LOCAL SPORTS
The Halifax Wanderers are set to host Wrexham A-F-C in an under-21 series in Atlantic Canada in July. The series is set to kick off July 5th at the Wanderers Grounds in Halifax before moving to Charlottetown on July 9th and Saint John, New Brunswick on July 12th. Wrexham, co-owned by Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds and American actor and producer Rob McElhenney, has won fame for its celebrity ownership and rise up the ranks captured in the documentary series Welcome to Wrexham. The Charlottetown game will be at U-P-E-I Turf Field, while the Saint John stop is at the Canada Games Stadium.
NATIONAL SPORTS
Auston Matthews broke a scoreless tie in the third period, Joseph Woll stopped 22 shots, and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Florida Panthers 2-0 in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series. Game 7 is tomorrow night in Toronto. The winner faces Carolina in the East final.
The Ottawa Charge are going to the Walter Cup final to play for the Professional Women’s Hockey League championship. Emily Clark’s third-period goal proved to be the winner as Ottawa edged the Montreal Victoire 2-1. The Charge won the best-of-five semifinal series 3-1. Ottawa will now face the defending champion Minnesota Frost starting Tuesday in the nation’s capital.
Daulton Varsho drove in two runs with his sixth homer of the year but it wasn’t enough as the Toronto Blue Jays fell to the Detroit Tigers 5-4. Riley Greene homered and added a two-run double to lead Detroit’s offence.
Rowdy Tellez and Cal Raleigh each hit two-run homers as the Seattle Mariners beat the San Diego Padres 5-1 in the opening game of the inaugural Vedder Cup. The annual interleague series between the teams that share a spring training complex was informally known since 2011 as the Vedder Cup, a reference to Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder, who grew up in San Diego and Seattle. The two teams formalized the competition in March, with the winner getting a trophy featuring a guitar provided by Vedder.
The New York Knicks reached the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in 25 years and ended the one-year N-B-A title reign of the Boston Celtics with astonishing ease, rolling to a 119-81 victory. Jalen Brunson and O-G Anunoby (an-ih-NOH’-bee) each scored 23 points for the Knicks. New York will next face the Indiana Pacers. Game 1 is Wednesday night in the Big Apple.
Denver Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon has a strained left hamstring and his availability is in doubt for Game 7 against the Thunder in Oklahoma City on Sunday. Gordon clutched his hamstring late in Denver’s win over the Thunder on Thursday to tie their second-round series.
Friday’s Scoreboard
NHL Second Round
Toronto 2 Florida 0 (Best-of-seven series tied 3-3)
PWHL Semifinals
Ottawa 2 Montreal 1 (Ottawa wins best-of-five series 3-1)
World Hockey Championship Preliminary Round
at Stockholm, Sweden
Austria 5 France 2
Sweden 4 Slovenia 0
at Herning, Denmark
Denmark 8 Hungary 2
Switzerland 3 Norway 0
NBA Conference Semifinals
New York 119 Boston 81 (New York wins best-of-seven series 4-2)
WNBA
Minnesota 99 Dallas 84
Washington 94 Atlanta 90
Los Angeles 84 Golden State 67
MLB
American League
Detroit 5 Toronto 4
Houston 6 Texas 3
National League
Philadelphia 8 Pittsburgh 4
Arizona 8 Colorado 0
Interleague
Chicago Cubs 13 Chicago White Sox 3
Cincinnati 5 Cleveland 4
Atlanta 4 Boston 2
Miami 9 Tampa Bay 4
N.Y. Yankees 6 N.Y. Mets 2
Washington 4 Baltimore 3
St. Louis 10 Kansas City 3
Minnesota 3 Milwaukee 0
Seattle 5 San Diego 1
San Francisco 9 Athletics 1
L.A. Angels 6 L.A. Dodgers 2
Saturday’s Games (All times Eastern)
NHL Second Round
Winnipeg at Dallas, 8 p.m. (Dallas leads best-of-seven series 3-2)
World Hockey Championship – Preliminary Round
at Stockholm, Sweden
Finland vs. Latvia, 6:20 a.m.
France vs. Sweden, 10:20 a.m.
Canada vs. Slovakia, 2:20 p.m.
at Herning, Denmark
United States vs. Germany, 6:20 a.m.
Czechia vs. Kazakhstan, 10:20 a.m.
Denmark vs. Norway, 2:20 p.m.
MLB
American League
Detroit (Olson 4-3) at Toronto (TBD), 3:07 p.m.
Houston (Blanco 3-3) at Texas (Mahle 4-1), 7:05 p.m.
National League
Pittsburgh (Mlodzinski 1-3) at Philadelphia (Wheeler 4-1), 6:05 p.m.
Colorado (Márquez 1-6) at Arizona (Gallen 3-5), 8:10 p.m.
Interleague
N.Y. Mets (Canning 5-1) at N.Y. Yankees (Schmidt 1-1), 1:05 p.m.
Chicago White Sox (Burke 2-4) at Chicago Cubs (Boyd 3-2), 2:20 p.m.
Washington (Irvin 2-1) at Baltimore (Gibson 0-2), 4:05 p.m.
Tampa Bay (Rasmussen 1-4) at Miami (Cabrera 0-1), 4:10 p.m.
Cleveland (Ortiz 2-4) at Cincinnati (Petty 0-2), 6:40 p.m.
St. Louis (Mikolas 2-2) at Kansas City (Lugo 3-4), 7:10 p.m.
Atlanta (Holmes 2-3) at Boston (Giolito 1-1), 7:15 p.m.
Minnesota (López 3-2) at Milwaukee (TBD), 7:15 p.m.
Seattle (TBD) at San Diego (Pivetta 5-2), 8:40 p.m.
Athletics (Severino 1-4) at San Francisco (Roupp 2-3), 9:05 p.m.
L.A. Angels (Anderson 2-1) at L.A. Dodgers (Kershaw 0-0), 9:10 p.m.
MLS
Toronto FC at CF Montréal, 2:30 p.m.
New York at New York City FC, 4:30 p.m.
Cincinnati at Columbus, 7:15 p.m.
Philadelphia at Atlanta, 7:30 p.m.
Chicago at Charlotte FC, 7:30 p.m.
San Jose at New England, 7:30 p.m.
Vancouver at Austin FC, 8:30 p.m.
Houston at FC Dallas, 8:30 p.m.
St Louis City at Minnesota, 8:30 p.m.
D.C. United at Nashville, 8:30 p.m.
Real Salt Lake at Colorado, 9:30 p.m.
Seattle at Portland, 9:30 p.m.
Sporting Kansas City at San Diego FC, 10:30 p.m.
WNBA
Las Vegas at New York, 1 p.m.
Chicago at Indiana, 3 p.m.
Seattle at Phoenix, 10 p.m.