B’s pace Canada to win
Canada won Game 1 of the World Cup of Hockey finals last night and had the Bruins to thank for it. Brad Marchand scored in the first period and Patrice Bergeron connected midway through the third as Canada cruised to a 3-1 win against Team Europe in Toronto.
Game 2 in the best-of-three series is tomorrow night.
Steven Stamkos scored the other goal while Carey Price finished with 32 saves for the Canadians, who have won two straight Olympic gold medals and 15 consecutive best-on-best hockey games since losing to the United States at the 2010 Vancouver Games.
Slovakia’s Tomas Tatar scored his third goal in two games 7 minutes into the second period to get Europe within one.
Price had to make three saves and face a power play in the first 21 seconds of the game.
Shortly after killing off the penalty, Bergeron carried the puck up the middle of the ice, faded to the right and passed across the crease to set up Marchand’s fourth goal of the tournament 2:33 into the game. The Bruins teammates have been playing on a line with Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby, and the trio rank among the top three in World Cup scoring.
Another Bruin, Zdeno Chara, was careless with the puck later in the opening period and it was costly. Ryan Getzlaf snatched the puck from Chara near center ice along the boards and faked a shot at the top of the left circle, leading to a tap-in goal for Stamkos on the right side of the net.
Charges dropped at LSU
East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore says he is dismissing domestic abuse and child endangerment charges against LSU defensive end Davon Godchaux.
Moore says the woman who accused the player of grabbing her hair and shoulder when she tried to leave his residence made inconsistent statements to investigators, and physical evidence at the scene did not support the charges. Moore says the woman also asked that charges be dropped, but stresses that was not the reason for his decision.
Godchaux was suspended indefinitely from the football team after his arrest. LSU has not yet announced his reinstatement. . . . George Washington named
Maurice Joseph its interim basketball coach, replacing Mike
Lonergan, who was fired after an investigation into his conduct.
Joseph’s role as interim coach lasts for this season.
Players had made allegations about Lonergan’s behavior, and he was fired Sept. 17 after an internal investigation found that he “engaged in conduct inconsistent with the university’s values.”
Leicester wins again
Islam Slimani kept up his hot streak against Porto by scoring Leicester’s first-half goal in a 1-0 victory in the Champions League, maintaining the English champions’ 100 percent start to Group G.
The Algeria striker headed home from close range off a pinpoint cross by international teammate Riyad Mahrez in the 25th minute. It was Slimani’s sixth goal in four games against Porto in 2016, with the other five coming for Sporting Lisbon in Portuguese soccer before his offseason move to Leicester.
Leicester opened group play with a 3-0 win at Club Brugge and is in good shape to advance to the knockout stage in its first-ever season in the Champions League. . . .
Borussia Dortmund scored a late equalizer to earn a 2-2 draw against Real Madrid in the Champions League, the latest setback for the 11-time winners.
After two consecutive draws in the Spanish league, Cristiano Ronaldo appeared to have ended the winless run by scoring one goal and helping to set up the other. But substitute Andre Schuerrle struck in the 87th minute to earn Dortmund a point. . . . England manager Sam Allardyce was forced out in disgrace after one game in charge of the national team. . . .
The Seattle Sounders announced that Clint Dempsey will miss the remainder of the season due to an irregular heartbeat that has sidelined him for more than a month.