Avs claw back from 3-1 hole, force Game 7
Rookie defenseman Cale Makar scored the go-ahead goal in the second period, third-string goaltender Michael Hutchinson stopped 27 shots, and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Dallas Stars 4-1 on Wednesday night to force a decisive Game 7 in their second-round playoff series.
Nikita Zadorov and Mikko Rantanen also scored, and Nathan MacKinnon added an empty-netter for the Avalanche, who fought off elimination for a second straight game to tie the series being played at the Edmonton, Alberta, bubble at three wins apiece. Colorado has never won a postseason series when trailing 3-1.
Game 7 is Friday.
The 30-year-old Hutchinson was back in net with starter Philipp Grubauer and backup Pavel Francouz both sidelined. It was just Hutchinson’s second career NHL playoff start — and second win.
Miro Heiskanen scored for the Stars, while Anton Khudobin made 20 saves.
Both teams lost in Game 7 last season in the second round. Colorado is attempting to advance to the Western Conference finals for the first time since 2002. The Stars last went in 2008.
MacKinnon’s 25 postseason points (nine goals, 16 assists) this season are the most by an Avalanche skater in a single postseason since Peter Forsberg had 27 in 2002.
CANUCKS STAY ALIVE >> San Diego native Thatcher Demko made 42 saves in his first NHL playoff start, Minnesota’s Brock Boeser scored and assisted on the go-ahead goal and the plucky Vancouver Canucks staved off elimination by beating the Golden Knights 2-1 late Tuesday night in Game 5 of their second-round series in Edmonton, Alberta.
Demko became just the 15th goaltender in league history to make his first Stanley Cup playoff start in an elimination game and win, and the second in as many days after journeyman Michael Hutchinson kept Colorado from bowing out of the posteseason.
BLUES TRADE GOALIE ALLEN TO MONTREAL >> The Blues traded goaltender Jake Allen to the Montreal Canadiens in a move that clears valuable salary cap space to try to re-sign captain and top defenseman Alex Pietrangelo. St. Louis received a third- and a seventh-round pick in this year’s draft and also sent a 2022 seventhrounder to Montreal.
The key to the deal is getting Allen’s $4.35 million cap hit off the books to potentially keep Pietrangelo in the fold.
College football
GEORGIA’S PROBABLE STARTING QB OPTS OUT >> Jamie Newman, the Wake Forest transfer who was projected to start at quarterback for No. 4 Georgia, is opting out of the season to prepare for the 2021 NFL draft. Newman announced his decision on his Twitter account.
The decision leaves Georgia’s quarterback race wide open.
After the Bulldogs’ first scrimmage on Saturday, Smart said another transfer, former USC starter, JT Daniels, has not received medical clearance in his return from a knee injury that ended his 2019 season.
Tour de France
LEADER LOSES YELLOW AFTER TIME VIOLATION >> Julian Alaphilippe’s ride in the yellow jersey is over, and his rivals had nothing to do with it.
The Tour de France leader was stripped of the coveted shirt after being handed a time penalty for illegally receiving provisions near the end of Stage 5 in Privas, France, which had been largely uneventful until then.
British rider Adam Yates was moved up to first place in the revised general standings after Alaphilippe was docked 20 seconds.
Only minutes after versatile Belgian rider Wout van Aert won the stage in a sprint finish, TV footage showed Alaphilippe grabbing a bottle from a staff member of his Deceuninck-Quick Step squad about 18 kilometers (11 miles) from the finish.
Under racing rules, riders are not allowed to receive provisions — either drinks or food — during the final 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) of a stage. Deceuninck-Quick Step did not immediately explain why the staff member was posted inside that zone and why he handed out the bottle to the French rider.
Yates now tops the standings with a three-second lead over Primoz Roglic. Tadej Pogacar, another Slovenian rider, stands third, four seconds further back. Alaphilippe dropped to 16th, 16 seconds behind the leader.
Horse racing
SPECTATOR-FREE TRIPLE CROWN: PREAKNESS WON’T ALLOW FANS >> The Preakness Stakes will be run at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore on Oct. 3 without fans, making it a spectatorfree sweep of the three Triple Crown races this year because of the global pandemic.
The Preakness follows the lead of the Belmont Stakes and Saturday’s Kentucky Derby in not allowing fans to attend.
Soccer
NO AGREEMENT IN MEETING BETWEEN
BARCELONA AND MESSI’S FATHER >> Lionel Messi’s future at Barcelona looked no closer to being resolved after the first meeting between the player’s father and club officials on Wednesday ended without an agreement, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press.
The person said club president Josep Bartomeu met for more than 90 minutes with Jorge Messi to discuss the Argentina star’s request to leave the club, but that neither part made any concessions.
Lionel Messi last week told Barcelona he wanted to leave the club and invoked a contract clause that allowed him to depart for free at the end of the season.
Golf
PGA TOUR TO PLAY 50 EVENTS IN ‘SUPER SEASON’ >> The PGA Tour unveiled what it called a “super season” for its 2020-21 campaign, one that will feature six major championships among 50 events and a number of tournaments impacted this year by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The season, which will feature the most events since 51 were held in 1975, kicks off next week in Napa with the Safeway Open and will conclude on Sept. 5, 2021 at the Tour Championship in Atlanta.
Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said that spectators will be allowed back to the galleries “when we feel like it’s safe to return fans.”