USA
and Canada: NHL Playoffs: Saturday will see some exciting games in this year's National Hockey League Stanley Cup
Playoffs. The Nashville Predators
capped off the franchise's first playoff sweep Thursday night with a
4-1 Game 4 win over the Chicago Blackhawks at
Bridgestone Arena. They became the first
team to advance beyond the first round. The
Predators were able to put the clamps on the Blackhawks thanks to a pair of
shutouts back in the Windy City—results that have been rather rare over the
past decade-plus. The Predators became the first team in the past 15 years and
only the third to post consecutive postseason shutouts on the road in Chicago. Also advancing at this point to the second
round are the Anaheim Ducks, in a 4 games to nil sweep of the Calgary Flames,
and the Pittsburgh Penguins, who won a 4-1 series over the Columbus Blue Jackets. Saturday's games pit the Rangers against the
Canadiens, the St. Louis Blues vs. the Minnesota Wild, and the Oilers vs. the
Sharks
NBA
Finals: The Toronto Raptors will visit
the Milwaukee Bucks this afternoon in
Game 4 of an Eastern Conference first-round series. The Washington Wizards visit the Atlanta
Hawks in Game 3 of an Eastern Conference first-round series. The San Antonio Spurs visit the Memphis
Grizzlies in Game 4 of a Western Conference first-round series. The Golden State Warriors visit the Portland Trailblazers
in Game 3 of a Western Conference first-round series.
In
England and Wales: Premier League Soccer
heats up today. The Tottenham Hotspur
may win over Chelsea this afternoon, as they go into the weekend with
momentum. This is the FA Cup
semi-finals, but Tottenham are not just winning, they are winning well, and
Chelsea have begun to dip at exactly the wrong time. This evening Bournemouth plays
Middlesbrough. It has been a rough past couple of
weeks for Bournemouth, having been well beaten by Chelsea and Tottenham, but
they tend to do well at home. Middlesbrough faces relegation, having not won since December 17, picking up
just six points from their past 14 games.
In
the United States, College Lacrosse presents some exciting competition: Notre Dame hosts North Carolina, Michigan
visits Johns Hopkins.
The
men's and women's 2017 Artistic European Championships of Gymnastics are ongoing today in Cluj,
Romania. They began on Wednesday and wrap up Sunday. As usual for this competition, there is no
team competition, only individuals compete, but for the honor of the country
they represent. The overall champions
have already been crowned. This
competition includes all six major exercises: floor and pommel horse, rings, vault, highbar
and parallel bars. Englishman James
Hall clinched the bronze medal with a total of 84.664 behind Russia’s Artur
Dalaloyan in silver (85.498) and multiple Olympic medallist Oleg Verniaiev
(UKR) in gold (85.866). Competition
wraps up on Sunday.
