Hintz, Johnston score as Stars beat Kraken 2-1 in Game 7
Roope Hintz and 19-yearold Wyatt Johnston scored goals and the Dallas Stars advanced to the Western Conference final with a 2-1 win over the Seattle Kraken in Game 7 on Monday night.
Dallas moves on to play first-year Stars coach Pete DeBoer's former team, the Vegas Golden Knights. Game 1 of the West final is Friday night in Las Vegas.
DeBoer improved to 7-0 in Game 7s, this being the fourth different team he led to a win in the finale of a best-of-seven series that went the distance. Darryl Sutter and Scott Bowman are the only other coaches to do that.
It was the fourth time in five seasons the Stars got a Game 7 — the others were all away from home. They hadn't won a Game 7 at home since 2000, when they made the Stanley Cup Final. In the only other Game 7 they hosted at American Airlines Center, the Stars lost 6-1 to St. Louis in a second-round series in 2016.
Johnston made it 2-0 with 7:12 left, when he gather a puck that ricocheted off the back boards to the left of the Seattle net. He then sent a shot that went off the shoulder and mask of goalie Phillip Grubauer before going into the net.
Grubauer stopped 26 shots, two weeks after his 32 saves when Seattle won at Colorado 2-1 in another Game 7 to knock out last year's Stanley Cup champion.
MLB
RUF SIGNS WITH BREWERS AFTER REFUSING MINOR LEAGUE ASSIGNMENT FROM GIANTS >>
First baseman/ outfielder Darin Ruf agreed to a one-year contract with the Milwaukee Brewers, two days after he elected free agency rather than accept an outright assignment to the minor leagues with the San Francisco Giants.
Milwaukee will pay $541,935, a prorated share of the $720,000 major league minimum, and the Giants are responsible for the rest of Ruf's $3 million salary plus a $250,000 buyout of his contract's 2024 team option.
San Francisco designated the 36-year-old for assignment on May 9.
Horse racing
KENTUCKY DERBY WINNER MAGE SET AS 8-5 MORNING LINE FAVORITE FOR PREAKNESS >> Kentucky Derby winner Mage was installed as the 8-5 morning line favorite for the Preakness at the post position draw.
He's the only horse in the field of eight set to take part in the second race of the Triple Crown two weeks after running in the Derby. It's the first Preakness since 1969 with just one Derby horse.
Mage will face seven fresh horses in an attempt to keep open the possibility of the first Triple Crown winner since Justify in 2018. He drew the No. 3 post for the 1 3/16-mile, $1.65 million race.
Mage won the Derby at odds of 15-1 as one of 18 horses in the race. Five were scratched for various reasons the week of, including favorite Forte hours before when Kentucky officials had questions about a bruised foot.
NFL
PEACOCK WILL EXCLUSIVELY CARRY NFL PLAYOFF GAME; FIRST TIME FOR STREAMING SERVICE >>
The NFL is taking another big step into streaming by putting one of its playoff games exclusively on a digital platform for the first time.
The league and NBCUniversal announced that the Saturday night game on Wild Card weekend will be on Peacock.
The Peacock exclusive game on Jan. 13 would start at 5:15 or 5:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on NBC stations in the markets of the two teams. It will also be available on mobile devices through the NFL+ package. It will be preceded by a late afternoon playoff game on NBC and Peacock that will kick off at 1:30 p.m.
College football
K-STATE SIGNS FOOTBALL COACH KLIEMAN TO A NEW DEAL >> Kansas State signed football coach Chris
Klieman to a new eightyear contract Monday that will pay an average of $5.5 million annually and could keep him tied to the defending Big 12 champion Wildcats through the 2030 season.
Klieman is 30-20 in four seasons with the Wildcats, while his overall college coaching record of 102-33 puts him among the best winning percentages in history. The 30 wins are the most by a Kansas State coach over their first four years.
Hockey
US OVERCOMES GERMANY >>
The United States had to fight hard to overcome Germany 3-2 for a third victory in three games at the ice hockey world championship.
Canada had to dig even deeper to prevail against Slovakia 2-1 in a shootout.
Matt Coronatto, Sean Farrell and Ronnie Attard each scored for the Americans and T.J. Tynan had two assists at Nokia Arena. Goaltender Casey DeSmith made 30 saves.
Coronatto scored the winner on a power play with 5:10 to go to complete the rally in the final period after Farrell tied the score at 2-2 in the same frame.
Soccer
LEÃO LIKELY TO RETURN FOR AC MILAN IN 2ND LEG OF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SEMIFINALS >>
AC Milan will likely have its top player back for the second leg of the Champions League semifinals on Tuesday.
Winger Rafael Leão was out with a right thigh problem when Milan lost the opening leg 2-0 to city rival Inter Milan last week.
Leão was named Serie
A's most valuable player when Milan won the Italian league last year. He was also instrumental when Milan eliminated Napoli in the quarterfinals.
LIVERPOOL KEEPS ALIVE TOP-FOUR HOPES >>
Liverpool plunged Leicester closer to relegation and kept alive its own chances of finishing in the English Premier League top four with a 3-0 win.
Curtis Jones was the unlikely scorer of the first two goals before Trent Alexander-Arnold whipped an indirect free kick into the top corner to wrap up a mismatch at King Power Stadium between teams heading in opposite directions.
Tennis
ALCARAZ'S 12-MATCH WINNING STREAK ENDS WITH LOSS TO QUALIFIER AT ITALIAN OPEN >>
Carlos Alcaraz's 12-match winning streak came to an unexpected end when he was beaten by 135th-ranked Hungarian qualifier Fabian Marozsan 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the third round of the Italian Open.
Alcaraz had won consecutive clay-court titles in Barcelona and Madrid and secured a return to the No. 1 ranking by winning the opening match of his Rome debut. But the 20-year-old Spaniard appeared surprised by how Marozsan dictated with spectacular play all over the court, including a series of drop shots that Alcaraz had no answer for.
The result means that Alcaraz will go into the French Open — which starts in less than two weeks and where he will be the top seed — coming off a dispiriting defeat.