The Tampa Bay Lightning are back in the Stanley Cup Finals. The defending champs defeated the New York Islanders 1-0 in Game 7. Yanni Gourde put the Bolts ahead with a short-handed goal 1:49 into the second period to set up a meeting with the Montreal Canadiens. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 18 saves in his second shutout in three games.
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 25 points, and the Milwaukee Bucks blew out the Atlanta Hawks 125-91 to even the Eastern Conference finals at a game apiece. The Bucks never trailed, scored 20 straight points late in the second quarter and led by at least 30 throughout the second half. Atlanta’s Trae Young struggled for much of the night after collecting 48 points and 11 assists in the Hawks’ Game 1 victory. Young scored 15 points but matched a career high with nine turnovers.
Vladimir Guerrero Junior hit his A-L-leading 25th home run of the season, but his Blue Jays blew a four-run lead and went on to lose 6-5 in 10 innings against the last-place Baltimore Orioles. The Jays were up 5-1 in the eighth and appeared to have their sixth straight win in the bag before Baltimore rallied for the victory in Buffalo, New York.
The Boston Red Sox stayed within a half-game of the A-L East-leading Tampa Bay Rays by beating the New York Yankees for the fourth straight time this month. Hunter Renfroe had two R-B-Is, including go-ahead sacrifice fly in the third inning of the Red Sox’s 5-3 victory over their arch-rivals. Boston’s pitchers held New York scoreless over the final seven innings.
Shohei Ohtani led off by homering for the seventh time in nine games, a long drive off an overhanging catwalk, but the Tampa Bay Rays edged the Los Angeles Angels 4-3. Rays pinch-hitter Brandon Lowe was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force home the go-ahead run in the seventh inning. Ohtani hit a drive estimated at 453 feet off the D-ring in right field at Tropicana Field _ only the 39th ball to reach that spot since the park opened in 1998. It was Ohtani’s 24th homer.
Kyle Schwarber hit his 13th home run in the last 14 games but the Miami Marlins went on to beat the Washington Nationals 11-2. Schwarber has the second-most homers in a 14-game span since at least 1901, behind only 14 by San Francisco’s Barry Bonds in 2001. Schwarber hit his 22nd home run this season into the right field upper deck in the third inning.
Friday’s Games
NHL Playoffs – Semifinals
Tampa Bay 1 N.Y. Islanders 0 (Lightning win series 4-3)
NBA Playoffs – Conference Finals
Milwaukee 125 Atlanta 91 (Series tied 1-1)
MLB
American League
Tampa Bay 4 L.A. Angels 3
Baltimore 6 Toronto 5 (10 innings)
Boston 5 N.Y. Yankees 3
Minnesota 8 Cleveland 7
Texas 9 Kansas City 4
Seattle 9 Chicago White Sox 3
Houston at Detroit — postponed
National League
N.Y. Mets 2 Philadelphia 1 (8 innings, 1st game)
Philadelphia 2 N.Y. Mets 1 (8 innings, 2nd game)
Milwaukee 5 Colorado 4 (11 innings)
Atlanta 3 Cincinnati 2
Miami 11 Washington 2
Pittsburgh 5 St. Louis 4
San Diego 11 Arizona 5
L.A. Dodgers 6 Chicago Cubs 2
Interleague
San Francisco 2 Oakland 0
MLS
Orlando City 2 Miami 1
Saturday’s Games (All Times Eastern)
NBA Playoffs – Conference Finals
Phoenix at L.A. Clippers, 9 p.m. (Suns lead series 2-1)
MLB
American League
Cleveland (Hentges 1-1) at Minnesota (Maeda 3-2), 2:10 p.m.
Seattle (Gilbert 2-2) at Chicago White Sox (Lynn 7-3), 2:10 p.m.
Baltimore (Akin 0-3) at Toronto (Ryu 6-4), 3:07 p.m.
Kansas City (TBD) at Texas (Gibson 5-0), 4:05 p.m.
Houston (McCullers Jr. 4-1) at Detroit (Mize 4-4), 4:10 p.m.
L.A. Angels (Cobb 5-2) at Tampa Bay (McClanahan 2-2), 4:10 p.m.
N.Y. Yankees (Montgomery 3-1) at Boston (Eovaldi 7-4), 7:15 p.m.
National League
Pittsburgh (Brubaker 4-6) at St. Louis (Wainwright 5-5), 2:15 p.m.
Atlanta (Anderson 5-3) at Cincinnati (Castillo 2-10), 4:10 p.m.
Colorado (Senzatela 2-7) at Milwaukee (Houser 4-5), 4:10 p.m.
Philadelphia (Eflin 2-6) at N.Y. Mets (deGrom 7-2), 4:10 p.m.
Washington (Corbin 5-5) at Miami (Thompson 1-2), 4:10 p.m.
Chicago Cubs (Mills 3-1) at L.A. Dodgers (Urias 9-3), 7:15 p.m.
Arizona (Kelly 3-7) at San Diego (Lamet 2-2), 10:10 p.m.
Interleague
Oakland (Montas 7-7) at San Francisco (Wood 6-3), 10:05 p.m.
MLS
Los Angeles FC at Sporting Kansas City, 5:30 p.m.
Cincinnati at Toronto FC, 7 p.m.
Houston at Real Salt Lake, 8 p.m.
Philadelphia at Chicago, 8 p.m.
CF Montreal at Nashville, 8:30 p.m.
Vancouver at Seattle, 9 p.m.
LA Galaxy at San Jose, 10 p.m.
Minnesota at Portland, 11 p.m.
European soccer championship – Round of 16
Wales vs Denmark at Amsterdam, 12 p.m.
Italy vs Austria at London, 3 p.m.