The Saint John Sea Dogs took over sole possession of first place in the “Q” with a 2-1 win over the Charlottetown Islanders. Callum Booth made 28 saves and Nathan Noel scored the game winner 53 seconds into the third period. Thomas Chabot scored the other Sea Dog goal. The Sea Dogs now lead the Islanders by 3 points in the Maritimes Division.
The Montreal Canadiens fired coach Michel Therrien and replaced him with Claude Julien who was recently dismissed by the Boston Bruins.
In the NHL, Auston Matthews scored twice as the Toronto Maple Leafs trounced the Islanders 7-1…A loss would have knocked Toronto out of a playoff position…..Pittsburgh shut out Vancouver 4-0 with Matt Murray making 29 saves……Sidney Crosby got the 999th point of his career and Evgeni Malkin was back in the lineup…..Elsewhere, it was New Jersey 3 Colorado 2…..Buffalo 3 Ottawa 2…..Anaheim 1 Minnesota 0…..Winnipeg 5 Dallas 2 and Edmonton 5 Arizona 2.
Anaheim Ducks forward Antoine Vermette was ejected from last night’s game against Minnesota for slashing a linesman on the back of the leg after a faceoff and now faces a likely suspension.
In the NBA, the Chicago Bulls beat the Toronto Raptors for the 11th straight time, 105-94. In other play, it was Cleveland 116 Minnesota 108 and Sacramento 97 Los Angeles Lakers 96.
