LOCAL SPORTS
Junior B: The Antigonish Bulldogs’ playoff run came to an end at the Antigonish Arena, as the Eskasoni Eagles outscored them 5-2 in the seventh game of their division final. Scoring for the Bulldogs were Gavin Clarke & Brody MacPherson.
U15: The provincial tournament continues at the Dartmouth Sportsplex. The Wearwell Bombers & the Novas both opened with wins on Thursday: the Bombers crushed the Rangers 7-1, while the Novas slammed the Bandits 6-1. The Bombers start at 8am with a match against the Bandits, then play the Dartmouth Whalers at 2. The Novas first match is at Noon against the Rangers, then they face off with Dartmouth tonight at 8.
Maritime Major Girls U18 League: The Northern Selects began the Atlantic Female U18 Hockey Championship in Charlottetown with a 2-1 victory over the Eastern Ice Breakers from Newfoundland. Scoring for the Selects were Ana Mcarthur & Shawnn Richards. Their next game is at 1 pm against the Down East Stars.
NATIONAL SPORTS
The Edmonton Oilers defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 3-1 for their season-high fifth win in a row. The Oilers tied the Anaheim Ducks atop the Pacific Division at 87 points with six games to go on the regular-season calendar. Edmonton captain Connor McDavid leads the N-H-L in scoring with 126 points.
The Toronto Maple Leafs will officially miss the playoffs for the first time since 2016. The Leafs lost 4-1 to the San Jose Sharks, falling out of playoff contention in a dismal season for the franchise. Toronto fired general manager Brad Treliving on Monday and sits 25th in the league standings.
Elsewhere in the N-H-L, the Calgary Flames fell 6-3 to the Vegas Golden Knights, the last-place Vancouver Canucks lost 5-2 to former captain Quinn Hughes and the Minnesota Wild, and the Winnipeg Jets were shut out 3-0 by the Dallas Stars. Earlier, the Montreal Canadiens topped the New York Rangers 3-2 and the Ottawa Senators beat the Buffalo Sabres 4-1.
In Major League Baseball, the Atlanta Braves coasted to a 17-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks in the opener of a four-game series. Matt Olson, Dominic Smith and Mauricio Dubon hit solo homers, and Reynaldo Lopez gave up one run over five innings. The Toronto Blue Jays return to action Friday on the road against the Chicago White Sox.
Canadian basketball star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Oklahoma City Thunder to a historic blowout of the Los Angeles Lakers. The reigning M-V-P scored 28 points in a 139-96 win as the storied Lakers suffered their seventh-largest margin of defeat. Los Angeles fell six points short of its worst defeat ever — a 49-point loss to the Dallas Mavericks in 2017.
Canada won its eighth game in a row but still couldn’t earn a direct berth to the semifinals at the men’s world curling championship. Matt Dunstone’s Winnipeg-based team closed out round-robin play with a 7-5 win over Norway. Canada finished as the third seed and will face Italy for a spot in Friday’s semifinal draw.
Thursday’s Scoreboard
NHL
Ottawa 4 Buffalo 1
Montreal 3 N.Y. Rangers 2
Minnesota 5 Vancouver 2
Dallas 3 Winnipeg 0
Edmonton 3 Chicago 1
Vegas 6 Calgary 3
San Jose 4 Toronto 1
Florida 2 Boston 1
Carolina 5 Columbus 1
Detroit 4 Philadelphia 2
Tampa Bay 6 Pittsburgh 3
New Jersey 7 Washington 3
Utah 6 Seattle 2
Nashville 5 Los Angeles 4 (SO)
MLB
American League
Minnesota 5 Kansas City 1
Toronto at Chicago White Sox, ppd.
National League
Atlanta 17 Arizona 2
San Francisco 7 N.Y. Mets 2
NBA
Detroit 113 Minnesota 108
Charlotte 127 Phoenix 107
Oklahoma City 139 L.A. Lakers 96
Cleveland 118 Golden State 111
Portland 118 New Orleans 106
San Antonio 118 L.A. Clippers 99
Thursday’s Games (All times Eastern)
NHL
Philadelphia at N.Y. Islanders, 7 p.m.
St. Louis at Anaheim, 10 p.m.
PWHL
Montreal at Ottawa, 7 p.m.
Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League First Round | Best-of-Seven Series
Newfoundland at Cape Breton, 6 p.m. (Newfoundland leads series 3-1)
Charlottetown at Québec, 7 p.m. (Series tied 2-2)
Gatineau at Rouyn-Noranda, 7 p.m. (Rouyn-Noranda leads series 3-1)
Drummondville at Val-d’Or, 7 p.m. (Val-d’Or leads series 3-1)
Sherbrooke at Shawinigan, 7 p.m. (Series tied 2-2)
MLB
American League
Toronto (Cease 0-0) at Chicago White Sox (Burke 0-1), 2:10 p.m.
Tampa Bay (Boyle 0-0) at Minnesota (Ober 0-0), 4:10 p.m.
Seattle (Woo 0-0) at L.A. Angels (Detmers 0-0), 9:38 p.m.
Houston (Javier 0-0) at Athletics (Springs 0-0), 9:40 p.m.
National League
L.A. Dodgers (Sheehan 0-0) at Washington (Mikolas 0-1), 1:05 p.m.
Philadelphia (Nola 0-0) at Colorado (Lorenzen 0-0), 4:10 p.m.
Atlanta (Holmes 0-1) at Arizona (Rodriguez 0-0), 9:45 p.m.
N.Y. Mets (McLean 0-0) at San Francisco (Mahle 0-1), 10:15 p.m.
Interleague
St. Louis (McGreevy 0-0) at Detroit (Valdez 0-0), 1:10 p.m.
Miami (Pérez 0-0) at N.Y. Yankees (Warren 0-0), 1:35 p.m.
San Diego (King 0-0) at Boston (Gray 0-0), 2:10 p.m.
Cincinnati (Singer 0-0) at Texas (Gore 1-0), 4:05 p.m.
Chicago Cubs (Horton 1-0) at Cleveland (Cantillo 0-0), 4:10 p.m.
Baltimore (Bradish 0-0) at Pittsburgh (Keller 0-0), 4:12 p.m.
Milwaukee (Patrick 0-0) at Kansas City (Wacha 0-0), 7:45 p.m.
NBA
Indiana at Charlotte, 7 p.m.
Minnesota at Philadelphia, 7 p.m.
Atlanta at Brooklyn, 7:30 p.m.
Chicago at New York, 7:30 p.m.
Toronto at Memphis, 8 p.m.
Boston at Milwaukee, 8 p.m.
Utah at Houston, 8 p.m.
Orlando at Dallas, 8:30 p.m.
New Orleans at Sacramento, 10 p.m.