Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime is through to the second round of the Madrid Open following a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, victory over Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka on Thursday. Auger-Aliassime won 81 per cent on first serve and fired 11 aces. He had zero double faults but was able to convert only three of his 10 break-point opportunities. The 23-year-old from Montreal will take on France’s Adrian Mannarino, who received a bye into the second round as the 19th seed. Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., reached the second round Wednesday after defeating Argentina’s Facundo Diaz Acosta 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. Sh ..read more

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EDMONTON — Whatever it is, however it happens, it always seems to happen this way. When you lead the whole game, when you’re on your toes more than your heels, when your game is assertive, in the end you get “The Bounce.” When you trail — “chase the game” as hockey people love to say — the chase seldom lands you the quarry. We’ll never be sure whether Quinton Byfield made a super-skilled play to deflect that puck right onto Anze Kopitar’s stick in overtime, or if a puck that was destined for an icing call just banked off the kid and fluked its way on to the clutch captain’s blade for ..read more

A Game 2 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on home ice is undoubtedly a disappointment for the Edmonton Oilers, but there may still be a silver lining: Dylan Holloway scored not one, but two playoff goals, including the marker to send the rivals to overtime on Wednesday. His first goal came halfway through the second period to pull the home team within one of the Kings. Sam Carrick found Holloway right in the slot and he wasted no time sending it high glove side on former Oiler Cam Talbot. His second, which evened the score at 4-4, came early in the third and right after the Kings had scored the g ..read more

TORONTO — Wearing the sweat of an effort that wound up wasted, and a disappointment that feels all too familiar, the Toronto Maple Leafs stood in their locker room late Wednesday night looking deflated. The thrill of that resilient Game 2 victory all but evaporated, they sighed, and turned their attention to dissecting where and why Game 3 got away from them. They spoke of momentum, of being unable to ride the swings as well as they could’ve. They spoke of starting slow, playing catch-up, failing to find their rhythm. Assessing how to get his club’s offence back on track after a night tha ..read more

The top seed in the Western Conference is in a heap of trouble. Everybody knew the Central Division-winning Dallas Stars were getting a tough Round 1 draw in the defending-champion Vegas Golden Knights, who landed in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs via the second wild-card berth in the West. Sure enough — just as was the case in last year’s Western Conference Final — the Stars have fallen behind the Knights 2-0 in a best-of-seven battle following Tuesday night’s 3-1 defeat. Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 1: Stars vs. Golden Knights Keep up with the latest news and analysis as the defending-cham ..read more

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TORONTO — When Brad Marchand woke up in his Ritz-Carlton hotel bed ahead of a pivotal Game 3 in Toronto, he was overcome with excitement. Excitement and gratitude. A very specific kind of gratitude that comes when you’re 35 years old and 15 seasons deep in a young man’s league, when you’re a dad and you only have one more year on your deal, when your legs aren’t what they used to be and you’ve watched all your fellow Stanley Cup–winning teammates retire. And now you’re facing an opponent, the rival Toronto Maple Leafs, who are objectively more dynamic, more stocked with high-end skill, and has ..read more

OKLAHOMA CITY — Just a few days ago, the Oklahoma City Thunder looked like a young team struggling through their first playoff game together. On Wednesday night, they looked like grizzled playoff veterans. Canadian Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 33 points and the top-seeded Thunder beat the New Orleans Pelicans 124-92 to take a 2-0 lead in their first-round Western Conference playoff series. Gilgeous-Alexander, from Hamilton, said the Thunder remained focused instead of worrying about outside issues such as other highly seeded teams struggling at home. “I think it just goes back to us prioriti ..read more

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