National Sports

DENVER — Mattias Ekholm ignited the offence early with the first goal by a Nashville defenceman in the series, Pekka Rinne stopped 22 shots and the top-seeded Predators advanced to the second round with a 5-0 victory over the Colorado Avalanche in Ga

WASHINGTON — The Toronto Raptors saw their playoff series lead disappear on Sunday.

SAN ANTONIO — Ettore Messina was screaming at the Spurs, and Manu Ginobili loved it. Before Gregg Popovich, Ginobili played in Italy for Messina, and on Sunday he delivered a throwback performance for his old coach to save the Spurs' season.

MONTREAL — Even with a rash of injuries, Canada's Fed Cup squad found a way to defeat Ukraine. A closing 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 victory by the doubles team of Gabriela Dabrowski of Ottawa and Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont.

PHILADELPHIA — Jake Guentzel dropped to his right knee and slid on the ice in celebration, not only for his second career post-season hat trick, but for the goal that assured Pittsburgh was moving on in the playoffs.

KITAKYUSHU, Japan — Megan Lukan scored a try and added a conversion in the 10th minute as Canada downed host Japan 33-14 on Sunday to finish the Kitakyushu stop of women's HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series in 11th place.

XIAMEN, China — Fresh off their gold medal at the Commonwealth Games, Canadians Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes defeated Americans Brittany Hochevar and Kelly Claes 21-19, 21-14 Sunday to win the 2018 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Xiamen Op

ANS, Belgium — Michael Woods became the first Canadian to finish on the podium at the Liege-Bastogne-Liege race, cycling's oldest classic, when he sprinted to second place Sunday.

WINNIPEG — Connor Hellebuyck's back-to-back shutouts in Games 4 and 5 highlighted the Winnipeg Jets' impressive opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs in which they eliminated the Minnesota Wild in five games.

NEW YORK — With a team full of 20-somethings, the New York Yankees played like seasoned veterans.