US sports compact: Panthers shorten the fight for the Stanley Cup

The Florida Panthers got their first win in the Stanley Cup finals and closed the gap to the Vegas Golden Knights. Carter Verhaeghe scored in extra time on Thursday evening (local time) to make it 3-2 for the Panthers, who had equalized to make it 2-2 just 2:13 minutes before the end of regular time. In the best-of-seven series, an ice hockey team needs four wins, and the Golden Nights now lead 2-1. The fourth game is again in Florida on Sunday night.

“I’ve had some shooting time and I’m very happy that he’s clean,” said Verhaeghe. “We have been in this situation many times. It feels good.” The Panthers have won all seven games that went into overtime in this season’s playoffs.

Matthew Tkachuk equalized for the Panthers with his eleventh goal of the playoffs. The attacker was hit hard in the first third and then disappeared into the catacombs for a long time. Brandon Montour made it 1-0 for the Panthers. Mark Stone made it 1-1 for the Golden Knights, Jonathan Marchessault made it 2-1 in the second period. All goal scorers were also involved as passers in the respective other goal of their team.

The Major League Baseball (MLB) game between the Washington Nationals and the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday has been postponed to a later date due to high air pollution caused by the devastating forest fires in eastern Canada. “The bad air quality is the reason for the postponement of the game,” announced the club from the US capital.

Other baseball games, as well as basketball and women’s soccer matches, also fell victim to soot in the air. The prestigious Belmont Stakes horse race, which is scheduled to take place in New York on Saturday, is also at great risk. According to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, the race will be canceled if the air quality is too bad. “It will be a last-minute decision,” Hochul said.

In the eastern Canadian city of Halifax in the province of Nova Scotia, forest fires have been raging for almost two weeks, and thousands of residents have already had to evacuate their homes. A state of emergency was declared for the city with 430,000 inhabitants. The wind drove the sooty air south, Washington is about 1300 kilometers southwest of Halifax.