LOCAL SPORTS
NS Junior: The Antigonish Junior B Bulldogs dominated in Game 4 of the finals, outscoring the Capstone Colts 7-1 in Shearwater. The Bulldogs can take the title with a victory tonight at the Antigonish Arena – puck drops at 7:30.
Rural League: The Heatherton Warriors have won the league title after defeating St. Croix in Game 5.
The U14 D3 Provincial Basketball Championship is running this weekend at East Antigonish Education Centre. The Antigonish Junior X Women will take on seven other teams from across Nova Scotia for the provincial banner.
The Junior X Women lost their first contest 42-29 to the Cumberland Crushers Friday night. Games resume at 8:30 am, with the Junior X Women playing the St. Margaret’s Bay Slam at Noon. Cross-overs and the medal games are on Sunday.
NATIONAL SPORTS
Nathan MacKinnon’s third goal of the game and his 50th of the season at 18:18 of the third period snapped a 3-3 deadlock and lifted the visiting Colorado Avalanche to a 4-3 victory over the Nashville Predators. With the win, the defending Stanley Cup champion Avalanche clinched the N-H-L’s Central Division and earned themselves a first-round playoff date with the Seattle Kraken, who finished fourth in the Pacific Division. That series starts Tuesday in Denver, Colorado.
The Buffalo Sabres came up just short of making the N-H-L playoffs, missing the final wild-card berth by one point. They closed their season with a 5-2 win over the lowly Columbus Blue Jackets. Jeff Skinner scored his 35th goal of the year and added an assist for the Sabres, who won five of their final six games.
After a slow start, Finland found its speed and offence to flatten Germany 8-2 at the women’s world hockey championship in Brampton, Ontario. With the victory, Finland advances to Sunday’s fifth-place game, where it will face Sweden, which defeated Japan 1-0 in Friday’s late game. Defending champion Canada plays Switzerland and the United States face Czechia in today’s semifinals.
The Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks will square off in the first round of the N-B-A playoffs. Max Strus and Jimmy Butler scored 31 points apiece, and the Heat got into the playoffs by rallying in the final minutes to beat the Chicago Bulls 102-91 in an Eastern Conference play-in game. Tyler Herro added 12 points for Miami, which trailed by six points midway through the final quarter.
Karl-Anthony Towns had 28 points and 11 rebounds to lead Minnesota into the N-B-A playoffs, as the Timberwolves muscled and hustled their way past Oklahoma City Thunder 120-95 to finish the play-in tournament. Rudy Gobert had 21 points in his return from exile for swinging at teammate Kyle Anderson, and the Wolves filled out the N-B-A playoff bracket by seizing the Number 8 seed in the Western Conference. They will now face the Number-1 seed Denver Nuggets in a best-of-seven series starting on Sunday night.
Friday’s scoreboard
Women’s World Hockey Championship
Finland 8 Germany 2
Sweden 1 Japan 0
NHL
Buffalo 5 Columbus 2
Colorado 4 Nashville 3
NBA Play-In Tournament
Miami 102 Chicago 91
Minnesota 120 Oklahoma City 95
MLB
American League
Toronto 6 Tampa Bay 3
Minnesota 4 N.Y. Yankees 3
Baltimore 6 Chicago White Sox 3
Boston 5 L.A. Angels 3
Texas 6 Houston 2
National League
Miami 5 Arizona 1
Philadelphia 8 Cincinnati 3
St. Louis 3 Pittsburgh 0
Milwaukee 11 San Diego 2
Chicago Cubs 8 L.A. Dodgers 2
Interleague
Detroit 7 San Francisco 5
Cleveland 4 Washington 3
Atlanta 10 Kansas City 3
N.Y. Mets 17 Oakland 6
Seattle 5 Colorado 3
Saturday’s games (All times Eastern)
Women’s World Hockey Championship Semifinals
United States vs. Czechia, noon
Canada vs. Switzerland, 4 p.m.
NBA First-Round Playoffs
Brooklyn at Philadelphia, 1 p.m.
Atlanta at Boston, 3:30 p.m.
New York at Cleveland, 6 p.m.
Golden State at Sacramento, 8:30 p.m.
MLB
Interleague
San Francisco (DeSclafani 1-0) at Detroit (Lorenzen 0-0), 1:10 p.m.
Cleveland (Plesac 0-0) at Washington (Kuhl 0-0), 4:05 p.m.
N.Y. Mets (Carrasco 0-2) at Oakland (Fujinami 0-2), 4:07 p.m.
Atlanta (Elder 1-0) at Kansas City (Bubic 0-1), 4:10 p.m.
Colorado (Feltner 0-1) at Seattle (Kirby 0-1), 9:40 p.m.
American League
Minnesota (Mahle 1-1) at N.Y. Yankees (German 0-1), 1:05 p.m.
Baltimore (Gibson 3-0) at Chicago White Sox (Kopech 0-2), 2:10 p.m.
Tampa Bay (Fleming 0-0) at Toronto (Kikuchi 1-0), 3:07 p.m.
L.A. Angels (Anderson 1-0) at Boston (Pivetta 0-1), 4:10 p.m.
Texas (Gray 1-1) at Houston (Brown 1-0), 7:10 p.m.
National League
Pittsburgh (Contreras 1-1) at St. Louis (Matz 0-2), 2:15 p.m.
Milwaukee (Lauer 1-1) at San Diego (Lugo 2-0), 4:05 p.m.
Arizona (Nelson 1-0) at Miami (Garrett 0-0), 4:10 p.m.
Philadelphia (Strahm 1-0) at Cincinnati (Ashcraft 1-0), 4:10 p.m.
Chicago Cubs (Taillon 0-2) at L.A. Dodgers (Grove 0-1), 9:10 p.m.
MLS
Colorado at Charlotte FC, 7:30 p.m.
New England at Columbus, 7:30 p.m.
D.C. United at CF Montreal, 7:30 p.m.
Houston at New York, 7:30 p.m.
Nashville at New York City FC, 7:30 p.m.
Atlanta at Toronto FC, 7:30 p.m.
Vancouver at Austin FC, 8:30 p.m.
Philadelphia at Chicago, 8:30 p.m.
Real Salt Lake at FC Dallas, 8:30 p.m.
Orlando City at Minnesota, 8:30 p.m.
Cincinnati at Saint Louis City SC, 8:30 p.m.
Seattle at Portland, 10:30 p.m.
Sporting Kansas City at San Jose, 10:30 p.m.