Sports Digest: Bruins return, lose 4-1 to Columbus in exhibition - Press Herald

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HOCKEY

The Columbus Blue Jackets scored three first-period goals Thursday night to beat the Boston Bruins 4-1 in an NHL exhibition at Toronto.

David Pastrnak scored in the second period for Boston.

Tuukka Rask played the first half of the game and made 17 saves. Jaroslav Halak didn’t allow any goals and made 10 saves.

The Bruins’ begin their three-game round-robin series at 3 p.m. Saturday against Philadelphia.

Columbus begins its best-of-five qualifying series against Toronto at 8 p.m. Saturday.

Boone Jenner, Zach Werenski and Gustav Nyquist, a former UMaine player, scored against Rask in the first period.

Alexandre Texier added an empty-net goal in the final seconds for Columbus.

• The Seattle Kraken added to their hockey operations staff by hiring Dave Baseggio as director of pro scouting.

Baseggio spent the past 12 seasons with Anaheim as a pro scout, director of pro scouting and assistant to the general manager for the Ducks. Baseggio also played and coached in the AHL.

BASKETBALL

NBA: Rudy Gobert sank two free throws with 6.9 seconds left to cap a 14-point, 12-rebound and three-block performance, giving the Utah Jazz a 106-104 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans in the first game of the NBA’s restart at Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

New Orleans, which led for most of the game and by as many as 16 points, nearly pulled out the victory as time expired when Brandon Ingram’s 3-point attempt rimmed out in a bitter end to his 23-point night.

Zion Williamson, who missed nearly two weeks of practice after leaving the team for a family medical matter on July 16, was deemed fit to start, although his playing time was limited.

He scored 13 points in just more than 15 minutes, highlighted by a couple alley-oop dunks, one on a nearly half-court lob from Lonzo Ball.

But Williamson checked out for good with 7:19 left in the fourth quarter and had to watch the tense finish from the sideline.

GOLF

WORLD GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS: Defending champion Brooks Koepka matched his career best with an 8-under 62 to take a one-stroke lead over Rickie Fowler in the FedEx St. Jude Invitational.

Koepka had nine birdies and a bogey on a windy day at TPC Southwind in the World Golf Championship event, a week after missing the cut in Minnesota in the 3M Open.

Koepka also will defend his PGA Championship title next week at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, and his coaches helped him realize last weekend how much he was favoring his injured left knee.

He sure seemed to have found something at TPC Southwind, where he turned in his lowest round of the year and best in seven events at this course. This was his eighth time shooting under par in his last nine rounds here.

Fowler, who last missed the cut at Memorial, chipped in from 30 feet to tie Koepka for the lead with a hole to play. But Fowler two-putted for bogey after putting his tee shot in the left rough on his final hole to finish at 64 and tied with Brendon Todd.

Sung Kang shot 65. Justin Thomas, who can move back to No. 1 in the world with a victory, shot a 66 and was tied with Matt Kuchar, Chez Reavie and Max Homa.

Jon Rahm, playing his first event since becoming No. 1 with a win at Memorial, shot 70.

Rory McIlroy also could move back to No. 1 with a win. He opened with a 73.

PGA: Ryan Moore curled in a 20-foot birdie putt on the par-4 18th for a share of the lead with Adam Schenk in the Barracuda Championship at Tahoe Mountain Club in Truckee, California.

Moore and Schenk had 14-point rounds under the modified Stableford scoring system.

EUROPEAN TOUR: Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez led a Spanish charge, shooting a course-record 10-under 62 in the opening round of the Hero Open.

Garcia Rodriguez set the pace at the Forest of Arden Marriott Hotel and Country Club course with a round that included two eagles and eight birdies.

Fellow Spaniards Pablo Larrazabal and Miguel Angel Jimenez finished with a share of second place two shots back.

LPGA: The tour’s return has yielded two positive tests for the coronavirus out of the 466 given to players and caddies before they traveled and when they arrived in Ohio for the LPGA Drive On Championship.

The LPGA says Marina Alex had no symptoms when she tested positive before leaving for Inverness. Following 10 days of quarantine, she is expected to return next week at the Marathon Classic. The tour says one caddie also tested positive and did not travel. The caddie was only to scheduled to work the first event.

Gaby Lopez has the other positive test result for a player.

AUTO RACING

FORMULA ONE: Driver Sergio Perez is out of Sunday’s British Grand Prix after testing positive for the coronavirus.

The Racing Point driver, who is Mexican, will now go into isolation.

SOCCER

BRITAIN: Unable to drink beer but back chanting in a stadium again, supporters will attend competitive soccer in Britain on Friday for the first time since the country’s coronavirus lockdown four months ago.

In a pilot event for the planned widespread return of supporters, 500 will be allowed into the Irish Cup final at 18,500-capacity Windsor Park in Belfast, split between finalists Ballymena United and Glentoran.

FOOTBALL

NFL: The Panthers have decided to keep Joey Slye as their kicker and release veteran Graham Gano, who missed all of last season with a knee injury.

• The New York Jets placed quarterback Joe Flacco, linebacker Avery Williamson and tight end Ryan Griffin on the physically unable to perform list Thursday.

Flacco, the Super Bowl MVP when he led Baltimore the 2012 NFL championship, is recovering from a serious neck injury that sidelined him for half of last season with Denver.

• The Minnesota Vikings placed linebacker Anthony Barr on the reserve list for COVID-19, the eighth player they’ve designated since training camp began.

The reserve list was created by the NFL for a player who either tests positive for COVID-19 or who has been quarantined after having been in close contact with an infected person or persons. Clubs are not permitted to disclose whether player is in quarantine or is positive for COVID-19.

• The Green Bay Packers placed veteran kicker Mason Crosby, tight end Jace Sternberger and defensive tackle Trevyon Hester on their COVID-19 reserve list.

• The Buffalo Bills became the first team to send their rookies home and hold training camp remotely after two more players tested positive for COVID-19.

Defensive backs Siran Neal and Dane Jackson both tested positive, upping the team’s total to five since rookies reported on July 21. Neal is a second-year player and Jackson is a rookie seventh-round draft pick.

COLLEGES

FOOTBALL: The Iowa football program under Coach Kirk Ferentz, a former UMaine coach, has suffered from a culture that perpetuated racial bias against Black players and allowed some current and former staff members to demean and bully others, according to an investigation report.

University of Iowa President Bruce Harreld said the report by an outside law firm shows the “climate and culture must and will change within our football program.”

Ferentz, the longest-tenured head coach in college football, apologized to Black players and promised changes to improve their experience.

In addition to a public report, the Husch Blackwell law firm gave the university four confidential personnel reports on current and former staff who were accused of demeaning, bullying and verbally abusing players. Harreld said the university will address the allegations against those coaches, who were not publicly identified.

• The powerhouse Southeastern Conference announced it will play only league games in 2020, a pandemic-forced decision that pushes major college football closer to a siloed regular season in which none of the power conferences cross paths.

The SEC’s university presidents agreed on a 10-game schedule that eliminates all nonconference opponents and is set to begin Sept. 26. The SEC championship game, originally scheduled for Dec. 5, will be pushed back to Dec. 19.

VOLLEYBALL: Athletes and others with ties to the program told The Associated Press that the head volleyball coach at Oregon State University runs an abusive program that has seen 11 players quit or transfer since 2016 and two team members contemplate suicide, with one attempting an overdose.

In interviews with the AP and complaints made to the university, they said that fifth-year head coach Mark Barnard pits players against each other in team meetings, threatens to revoke scholarships for struggling players and pushes team members past health warnings in practice as punishment.

TENNIS

U.S. OPEN: Two-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka is planning to play at the U.S. Open and the hard-court tuneup at the same site earlier in August.

Osaka’s agent, Stuart Duguid, said the former No. 1-ranked player will enter both tournaments the U.S. Tennis Association is holding in Flushing Meadows.

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