Brady Tkachuk had a goal and two assists, Matt Murray made 20 saves in his Ottawa debut, and the Senators defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-3 in their first game in more than 10 months. They will meet again soon with the two teams scheduled to play two games in two nights at Canadian Tire Centre.
Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and two assists, and Colorado scored a franchise-record six power-play goals as the Avalanche beat the St. Louis Blues 8-0. The game was scoreless after one period before Gabriel Landeskog put Colorado on the board with his first of two goals on the night in the second.
The Edmonton Oilers have placed goaltender Mike Smith on long-term injury reserve, and have re-assigned Olivier Rodrigue to the club’s taxi squad, pending quarantine protocols. Smith was supposed to start Thursday’s game at home against the Vancouver Canucks but was declared inactive, forcing Mikko Koskinen into back-to-back starts.
Canadian Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored a career-high 33 points to help Oklahoma City beat the Chicago Bulls and former Thunder coach Billy Donovan 127-125 in overtime Friday night. Gilgeous-Alexander scored 12 points alone in the fourth to help force overtime.
Another three N-B-A games were postponed, including one in Minnesota against Memphis only a couple hours before tip-off, as the league struggles with increasing COVID-19 numbers. Among the Wolves with COVID-19 issues is Karl-Anthony Towns, who said he tested positive. The Washington Wizards revealed that they have six players who have tested positive for the virus and another three players out because contact tracing. Wizards home games Sunday and Monday against the Cleveland Cavaliers are both called off.
Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B-C heads into the weekend at the Sony Open atop the leaderboard. Taylor fired an 8-under 62 to get to 12 under. That gives him a two shot lead on the rest of the field in Hawaii. Stewart Cink is one of five players at 10 under. Canadians Mike Weir and Mackenzie Hughes also made the cut. Both are 6 under.
The U-S Postal Service says New York Yankees great Yogi Berra will be featured on a new stamp this year. The preliminary design shows the 10-time World Series champion smiling in catcher’s gear while wearing Yankees pinstripes. He filled baseball’s record book along with ”Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations.” Among his more notable Yogi-isms: ”It ain’t over till it’s over” and ”when you come to a fork in the road, take it” and ”the future ain’t what it used to be.” Born as Lawrence Peter Berra, the Hall of Fame catcher died in 2015 at 90.
Friday’s Games
NHL
Washington 2 Buffalo 1
Tampa Bay 5 Chicago 2
Philadelphia 5 Pittsburgh 2
Ottawa 5 Toronto 3
Colorado 8 St. Louis 0
Dallas at Florida – postponed
NBA
Boston 124 Orlando 97
Cleveland 106 New York 103
Milwaukee 112 Dallas 109
Oklahoma City 127 Chicago 125 (OT)
Utah 116 Atlanta 92
L.A. Clippers 138 Sacramento 100
L.A. Lakers 112 New Orleans 95
Washington at Detroit – postponed
Memphis at Minnesota – postponed
Golden State at Phoenix – postponed
Saturday’s Games (All Times Eastern)
NHL
Boston at New Jersey, 1 p.m.
San Jose at Arizona, 4 p.m.
Carolina at Detroit, 7 p.m.
Montreal at Edmonton, 7 p.m.
N.Y. Islanders at N.Y. Rangers, 7 p.m.
Toronto at Ottawa, 7 p.m.
Columbus at Nashville, 8 p.m.
Minnesota at Los Angeles, 9 p.m.
Anaheim at Vegas, 10 p.m.
Vancouver at Calgary, 10 p.m.
NBA
Houston at San Antonio, 5 p.m.
Orlando at Brooklyn, 6 p.m.
Charlotte at Toronto, 7:30 p.m.
Detroit at Miami, 8 p.m.
Philadelphia at Memphis, 8 p.m.
Indiana at Phoenix – postponed
Atlanta at Portland, 10 p.m.
NFL Playoffs: Divisional Round
L.A. Rams at Green Bay, 4:35 p.m.
Baltimore at Buffalo, 8:15 p.m.