US blanks Germany to remain unbeaten
AUTO RACING: NASCAR’s majority owners have discussed a potential sale, Reuters reported. While no deal is imminent, the France family, which has owned NASCAR since its inception in 1948, has real interest in selling, Reuters said.
COLLEGES: Georgia Tech S A.J Gray and OL Jake Stickler are giving up football because of medical conditions. Gray has a heart problem; Stickler’s issue wasn’t disclosed . ... Clemson added 6-foot-10 Javan White, a graduate transfer from Oral Roberts . ... Wake Forest added G Miles Lester, a transfer from Rice . ... Oregon redshirt sophomore F M.J. Cage said he would transfer . ... Nebraska hired Florida associate head basketball coach Armon Gates as an assistant.
HOCKEY: The U.S. shut out Germany 3-0 to stay unbeaten and Russia blanked Belarus 6-0 at the world championship in Herning, Denmark. U.S. captain Patrick Kane scored and had two assists. Derek Ryan and Alex DeBrincat also scored. Canada rolled past Denmark 7-1, and Sweden cruised past France 4-0.
NBA: The Knicks hired David Fizdale as coach. Fizdale went 50-51 with the Grizzlies, leading them to the postseason in his only full season before getting fired after clashing with star Marc Gasol. He replaces Jeff Hornacek, who lasted two seasons . ... Stan Van Gundy will not return to the Pistons as coach or president of basketball operations. The Pistons went 39-43 this season, missing the playoffs for the third time in Van Gundy’s four seasons.
NFL: The Saints released TE Coby Fleener with a “failed physical” designation. He finished last season on IR with a concussion . ... Former Broncos RB C.J. Anderson signed a one-year contract with the Panthers . ... The players union filed a noninjury grievance on behalf of free-agent S Eric Reid, saying one team appeared to have based its decision not to sign him on Reid saying he planned to protest during the national anthem . ... Two-time Pro Bowl S Michael Griffin retired . ... The Raiders officially signed LB Derrick Johnson toa one-year contract and waived DB Darius Hillary. ... The Vikings signed Northern Illinois WR Chad Beebe, son of former Bills WR Don Beebe. ... The 49ers released OL Zane Beadles.
OLYMPICS: Two-time Olympic taekwondo champion Steven Lopez was temporarily suspended while the U.S. Center for SafeSport resolves a case against him involving sexual misconduct allegations.
SOCCER: Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil said he will recover in time from a back injury to be available for Germany in the World Cup . ... Tim Cahill is in Australia’s provisional squad for the World Cup, boosting his prospects of being selected for a fourth straight tournament.
TENNIS: Novak Djokovic beat 20thranked Kei Nishikori 7-5, 6-4 in the first round of the Madrid Open, his highestranked win in 10 months. Coming back from a right elbow injury, Djokovic hasn’t made it to the quarterfinals in his previous five tournaments. In women’s play, Maria Sharapova defeated Irina-Camelia Begu 7-5, 6-1 and Caroline Wozniacki edged Ashleigh Barty 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.
HERNING, Denmark — The United States beat Germany, 3-0, to stay unbeaten and Russia shut out a third straight opponent at the world ice hockey championship on Monday.
Russia routed Belarus, 6-0.
Canada allowed Denmark to score on the way to another big win, 7-1, and defending champion Sweden kept cruising with a 4-0 win against France.
U.S. captain Patrick Kane broke the deadlock against Germany and assisted on the other two goals in the hard-fought Group B game in Herning.
Germany goalie Niklas Treutle didn't allow the U.S. to score from 11 shots on goal in the first period. Treutle's teammates also killed three penalties in the second period. Kane finally made the breakthrough midway through the game on another power play with a onetimer to the roof of the net.
“It was a great pass from Johnny (Gaudreau), it was fun to be on the receiving end of that one,” Kane said.
“It was a big goal. Zerozero against a team like Germany that came out really strong and they kind of hanged around there.”
Just over two minutes later, Derek Ryan added an insurance goal also on a power play. In the final period, Kane found his NHL teammate Alex DeBrincat in front of the net for the third goal.
“It's awesome to play with (Kane),” DeBrincat said. “He gets so many chances in a game. It's pretty hard not to score.”
U.S. goalie Keith Kinkaid stopped 24 shots for his second straight shutout.
It was the third consecutive defeat for Germany, the runner- up at the Pyeongchang Olympics.
Joshua Bailey opened the scoring for Canada with a wrister on a power play, and defensemen Aaron Ekbland netted with a slap shot in the first period.
Jordan Eberle, Ryan O'Reilly and Ryan NugentHopkins stretch the lead to 5-0 within a three-minute span.
Nugent-Hopkins, again, and Tyson Jost completed the scoring in the final period when Jesper Jensen Aabo scored Denmark's lone goal to delight the home crowd.
“Playing Denmark in Denmark, it was a lot of fun,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “The crowd, the atmosphere was sure loud and really intense to start.”
Captain Connor McDavid finished with three assists.
For Sweden, Rickard Rakell, Mikael Backlund, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Elias Pettersson scored against France to earn their third straight victory and keep pace with Russsia in Group A.
Veteran captain Pavel Datsyuk led the high-scoring Russians with two goals against Belarus in Copenhagen.
Maxim Shalunov, Ilya Kablukov, Maxim Mamin and Kirill Kaprizov also scored. Russia has 20 goals in three games.