In brief: Tampa Bay defeats Detroit in NHL Game 7
NHL: Lucky bounce or not, Petr Mrazek never saw the puck coming.
The Tampa Bay Lightning are moving on in the NHL playoffs. The Detroit Red Wings are headed home.
Braydon Coburn broke a scoreless tie with a goal that kicked up over Detroit’s goalie early in the third period and Ben Bishop made 31 saves Wednesday night, helping the Lightning beat the Red Wings 2-0 in Game 7 of the first-round NHL playoff series at Tampa, Florida.
“Didn’t plan to do it like that. It flipped up on me. It knuckleballed in there, which is good,” Coburn said.
“I didn’t see it and it just went through me,” Mrazek said. “I knew he was going to shoot a one-timer there, and I lost it … It was a nice shot.”
Anton Stralman added an empty-net goal with 1:18 remaining, ensuring the Lightning would win the first Game 7 they’ve played at home since beating Calgary in the 2004 Stanley Cup Final.
Tampa Bay, which rallied from a 3-2 series deficit, advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals against Montreal.
Ex-Spokane Chief Tyler Johnson’s third two-goal game of the series helped the Lightning even the series with a 5-2 victory in Detroit on Monday night.
Memphis eliminates Portland
NBA: Marc Gasol had 26 points and 14 rebounds as Memphis advanced to the Western Conference semifinals by beating Portland 99-93 at Memphis, Tennessee.
The Grizzlies reached the West semifinals for the third time in five years. They will play Game 1 on Sunday at Golden State.
Memphis closed out Portland in five games despite not having point guard Mike Conley for a second straight game as he recovers from surgery to repair broken bones near his left eye.
• Hawks take 3-2 series lead: Al Horford and Jeff Teague scored 20 points apiece, helping top-seeded Atlanta hold off visiting Brooklyn 107-97.
Shaking off a dislocated finger, Horford flew around the court in the fourth quarter when it looked like Brooklyn was on the verge of bouncing back from an early 17-point deficit.
Atlanta leads 3-2 in the best-of-seven series, which heads back to Brooklyn for Game 6 Friday night. The Hawks can wrap it up, but the eighth-seeded Nets seem intent on taking this series to the limit.
• Love could be out six months: Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love had surgery on his dislocated left shoulder and may need up to six months to recover.
Love was injured in Cleveland’s series-sweeping win at Boston on Sunday, and will miss the remainder of the NBA playoffs.
The team announced that Love had the operation earlier in New York. The Cavs said Love’s projected recovery time is 4-to-6 months.
• Donovan, Thunder in contract talks: A person familiar with the search said Florida coach Billy Donovan is in talks with the Oklahoma City Thunder about their coaching vacancy. The person said Donovan and Thunder general manager Sam Presti have spoken repeatedly about the job, which came open when Scott Brooks was fired last week, but that there is “still big-picture stuff” to work out.
Kelowna wins to tie series
WHL: Tyrell Goulbourne’s power-play goal in the second period held up as the winner as visiting Kelowna evened its Western Hockey League Western Conference playoff series at 2-all with a 3-2 victory at Portland.
• Quenneville leads Brandon: Peter Quenneville had a goal and two assists to pace Brandon past Calgary 8-3 at Calgary, Alberta, for a 3-1 lead in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference final.
Spieth, Dufner win openers
Golf: Masters champion Jordan Spieth had to play good golf for an easy time in the Match Play Championship. Rory McIlroy made only one birdie and had an even easier time against Jason Dufner.
Spieth made six birdies, including a 7-iron to 4 feet on the par-3 13th for some breathing room, and closed out Mikko Ilonen on the 16th hole at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco. McIlroy made birdie on the opening hole and let Dufner do the rest, which was not much at all. The former PGA champion made five bogeys and lost on the 14th hole.
The format this year is 16 four-man groups in round-robin play, with the winner of each group advancing to the round of 16 on the weekend.
Mexico squad beats Montreal
Soccer: Dario Benedetto scored three goals and Club America of Mexico beat the host Montreal Impact 4-2 to win the CONCACAF Champions League title. It will play in the Club World Cup in Japan in December.