National Sports

MONTREAL — The Montreal Canadiens didn't understand the officials' decision on Pittsburgh's overtime winner on Saturday.

TORONTO — Michael Hutchinson had more than 24 hours to mentally prepare for a rare start in net for the Toronto Maple Leafs. That relatively lengthy leadup was more than enough for him.

NEW YORK — The Toronto Raptors were coming off their most inept performance of the season and their shooting looked just as off to start their game Saturday night. “It don’t matter. We’re going to keep putting them up,” Kyle Lowry said.

OSTRAVA, Czech Republic — Canada was looking for payback. The national team got it, and then some, in a dominant wire-to-wire performance Saturday at the world junior hockey championship.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Eric Staal didn’t need to be reminded he hadn’t scored in overtime in eight years. The Minnesota Wild’s veteran centre was well aware.

BOSTON — Edmonton goalie Mike Smith took a deep sigh when asked how it felt to finally get a victory. The Oilers had a little bit of help from the Boston Bruins, too.

Watching John Stones make defensive mistakes while playing for England in the Nations League finals in June, Port Vale striker Tom Pope took to Twitter to say he’d “love to play … every week” against the Manchester City centre back.

OSTRAVA, Czech Republic — Russia will play for gold at the world junior hockey championship. Ivan Morozov scored his second goal of the game at 3:24 of overtime Saturday to lead his country to a 5-4 victory over Sweden in the semifinals.

DALLAS — Former Dallas Stars coach Jim Montgomery said Friday his abrupt dismissal by the NHL club was "appropriate" and he has entered alcohol rehab. Montgomery's statement was his first public comment since he was fired Dec.

Friday's Games NHL Washington 4 Carolina 3 Dallas 4 Detroit 1 --- AHL Rochester 4 Belleville 3 Cleveland 3 Milwaukee 2 Syracuse 8 Toronto 2 Springfield 3 Utica 2 Binghamton 3 Bridgeport 1 Hartford 3 Providence 1 Hershey 6 WB/Scranton 2 Laval 4 Lehigh