In Brief: Penguins win, advance to Stanley Cup
nhl: Bryan Rust scored a pair of second-period goals and Matt Murray stopped 16 shots to lift the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals on Thursday night in Pittsburgh to send the franchise to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2009.
Pittsburgh will host Western Conference champion San Jose in Game 1 of the final Monday night.
Jonathan Drouin scored his fifth goal of the playoffs for the Lightning and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 37 saves, but it wasn’t enough to send Tampa Bay back to the Cup Final for a second straight year.
Top seeds dominate at French Open
Tennis: First it was Serena Williams’ turn to overpower an opponent 6-2, 6-1 on Court Suzanne Lenglen. Shortly after that was over, her older sister Venus entered the very same French Open arena and won by the very same score.
Next, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal both achieved notable milestones in Paris.
No. 1 Djokovic became the seventh man with 50 match wins in the French Open, beating Steve Darcis 7-5, 6-3, 6-4. The fourth-seeded Nadal, meanwhile, earned his 200th Grand Slam victory of his career, something seven other men – including Djokovic – have done.
Curry leads voting for All-NBA first team
NBA: Stephen Curry has knocked down another honor.
The dead-eye point guard who led Golden State to a record 73 wins in the regular season was named to the All-NBA first team. The league’s MVP was the only player named on all 129 ballots in voting by a panel of writers and broadcasters.
Curry was joined on the first team by Cleveland’s LeBron James, Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook, San Antonio’s Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers’ DeAndre Jordan.
Fizdale accepts Grizzlies offer: The Memphis Grizzlies have their new coach: David Fizdale.
The Miami Heat assistant has accepted the Grizzlies’ offer to be their next coach, a person familiar with the negotiations said. Fizdale accepted the offer after he met with Memphis controlling owner Robert Pera, the person said, speaking to The AP on condition of anonymity because the Grizzlies have not commented.
Mystics beat Storm in OT to snap streak
WNBA: Emma Meesseman had 19 points and a career high-tying 13 rebounds to help the Washington Mystics snap a 10-game losing streak at Seattle with an 84-82 overtime victory over the Storm.
Washington had not won in Seattle since July 13, 2005.
Alysha Clark’s putback pulled Seattle to 81-79 but the Storm could not control the rebound after a Washington miss and Tayler Hill hit two free throws with 3.7 seconds left to give the Mystics a two-possession lead.
Kim leads Jutanugarn by 1 at LPGA Tour
Golf: Christina Kim took advantage of favorable conditions, shooting an 8-under 64 to top the leaderboard in the inaugural Volvik Championship in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Ariya Jutanugarn, coming off consecutive wins on the LPGA Tour, was a shot back after her morning round at Travis Pointe.
Molder takes lead at Colonial: Bryce Molder birdied six of his last nine holes for a 6-under 64 and a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Dean & Deluca Invitational at Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas.
Molder was in the first group of the day off the 10th tee, and was on the 16th green when play was stopped for 75 minutes because of rain and lightning.
Mediate matches records at Senior PGA: Rocco Mediate played the first 13 holes in 9 under and closed with five pars for a 62 to match the Senior PGA Championship and Harbor Shore records in Benton Harbor.
Gene Sauers had a bogey-free 63. Mike Goodes shot 64, and Kenny Perry, Kirk Triplett and club pro John DalCorobbo were another stroke back. Perry played alongside Mediate and two-time defending champion Colin Montgomerie, who had two late bogeys in a 67.
Trentin gets crafty to win longest Giro stage
Miscellany: Matteo Trentin used some crafty teamwork to win the longest stage of the Giro d’Italia in Pinerolo, Italy, while Steven Kruijswijk held on to a comfortable overall lead.
Cannondale’s Moreno Moser and Trentin’s Etixx Quick-Step teammate Gianluca Brambilla were in the lead approaching the finish line when Trentin bridged the gap from a chasing group. Brambilla was told by radio that Trentin was coming while Moser wasn’t aware, allowing Trentin to burst past and claim his third victory in a Grand Tour.
Golden Gophers under investigation: The University of Minnesota police department is investigating allegations that several Golden Gophers wrestlers have been involved in selling and using drugs.
The school has provided information to the police for use in the investigation, a university spokesman said.
Goodell reaffirms concussion research: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell reaffirmed the league’s commitment to concussion research in a letter to the 32 team owners.
In the wake of a congressional study that concluded that NFL officials tried to strong-arm the National Institutes of Health into taking away a project from a researcher the NFL feared was biased, Goodell called for “continued and robust support of independent research.”
Tuex wins pole in Coca-Cola: Martin Truex Jr. won the pole for the Coca-Cola 600 in Concord, North Carolina, NASCAR’s longest race of the year. Truex turned a lap of 192.328 to take the top spot from Joey Logano
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