or Milwaukee Bucks, who are tied 2-2 in the East finals.
Dylan Moore hit a three-run homer in the 10th inning and the Seattle Mariners held on after blowing two earlier leads to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 9-7 in Buffalo, New York. Seattle held leads of 4-1 and 6-4 but still needed extra innings. Lourdes Gurriel Junior tied it at six in the eighth with a leadoff homer, Toronto’s first hit since Gurriel had an R-B-I single in the fifth inning.
Former Blue Jay Joe Panik made an instant impression in his first game in Miami’s lineup, homering in his first at-bat and adding a go-ahead R-B-I single during a six-run sixth inning as the Marlins rallied for an 11-6 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. Bryce Harper hit two solo homers for the Phillies.
Wednesday’s Games
NHL Playoffs – Stanley Cup final
Tampa Bay 3 Montreal 1 (Tampa Bay leads series 2-0)
NBA Playoffs – Conference Finals
Phoenix 130 Los Angeles Clippers 103 (Phoenix wins series 4-2)
MLB
American League
Detroit 9 Cleveland 4 (1st game)
Detroit 7 Cleveland 1 (2nd game)
Boston 6 Kansas City 2
L.A. Angels 11 N.Y. Yankees 8
Chicago White Sox 13 Minnesota 3
Seattle 9 Toronto 7 (10 innings)
Baltimore 5 Houston 2
Oakland 3 Texas 1
National League
St. Louis 7 Arizona 4
Milwaukee 15 Chicago Cubs 7
Colorado 6 Pittsburgh 2
San Diego 7 Cincinnati 5 (6 innings)
Atlanta 20 N.Y. Mets 2
Miami 11 Philadelphia 6
Interleague
Washington 15 Tampa Bay 6
Thursday’s Games (All Times Eastern)
NBA Playoffs – Conference Finals
Atlanta at Milwaukee, 8:30 p.m. (Series tied 2-2)
MLB
American League
L.A. Angels (Canning 5-4) at N.Y. Yankees (Montgomery 3-2), 1:05 p.m.
Seattle (Kikuchi 5-3) at Toronto (Ryu 7-4), 1:07 p.m.
Kansas City (TBD) at Boston (Eovaldi 8-4), 1:10 p.m.
Minnesota (Berrios 7-2) at Chicago White Sox (Rodon 6-3), 2:10 p.m.
Texas (Dunning 3-6) at Oakland (Manaea 6-4), 3:37 p.m.
Houston (Valdez 4-1) at Cleveland (Mejia 1-2), 7:10 p.m.
National League
Miami (Lopez 4-4) at Philadelphia (Eflin 2-6), 6:05 p.m.
L.A. Dodgers (Gonsolin 0-0) at Washington (Corbin 5-6), 7:05 p.m.
Milwaukee (Burnes 3-4) at Pittsburgh (Crowe 1-4), 7:05 p.m.
San Diego (Weathers 3-2) at Cincinnati (Castillo 3-10), 7:10 p.m.
N.Y. Mets (deGrom 7-2) at Atlanta (Anderson 5-4), 7:20 p.m.
St. Louis (Wainwright 6-5) at Colorado (Senzatela 2-7), 8:40 p.m.
San Francisco (Cueto 6-3) at Arizona (Kelly 4-7), 9:40 p.m.
MLS
Portland at Austin FC, 9:30 p.m.