In brief: Digest: Detroit shuts out Flyers 3-0 as playoff race winds down
NHL: Jimmy Howard made 30 saves, Darren Helm, Andreas Athanasiou and Kyle Quincey scored for Detroit, and the Red Wings took a step toward a 25th consecutive playoff appearance with a 3-0 win over the visiting Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night.
The Red Wings (93 points) lead Boston (91) in the race for third place in the Atlantic Division. Philadelphia (91) is tied with the Bruins for the second wild card.
The Flyers have three games remaining, while Detroit and Boston each have two. The Bruins host the Red Wings on Thursday night.
Helm scored in the first period and Athanasiou added a short-handed goal in the second for Detroit, which hasn’t missed the postseason since 1990. Quincey’s goal was an empty-netter.
Howard held on for his second shutout of the season.
Oilers snap losing streak: Patrick Maroon scored twice and the Edmonton Oilers won at Rexall Place for the final time, beating the Vancouver Canucks 6-2 in Edmonton, Alberta.
Nail Yakupov, Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Taylor Hall also scored for the Oilers, who snapped a three-game losing skid.
It was the final NHL game scheduled to be played at Rexall, with the Oilers moving into a new downtown arena in the fall. The Oilers have played in the building since 1974 when they were in the World Hockey Association.
Montreal’s Price, Subban sidelined: Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price and defenseman P.K. Subban will not play in the final two games of the season.
The club said that Price has been out with a medial collateral ligament sprain in his right knee. Team Dr. Vincent Lacroix said Price was close to returning but wasn’t yet cleared to play. Price has been skating with teammates and practicing. The team announced the injury because his season was declared over.
General manager Marc Bergevin, Lacroix and head orthopedic surgeon Paul Martineau decided Tuesday night to shut Price down. Lacroix said Price, who won the Hart and Vezina Trophies last season, is expected to make a full recovery without surgery.
Lacroix said the injury Price suffered was a new one, different from ones he had in previous years and in October. He added that the physical demands on a goaltender’s knees made for the long recovery process.
Subban has been out since suffering a neck injury March 10 against Buffalo.
Blazers top Thunder, clinch playoff berth
NBA: Al-Farouq Aminu scored 27 points, C.J. McCollum had 26 and the Portland Trail Blazers clinched a playoff berth with a 120-115 win over the short-handed Oklahoma City Thunder in Portland, Oregon.
Allen Crabbe hit four 3-pointers and scored 16 points for Portland as six Blazers scored in double figures. Portland (43-37) won for the fifth time in six games and became the first team in NBA history to earn a playoff berth while returning a roster that had two or fewer players with 1,000 or more minutes from the previous season (Damian Lillard, Chris Kaman).
Enes Kanter had a career-high 33 points and 20 rebounds for the Thunder, and Dion Waiters had 25 points.
Oklahoma City, which clinched the West’s No. 3 seed with Tuesday’s win at Denver, rested four starters, including All-Stars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.
Mavericks edge Rockets: J.J. Barea scored 27 points and the Dallas Mavericks kept a slim cushion over Utah and Houston in the race for the last two Western Conference playoff spots with an 88-86 victory over the visiting Rockets.
The Mavericks’ fifth straight victory – one shy of a season best – put Dallas (40-38) a game ahead of Utah and two up on Houston with four games remaining for all three teams.
Dirk Nowitzki was limited to seven points on eight shots, but had a crucial strip of James Harden on a drive in the final seconds with the Mavericks clinging to a one-point lead.
Harden scored 26 points and Dwight Howard had 14 points and 16 rebounds for the Rockets, who are in danger of missing the postseason a year after reaching the West finals.
George leads Pacers: Paul George scored 29 points and C.J. Miles added 21, helping the Indiana Pacers blow out the Cleveland Cavaliers – with LeBron James getting the night off – 123-109 in Indianapolis.
Indiana ended a four-game losing streak in the series and still leads eighth-place Detroit by a half-game. Ninth-place Chicago, still vying for one of the final two playoff spots in the East, is now three games behind the Pacers.
The Cavaliers played without the four-time MVP James, who rested after playing Tuesday night in Milwaukee. Without James, Kyrie Irving had 26 points and six assists. Kevin Love scored 23.
Hornets top Knicks: Kemba Walker scored 34 points, Al Jefferson had 24 and the Charlotte Hornets bounced back from consecutive losses to the Eastern Conference’s top teams by beating the host New York Knicks 111-97.
Charlotte, which fell in Cleveland on Sunday and Toronto on Tuesday, had dropped a game behind Boston and Miami for fourth place and needed a win to renew its hopes of getting home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
Walker scored 13 points in the first quarter – more than he had in the entire game a night earlier – and Jefferson helped Charlotte break it open by scoring 10 points in the first 4 minutes of the fourth quarter.
Derrick Williams had 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Knicks, who lost for the fifth time in six games. Carmelo Anthony returned from a game off to rest and scored 15 points.
Conlangelo to replace Hinkie: Philadelphia 76ers general manager Sam Hinkie has quit after turning the organization into one of the worst teams in NBA history.
The NBA-worst Sixers are set to hire former NBA executive of the year Bryan Colangelo as their general manager, according to a person with knowledge of the hiring.
Hinkie didn’t even last three full seasons and leaves the Sixers with the worst record in the league at 10-68.
Sefolosha sues New York: Atlanta Hawks player Thabo Sefolosha filed a federal lawsuit against New York City, alleging he was unjustly arrested outside of a trendy nightclub last year during a fracas that left him with a broken leg and ended his NBA season.
Sefolosha was arrested in April 2015 outside the 1Oak nightclub in Manhattan. Prosecutors had alleged he repeatedly disobeyed officers’ orders to leave the area around the club where another NBA player, Chris Copeland, had been stabbed. Sefolosha’s lawsuit, filed in federal court in Manhattan, alleges the officers arrested him without cause and filed a false report. He is seeking unspecified damages from the city and five police officers.
Another player who was arrested during the fracas, Pero Antic, filed a lawsuit against the city and the police department last week, also alleging false arrest in relation to the fracas. Charges against him were dropped.
Soan diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, dementia: Hall of Famer Jerry Sloan said that he has Parkinson’s disease and a form of dementia.
The 74-year-old Sloan, who coached the Utah Jazz from 1988 to 2011, told The Salt Lake Tribune that he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body dementia last fall.
He told the Tribune that he decided to go public about his illness because the Parkinson’s symptoms have become noticeable. Symptoms include tremors and a hushed voice. Lewy body dementia is a neurological disorder whose symptoms include difficulty with memory and problem solving.
Louisville imposes additional sanctions
Miscellany: Louisville has announced additional self-imposed sanctions on its men’s basketball program in the wake of an escort’s allegations, reducing scholarships for the 2017-19 seasons and restricting official recruiting visits and recruiting opportunities for staff.
The school announced Feb. 5 a postseason ban for the Cardinals after its investigation into allegations a former staffer hired an escort and other dancers to entertain recruits and players determined that violations did occur. A release stated Louisville will lose one scholarship in each of the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons with official visits reduced by one each in 2016-17 and ‘17-18.
Several investigations are ongoing into Louisville’s program, including one by the NCAA. The governing body is expected to interview Louisville coach Rick Pitino this month about Katina Powell’s allegations revealed in October.
Louisville coaches also have 30 fewer days to recruit prospects, a 24 percent reduction.
Swiss police raid UEFA: UEFA was raided by Swiss police and handed over evidence of a Champions League television rights contract with an offshore marketing agency implicated in the FIFA bribery scandal.
The Swiss attorney general’s office said it requested raids on the European soccer body and “another enterprise” for suspected criminal mismanagement and misappropriation linked to dealings with Cross Trading, an offshore registered agency. Cross Trading is owned by two men indicted last year by American federal prosecutors who are working with Swiss counterparts to investigate suspected corruption in international soccer.
UEFA and its Champions League marketing agency – TEAM Marketing based in Lucerne, Switzerland – made a $111,000 deal with Cross Trading in 2006 for three seasons of broadcasting in Ecuador. The 2006 contract, co-signed by current FIFA President Gianni Infantino when he was UEFA legal director, was leaked from the database of Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca.
Shagaf made 2-1 favorite: Shagaf has been made the 2-1 favorite in a field of eight entered for the $1 million Wood Memorial, New York’s major prep race before the Kentucky Derby.
The unbeaten 3-year-old colt will be ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr., the nation’s second-leading rider in earnings.
Wolfsburg stuns Real Madrid in quarterfinal
Soccer: Wolfsburg battled its way to a shock 2-0 victory over record 10-time winner Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal in Wolfsburg, Germany.
Playing in its first quarterfinal in the competition, Wolfsburg outmuscled and outran the Spanish giant to give itself a clear chance of advancing after next week’s second leg at the Bernabeu.
U.S. routs Colombia: Allie Long scored her first two international goals, and the United States routed Colombia 7-0 at East Hartford, Connecticut, in the Americans’ first exhibition since five players filed a wage-discrimination action against the U.S. Soccer Federation. Carli Lloyd, Alex Morgan, Hope Solo, Megan Rapinoe and Becky Sauerbrunn filed an action last week with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, accusing the USSF of unlawfully paying them less than members of the U.S. men’s national team. The union for the women’s national team is in a legal battle with the USSF, claiming it can terminate its labor contract. The USSF claims the deal runs through December.
Williams beats Riske at Volvo Car Open
Tennis: Venus Williams used her powerhouse serves and crisp groundstrokes for a 6-4, 6-2 victory over fellow American Alison Riske at the Volvo Car Open in Charleston, South Carolina.
The third-seeded Williams, a seven-time Grand Slam champion, is going for her 50th WTA title – and got off to a strong start at the clay-court event. She had consecutive serves of 121 mph and 119 mph to close out one game in the first set as fans in the stadium court marveled as the ball zoomed past Riske.
Williams, 35, kept up the attack throughout, winning the final four games to advance. She won the final two games without dropping a point. Riske walked to the sideline after a 102 mph ace that put Williams ahead 5-2, then the 25-year-old from Pittsburgh double-faulted to end the match.
Isner wins: Top-seeded John Isner had a two-set tournament-record 24 aces to knock out fellow American Denis Kudla 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4) in the second round of the U.S. men’s clay court championships in Houston. Isner had 12 aces in each set and was never pushed despite failing to break Kudla’s serve in the match.
Earlier this year, he had 49 aces in a Davis Cup victory over Australia’s Bernard Tomic, when he unleashed a serve clocked at an unofficial record 157 mph.
Isner lost only four of his 46 first-serve points.