Taylor Hall scored his second goal of the game 2:53 into overtime and the Boston Bruins beat the New York Islanders 3-2 in their home finale to clinch third place in the East Division. Brad Marchand also scored for Boston, which will face second-place Washington in the upcoming playoffs. Tuukka Rask had 16 saves. Mathew Barzal and Oliver Wahlstrom scored for the Islanders. Semyon Varlamov made 25 saves before he was replaced to start the third period by Ilya Sorokin, who stopped 10 shots. New York will face East-champ Pittsburgh. Hall cut in front and beat Sorokin with a backhander for the game-winner.
Elsewhere on the ice on Monday:
Joel Farabee scored two goals and James van Riemsdyk added one on the power play to lead the Philadelphia Flyers to a 4-2 win over the New Jersey Devils in the season finale for both teams. The Flyers finished yet another season without a Stanley Cup. They haven't won one since consecutive championships in 1974 and 1975 and this ends as one of the more disheartening ones in franchise history. Pavel Zacha and Janne Kuokkanen scored for the Devils. Sean Couturier also scored for the Flyers.
Pekka Rinne made 30 saves for the shutout as the Nashville Predators finished the regular season by beating the Carolina Hurricanes 5-0. Rinne tied Tom Barrasso for No. 19 in NHL history with his 369th career victory in his first start since April 10. Rinne's 60th career shutout came in what might have been his final start with Nashville. Both teams rested several players ahead of their first-round playoff series.
Nils Hoglander scored twice and the Vancouver Canucks beat the Winnipeg Jets 3-1. Bo Horvat also scored and Thatcher Demko stopped 39 shots for his 14th win of the season for the Canucks, Vancouver was eliminated from the playoff race earlier in the night when Montreal earned a point in a 4-3 overtime loss to Edmonton to clinch fourth place in the North Division.
Jason Robertson scored 4:30 into overtime, and the Dallas Stars rallied to beat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-4 in the final game of the season for each team. Miro Heiskanen had a goal and an assist for Dallas, which had dropped six of seven.
Chris Driedger stopped 30 shots to record his third shutout of the season, Juho Lammikko scored a short-handed goal, and the Florida Panthers secured home-ice advantage for the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs with a 4-0 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning in the regular season finale for both clubs.
In NHL news:
The Philadelphia Flyers and Penn Medicine partnered to make the one-shot Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine available to fans before Monday night's game. The Flyers said about 75 fans received a shot. They received vouchers for two tickets to a game and Gritty stickers and T-shirts incentives to get their shot.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced that Nassau Coliseum will have a fully vaccinated fan section when the New York Islanders open the Stanley Cup playoffs. Half of the arena will be used as a fully vaccinated fan section with attendees spaced approximately 3 feet apart with an unoccupied seat between each party.
NBA
Russell Westbrook broke Oscar Robertson's 47-year-old NBA record for triple-doubles and missed a potential game-winning 3-pointer as the Washington Wizards lost 125-124 to the Atlanta Hawks. Westbrook recorded his 182nd triple-double. The nine-time All-Star and 2016-17 MVP finished with 28 points, 13 rebounds and 21 assists, carrying the load for a Wizards team that was missing Bradley Beal, the league's No. 2 scorer. Trae Young scored 36 points for the Hawks, who moved within a half-game of the fourth-place New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference. Washington is 10th in the East.
In other NBA action:
DeMar DeRozan had 23 points and the San Antonio Spurs set a franchise record for points in the first half while rolling to a 146-125 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. Milwaukee had a five-game winning streak snapped and dropped a game behind idle Brooklyn for second place in the Eastern Conference. San Antonio set a season high for points and a team best with 87 points in the first half. Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo had 28 points.
The Memphis Grizzlies secured a spot in the postseason play-in tournament by beating the New Orleans Pelicans 115-110. Dillon Brooks scored 23 points, Jonas Valanciunas had 20 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks for the Grizzlies. The Pelicans were without leading scorers Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram, along with Josh Hart and Steven Adams.
Domantas Sabonis amassed 21 points, 20 rebounds and nine assists as the Indiana Pacers strengthened their hold on a play-in tournament spot with a 111-102 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Pacers moved one-half game ahead of Washington into ninth in the Eastern Conference. Collin Sexton scored 25 points for the Cavaliers in their 11th straight loss.
In NBA news:
Celtics All-Star forward Jaylen Brown will miss the rest of the season with a torn ligament in his left wrist. The team says Brown learned of the injury to his scapholunate ligament this past weekend and is expected to have surgery later this week. Brown has missed the Celtics' past three games with a sprained right ankle. Boston has lost two of three since then and entered Monday seventh in the Eastern Conference with four games left.
Bradley Beal will miss at least two games because of a strained left hamstring as his Washington Wizards fight for a play-in berth and he duels Stephen Curry for the NBA scoring title. The Wizards announced that Beal will sit out their games at the Atlanta Hawks this week. He'll be re-evaluated Friday. The shooting guard has a strained his hamstring. He is averaging 31.4 points this season. That trails Golden State guard Curry, who is putting in 31.9 a game.
Veteran NBA referee Tony Brown has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and will miss the rest of the season. The NBA says the 54-year-old has been undergoing treatment since his diagnosis last month. Brown worked his first NBA Finals last season. He has officiated 1,109 regular-season games, 35 playoff games and the 2018 All-Star Game in his 19 seasons as an NBA official.
MLB
Trey Mancini hit a go-ahead solo homer and later knocked in an insurance run, Jorge López and four relievers combined on a four-hitter and the Baltimore Orioles beat the Boston Red Sox 4-1. The Orioles had dropped their first six games at Camden Yards this season against the Red Sox and avoided a four-game sweep. It was the first time the home team won in 10 games between the teams this season. Boston still has the best record in baseball at 22-14. Baltimore's bullpen combined for 3 1/3 scoreless innings, retiring all 10 batters it faced.
In other action:
Jared Walsh homered and matched a career high with four hits, Justin Upton also connected and the Los Angeles Angels rallied in the sixth inning to beat the Houston Astros 5-4. Walsh also doubled and had two RBIs as the Angels got their third win in four games.
Tyler Naquin homered and drove in four runs, Tucker Barnhart keyed a six-run fourth inning with a two-run double and the Cincinnati Reds rolled to a 14-1 victory over the skidding Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates lost for the ninth time in 11 games.
The game between the San Diego Padres and Colorado Rockies was postponed due to a forecast that called for inclement weather. The Padres and Rockies were set to begin a three-game series at Coors Field. They will play Tuesday and then a traditional doubleheader Wednesday. The forecast Tuesday is calling for more cold and rainy weather with a chance for snow.
In MLB news:
Jacob deGrom will be placed on the injured list by the New York Mets with tightness in his right side. The move will keep the ace from taking the mound until May 20 at the earliest. The Mets say an MRI on Sunday night was "clean of any issues. The team says it will place the two-time NL Cy Young Award winner on the injured list before Tuesday's series opener against Baltimore, a move that will be retroactive to Monday. A 32-year-old right-hander, deGrom is 3-2 with a major league-best 0.68 ERA.
Two-time All-Star infielder Todd Frazier has been cut by the Pittsburgh Pirates after hitting .086 in 13 games. The team designated him for assignment Monday. The 35-year-old had just three hits in 35 at-bats with no home runs and four RBIs. The Pirates signed Frazier to a minor league contract after he spent last year's pandemic-shortened season with the Texas Rangers and New York Mets. The 11-year veteran has a .241 career average with 218 home runs.
NFL
Tim Tebow and Urban Meyer are apparently getting back together, this time in the NFL. The NFL Network reports the former Florida star and 2007 Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback is expected to team up with his college coach by signing a one-year contract to play for the Jacksonville Jaguars. The league-owned network says the deal "could be official in the next week or so." The 33-year-old Tebow would be returning to the NFL after four years in the New York Mets' organization and he'd be playing for Meyer for the first time since his senior year in 2009. This reunion would come with a twist: Tebow is switching to tight end.
Also, two people with direct knowledge have confirmed to The Associated Press the Indianapolis Colts have signed Eric Fisher to play left tackle. Kansas City selected Fisher with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2013 draft, but the Chiefs released their longtime starter in March. Fisher missed last season's Super Bowl after tearing his Achilles tendon in the AFC championship game. The two-time Pro Bowler could replace Anthony Castonzo in Indy's starting lineup. Castonzo retired in January.
THOROUGHBRED RACING
Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit is headed to Baltimore for the Preakness Stakes while trainer Bob Baffert says he won't attend the race to avoid being a distraction in the wake of scrutiny following the colt's failed postrace drug test. Medina Spirit's Derby win by half a length over Mandaloun gave Baffert his record seventh victory in the sport's premier race. That milestone is now in jeopardy following Baffert's announcement that test results revealed the horse had more than twice the state-allowed amount of the steroid betamethasone. Baffert is appealing the positive test and a part of the original sample will be re-tested.
PGA
One week before the PGA Championship, Dustin Johnson is having knee pain. The world's No. 1 player withdrew from the AT&T Byron Nelson on Monday. He cites occasional discomfort in his knee and says his trainers have advised him to stay home and get healthy. Johnson had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee after the 2019 season that caused him to miss three months. He says he was not happy about having to withdraw and pledged to return to Dallas. Johnson has gone six consecutive tournaments without a top-10 finish. That's his longest such stretch since before his 2019 surgery.
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