LOCAL SPORTS
The Antigonish Junior B Bulldogs are two wins away from another league title. The Bulldogs won the first two games of the Junior B League finals before the Capstone Colts replied with two wins of their own. Game 5 is tonight at 7:30 at the Antigonish Arena, with Game 6 in Shearwater on Saturday and Game 7, if necessary, in Antigonish Sunday night at 7. Atlantics start on Tuesday.
The Pictou County Weeks Crushers begin the Maritime League Finals tonight in Campbellton against the Blizzards, with Game 2 in Campbellton on Saturday. Game 3 will be at the Pictou County Wellness Centre on Wednesday.
NATIONAL SPORTS
The Stanley Cup playoffs get going tomorrow and there are a few Canadian teams in the mix. The Toronto Maple Leafs are set to take on the Ottawa Senators in a “battle of Ontario.” After clinching a wild-card spot Wednesday, the Montreal Canadiens have set up a series with the Washington Capitals. The Winnipeg Jets take on the St. Louis Blues while the Edmonton Oilers face the Los Angeles Kings for the fourth year in a row.
Toronto and Ottawa tuned up for their first-round series with regular season-ending victories. Scott Laughton scored the overtime winner in the Maple Leafs’ 4-3 win over Detroit. The Senators outscored Carolina 7-5. Calgary beat Los Angeles 5-1.
Ottawa forward Brady Tkachuk says he’ll be ready to play in Sunday’s playoff opener in Toronto. He sat out the third period of the Senators’ win over Carolina after taking a stick to the face. Tkachuk leads his team with 29 goals this season.
Oilers star forward Leon Draisaitl is the winner of the N-H-L’s Maurice (Rocket) Richard Trophy. He scored 52 goals this season. The Art Ross Trophy goes to Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov. He had 121 points on the campaign.
Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin finished the regular season with 44 goals and a total of 897 for his career so far. He scored in a regular season-ending 5-2 loss to Pittsburgh. Ovechkin broke Wayne Gretzky’s N-H-L career record of 894 goals on April 6th.
The semifinal matchups are set at the world women’s hockey championship. The defending champion Canadians will play Finland after rolling past Japan 9-1. The United States will play Czechia in the other semifinal on Saturday. Medal games are set for Sunday.
Kumar Rocker has his first career big-league win. He had eight strikeouts as Texas beat the L-A Angels 5-3. The New York Yankees felt at home in a 6-3 road win over Tampa Bay. The hurricane-displaced Rays are playing at the Yankees’ spring facility this season. The Toronto Blue Jays were idle.
Thursday’s Scoreboard
NHL
Toronto 4 Detroit 3 (OT)
Ottawa 7 Carolina 5
Calgary 5 Los Angeles 1
Columbus 6 N.Y. Islanders 1
N.Y. Rangers 4 Tampa Bay 0
Buffalo 5 Philadelphia 4
Pittsburgh 5 Washington 2
IIHF Women’s World Championship – Quarterfinals at Ceske Budejovice, Czechia
Canada 9 Japan 1
Finland 3 Sweden 2
United States 3 Germany 0
Czechia 7 Switzerland 0
MLB
American League
Athletics 8 Chicago White Sox 0
Baltimore 6 Cleveland 2
Detroit 6 Kansas City 1
N.Y. Yankees 6 Tampa Bay 3
Texas 5 L.A. Angels 3
National League
Arizona 6 Miami 4
Pittsburgh 1 Washington 0
Philadelphia 6 San Francisco 4
N.Y. Mets 4 St. Louis 1
Interleague
Seattle 11 Cincinnati 7 (10 innings)
Friday’s Games (All Times Eastern)
MLB
American League
Seattle (Woo 2-0) at Toronto (Francis 1-2), 7:07 p.m.
Kansas City (Ragans 1-0) at Detroit (Jobe 1-0), 6:40 p.m.
N.Y. Yankees (Rodon 1-3) at Tampa Bay (Rasmussen 1-0), 7:05 p.m.
Chicago White Sox (Perez 1-0) at Boston (TBD), 7:10 p.m.
National League
Arizona (Burnes 0-1) at Chicago Cubs (Rea 0-0), 2:20 p.m.
Miami (TBD) at Philadelphia (Wheeler 1-1), 6:45 p.m.
St. Louis (Mikolas 0-2) at N.Y. Mets (Peterson 1-1), 7:10 p.m.
Washington (TBD) at Colorado (Dollander 1-1), 8:40 p.m.
Interleague
Cleveland (Ortiz 1-2) at Pittsburgh (Mlodzinski 1-2), 6:40 p.m.
Cincinnati (Abbott 1-0) at Baltimore (TBD), 7:05 p.m.
Minnesota (Paddack 0-2) at Atlanta (Elder 0-1), 7:15 p.m.
L.A. Dodgers (Yamamoto 2-1) at Texas (deGrom 0-0), 8:05 p.m.
San Diego (Hart 2-0) at Houston (Gusto 1-1), 8:10 p.m.
Athletics (Ginn 1-0) at Milwaukee (Peralta 1-1), 8:10 p.m.
San Francisco (Webb 2-0) at L.A. Angels (TBD), 9:38 p.m.
NBA Play-In Tournament
Miami at Atlanta, 7 p.m.
Dallas at Memphis, 9:30 p.m.