 Hockey is heating up | | | After a frantic Thursday night in which Canada nearly suffered one of the biggest upsets in women's world championship history and most of the NHL's playoff matchups were settled, it's safe to say we've reached the best time of year for hockey — regardless of the temperature outside. Here's what to know as the stakes increase in both the men's and women's game:
Women's world championship
The script for this year's event in Brampton, Ont., seemed no different from every big women's hockey tournament: superpowers Canada and the United States would easily dispatch a string of overmatched opponents before renewing their epic rivalry in the gold-medal game. That's about as safe a bet as there is in sports, as those two countries have met in the final at 26 of the previous 28 women's world championships and Olympics.
But, a Logan Roy-level plot twist was just a shot away last night after Sweden scored with nine seconds left in regulation to send its quarterfinal vs. Canada to overtime. Before this game, Sweden had not scored against Canada since 2004, and they were outshot 54-14 in this one. But with goalie Emma Soderberg playing the game of her life, the Swedes suddenly found themselves tied 2-2 and on the verge of their country's biggest women's hockey victory since it shocked the U.S. in the 2006 Olympic semifinals.
It was not to be, though. Sarah Nurse rescued her team from a devastating defeat on home ice by beating Soderberg with a high, hard wrist shot a few minutes into the 3-on-3 OT period to keep Canada's world-title threepeat hopes alive.
Thanks to Nurse's goal, order has been restored for Saturday's semifinals. Canada will face Switzerland at 4 p.m. ET after the United States meets the Czech Republic at noon ET.
Given that Canada blanked the Swiss 4-0 and the U.S. beat the Czechs 6-2 in the preliminary round, all signs still point to another Canada-U.S. showdown in the final on Sunday at 7 p.m. ET. The Canadians have won three straight gold-medal games against the Americans (the last two world championships plus last year's Olympics) and have prevailed in their last five meetings overall, including Monday's shootout victory to close the preliminary round.
If that one was any indication, we should be in for another Canada-U.S. thriller. Though if last night's Canada-Sweden heartstopper showed us anything, it's that you never really know.
NHL
The regular season ends tonight with two games — a virtually meaningless Buffalo-Columbus contest followed by a quite meaningful Colorado-Nashville tilt. The latter will decide the final two matchups for the Stanley Cup playoffs, where six series are now set and all three Canadian teams involved know their first-round opponent.
Edmonton's victory over San Jose last night gave the surging Oilers nine straight wins and an 18-2-1 record since March 1. But they couldn't quite catch Vegas for the Pacific Division title and the top seed in the Western Conference. The Golden Knights will face wild card Winnipeg in the first round (Game 1 is Tuesday night) while the Oilers meet Los Angeles in a rematch of a 2022 series that Edmonton took in seven games. That starts Monday. Toronto vs. Tampa Bay — a rematch that has been locked in for weeks — opens Tuesday.
The other three guaranteed first-round matchups are Boston vs. Florida (this year's Presidents' Trophy winner vs. last year's), New Jersey vs. the Rangers (the Hudson River rivals' first playoff meeting in more than a decade) and Carolina vs. the Islanders.
The final two matchups will be decided by tonight's Colorado-Nashville game. If the Avalanche win, they'll leapfrog Dallas for the Central Division title and face wild card Seattle in the first round. If the defending Cup champs lose, they'll play Minnesota while Dallas gets Seattle.
A few more things to pass along after 28 of the league's 32 teams wrapped up their regular seasons last night:
*Boston's victory over Montreal capped an historic season that saw the Bruins set the NHL records for wins (65) and points (135).
*Connor McDavid picked up an assist to finish with 153 points — the most in a season by anyone other than Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Steve Yzerman.
*After becoming the first defenceman since 1992 to reach 100 points, San Jose's Erik Karlsson finished with 101. Only five defencemen in history — Bobby Orr, Paul Coffey, Al MacInnis, Brian Leetch and Denis Potvin — have recorded more.
*Anaheim clinched last place overall and the best odds (about 1 in 4) of winning next month's draft lottery. The lotto winner is expected to take super-prospect Connor Bedard, who broke all kinds of records at the world juniors and scored 71 goals in 57 games this season for the Regina Pats, plus another 10 goals in a seven-game playoff loss.
*After missing the playoffs for the first time since Sidney Crosby's rookie season, the Pittsburgh Penguins cleaned house today. President of hockey ops Brian Burke, general manager Ron Hextall and assistant GM Chris Pryor were all let go, with no successors named. | | |  | Sarah Nurse rescued Canada from a seismic upset with her OT goal vs. Sweden in the opening playoff round of the women's hockey world championship in Brampton, Ont. (Frank Gunn/Canadian Press) | | | Canada's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander can lead his team into the NBA playoffs tonight | | | The 24-year-old guard for the Oklahoma City Thunder blossomed into a genuine superstar this season, averaging 31.4 points per game to place fourth in NBA scoring. SGA was brilliant in OKC's play-in game on Wednesday night, scoring 25 of his game-high 32 points in the second half to lead the Thunder past favoured New Orleans.
Gilgeous-Alexander's team can now win a spot in the main NBA playoff bracket by defeating Minnesota tonight at 9:30 p.m. ET. OKC is the underdog again, but the Timberwolves are falling apart. Defensive anchor Rudy Gobert is questionable with a sore back after being suspended for Tuesday's play-in loss to the Lakers for punching a teammate, while forward Jade McDaniels is out after breaking his right hand when he punched a wall.
The winner of tonight's OKC-Minnesota game meets Western Conference No. 1 seed Denver in the first round. The winner of the Eastern play-in game between Chicago and Miami at 7 p.m. ET faces Milwaukee, the top seed in the East. Bulls star DeMar DeRozan said his now-famous daughter Dian will not attend tonight's game in Miami. The nine-year-old went viral during Wednesday's play-in game in Toronto for shrieking while Raptors players took free throws, possibly helping Chicago to victory as the Raps had a horrible night at the line. “She’s got to go back to school," dad ruled.
The other matchups for the best-of-seven first round, which tips off Saturday, are Boston vs. Atlanta, Philadelphia vs. Brooklyn and Cleveland vs. New York in the East; and Memphis vs. the Lakers, Sacramento vs. Golden State and Phoenix vs. the Clippers in the West.
Canadian Andrew Wiggins is set to return to action for defending champion Golden State after being away from the team for almost two months, reportedly because his father was dealing with a serious health issue. Wiggins played a key role in the Warriors' championship run last year and averaged 17 points this season. | | | Quickly… | | | The Tampa Bay Rays can achieve the best start in modern baseball history tonight in Toronto. Tampa Bay is 13-0, matching the 1982 Atlanta team and the 1987 Milwaukee Brewers for the most consecutive wins to begin a season in Major League Baseball's post-1900 era. The Rays have outscored their opponents 101-30, with the most runs in the big leagues and the fewest allowed. But 10 of their wins have come at home, and all 13 against teams that currently have losing records, so tonight's road game against the 8-5 Jays looks like Tampa's toughest test yet. On the other hand, they'll be facing Jose Berrios, the struggling Toronto starter who has given up 14 runs in less than 10 innings pitched this year.
Canada can advance to the Billie Jean King Cup Finals this weekend. With world No. 27 Bianca Andreescu sidelined by an ankle injury, Canada will be without its highest-ranked women's tennis player for Friday and Saturday's qualifying matchup vs. Belgium at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver. 50th-ranked Leylah Fernandez and 81st-ranked Rebecca Marino were chosen to play the four singles matches in the best-of-five competition, and Fernandez will team up with Gabriela Dabrowski, the No. 7 doubles player in the world, for what could be the deciding rubber. Belgium's top singles player, 29th-ranked Elise Mertens, is not playing. The winner advances to the 12-team Finals in November. | | | Coming up on CBC Sports | | | This weekend's live streams on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem include the CanAm Surfing Championship in Tofino, B.C., and the Canadian ringette championships in Regina. See the full streaming schedule here. | | | Share this newsletter | | or subscribe if this was
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