Knights hire Cassidy as next coach

Bruce Cassidy wasn’t out of a job for long after being hired to coach the Golden Knights on Tuesday, little more than a week after being fired by the Bruins.

Cassidy becomes the Knights’ third coach and replaces Peter DeBoer, who was fired after the team missed the playoffs for the first time in its five-year history.

The 57-year-old Cassidy had a 245-10846 record and had the Bruins qualify for the playoffs in each of his five-plus seasons after replacing Claude Julien in the final months of the 2016-17 campaign. Cassidy was fired June 6, a month after the Bruins lost a firstround series to the Hurricanes.

His most successful season was in 201819, when the Bruins reached the Stanley Cup Final, where they lost to the Blues in seven games.

The Knights become Cassidy’s third stop as a head coach after a two-year stint with the Capitals from 2002-04.

Colleges: Auburn knocked off No. 3 national seed Oregon State 4-3 on the road Monday night to win their best-of-three super regional and lock up the last spot in the College World Series. No. 2 Stanford also won the deciding game in its home super regional, beating UConn 10-5 to earn a second straight trip to the CWS. The CWS opens at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska, on Friday with No. 5 Texas A&M (42-18) playing Oklahoma (42-22) in the afternoon and No. 9 Texas (47-20) meeting Notre Dame (40-15) at night. Openers Saturday match Stanford (47-16) against Arkansas (43-19) and Mississippi (37-22) against No. 14 Auburn (42-20).

NFL: Browns QB Deshaun Watson reiterated he never committed sexual misconduct and said he plans to keep fighting to clear his name. Watson, who’s facing civil lawsuits from 24 massage therapists in Texas accusing him of sexual assault and harassment during private sessions, on Tuesday stood by previous comments proclaiming his innocence. “I never assaulted anyone,” Watson said following practice as the Browns held their mandatory minicamp. “I never harassed anyone or disrespected anyone. I never forced anyone to do anything.” Watson spoke for the first time since March 25, a week after the Browns signed him to a fully guaranteed, five-year, $230 million contract. Two grand juries in Texas declined to indict him on criminal complaints. The 26-year-old Watson is also facing possible discipline from the NFL, which has investigated whether he violated its personal-conduct policy while he was with the Texans.

Soccer: Costa Rica defended a third-minute goal from Joel Campbell and relied on saves from goalkeeper and captain Keylor Navas to beat New Zealand 1-0 in Al Rayyan, Qatar, and claim the 32nd and final spot in the World Cup.