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Yankees and Red Sox set to renew rivalry in wildcard clash

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The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox scored dramatic late inning wins to bring the Major League Baseball regular season to an enthralling end on Sunday, setting up a wildcard showdown between the long-time rivals.

The final day of a 162-game, six-month marathon began with four teams — the Yankees, Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners — all in contention for two American League wildcards and when the dust settled it was two of baseball’s most storied clubs still standing.

The Yankees left it about as late as they possibly could to clinch their place as Aaron Judge swatted a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth for a 1-0 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.

“It’s been a crazy, wild year,” said New York manager Aaron Boone after the Yankees reached the postseason for the 23rd time in 27 years. “Fitting that it would come down to the last day to get in.

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“We’re ready to take our shot.”

It was also a nailbiter in the U.S. capitol, where the Red Sox were trailing the Washington Nationals 5-1 after five innings then rallied for six unanswered runs.

Rafael Devers broke open a 5-5 tie in the top of the ninth with his second homer of the day, a one-out, two-run shot to deep centre field.

The Red Sox will now host the Yankees in the wildcard game on Tuesday at Fenway Park with the winner moving on to the Divisional Series against the AL East champion Rays.

Toronto and Seattle went into the day needing a win combined with a New York or Boston loss to force a tiebreaker and extend their seasons.

The Blue Jays did what they had to do, hammering the Baltimore Orioles 12-4 while the Mariners season finished with a disappointing 7-3 loss to the Los Angeles Angels.

Angels Shohei Ohtani, the hot favourite for American League most valuable player honours, launched a leadoff homer, his 46th of the season, to put the Mariners in a hole they would never climb out of.

After slamming five home runs in a 10-1 rout of the Orioles on Saturday, the Blue Jays’ bats were booming again on Sunday banging out four homers, including a third inning grand slam from George Springer and a two-run shot from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for his 48th of season.

Over in the National League, the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants, Major League Baseball’s two top teams, started play with top spot in the West division up for grabs.

Both Los Angeles and San Francisco would finish the campaign with impressive wins — the Giants beating the San Diego Padres 11-4 while the Dodgers thumped Milwaukee 10-3.

But top spot in the West goes to the Giants with a record of 106-55 while the 105-56 Dodgers settled for an NL wildcard and a Wednesday meeting with the St. Louis Cardinals.

 

(Reporting by Steve Keating in Toronto. Editing by Kim Coghill)

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Canucks place goalie Thatcher Demko on long-term injured list – CBC.ca

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The Vancouver Canucks have placed all-star goalie Thatcher Demko on the long-term injured reserve list retroactively.

“It’s just cap related,” coach Rick Tocchet said after practice Wednesday. “We get some cap relief, that’s all it is.” 

The 28-year-old netminder has been considered week to week since being sidelined with a lower-body injury midway through Vancouver’s 5-0 win over the Winnipeg Jets on March 9.

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That injury designation hasn’t changed, Tocchet said.

Demko boasts a 34-18-2 record this season, with a .917 save percentage, a 2.47 goals-against average and five shutouts.

Casey DeSmith has taken over the starting job for Vancouver, going 3-2-1 since Demko’s injury. He has a .899 save percentage on the season with a 2.73 goals-against average and one shutout. 

The earliest Demko could be back in the Canucks’ lineup is April 6 against the Kings in Los Angeles.

He’s expected to be a key piece as Vancouver (45-19-8) prepares for its first playoff appearance since the COVID-shortened 2019-20 campaign. 

Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin also announced Wednesday that the club has called up forward Arshdeep Bains from the Abbotsford Canucks of the American Hockey League. 

“I’d like to see where [Bains is] at,” Tocchet said, noting he isn’t sure whether the 23-year-old winger will slot into the lineup when the Canucks host the Dallas Stars on Thursday. 

WATCH | Bains makes NHL debut

Surrey, B.C.’s Arshdeep Bains makes Canucks debut

1 month ago

Duration 2:20

Arshdeep Bains from Surrey, B.C., has made his NHL debut with the Vancouver Canucks Tuesday night against the Colorado Avalanche. As CBC’s Joel Ballard reports, it’s been a hard-fought journey for the hometown kid to the big leagues.

Bains played five games for the NHL team in February before being sent back to Abbotsford. 

“He went down, he’s done a couple of things that we like, and he’s got some speed,” Tocchet said. 

Vancouver may get another forward back in the lineup Thursday. 

Dakota Joshua practised in a full-contact jersey on Wednesday for the first time since suffering an upper-body injury in Vancouver’s 4-2 win over the Blackhawks in Chicago on Feb. 13. 

The physical winger, who’s set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, has a career-high 26 points (13 goals, 13 assists) this season.

Sitting out injured “hasn’t been fun,” Joshua said.

“It feels like forever,” he said. “But at this point, that’s behind me and I’m moving forward.”

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Senators score 5 in 1st, cruise past Sabres – NHL.com

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“I thought that we were ready to go,” Ottawa coach Jacques Martin said. “We got some pucks at the net, we got people at the net. Took advantage of our opportunities and, I think, built a nice lead. And then I thought, in the third period, we continued again. Our goaltending was good. Made some key saves. But I thought we shut them down in the third period good.”

Shane Pinto had a goal and three assists, and Brady Tkachuk, Boris Katchouk, Jakob Chychrun and Drake Batherson each had a goal and an assist for the Senators (31-36-4), who have won three in a row. Korpisalo made 34 saves.

“If you want to win, you need balance,” Pinto said. “And we had that tonight and it’s going to be big for the back-to-back tomorrow (against the Chicago Blackhawks) to have that same thing. So, going to need all the guys on board.”

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JJ Peterka and Connor Clifton scored for the Sabres (34-34-5), who have lost four of six. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen allowed four goals on nine shots before he was replaced by Devon Levi, who made 31 saves in relief.

“We wanted, I guess, to play as individuals,” Clifton said. “I’m disappointed we let ‘Upie’ down, he’s the heart and soul of this team. He’s kept us in so many games, and just to not show up and play that careless style, give them freebies all over the place. … Yeah, obviously, the first 20 really dictated the rest of the game.”

Artem Zub gave Ottawa a 1-0 lead at 2:37 of the first period. He stuffed in a loose puck on the goal line after Katchouk’s shot was redirected by Mark Kastelic between Luukkonen’s pads.

Katchouk made it 2-0 at 4:56, tipping Parker Kelly’s shot from the top of the right face-off circle past Luukkonen.

“It’s keeping the consistency with good effort, right habits,” Katchouk said. “The small things matter so much in this game. And obviously, it worked out tonight with the tip. But kudos to my linemates. ‘Kels’ and ‘Kassy,’ they worked hard to get the puck as well. Those two battle hard every night as well. We feed off each other, and it’s good to play with them.”

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Vasilevskiy stops 23 as surging Lightning beat Bruins – Sportsnet.ca

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