Zach Johnson increased his overnight lead from one to three points on Saturday after two rounds of the Mitsubishi Electric Classic at TPC Sugarloaf in Duluth, Ga.

The tournament is using the Modified Stableford scoring system to encourage aggressive play. Rather than scoring relative to par, points are awarded per hole — minus-1 for a bogey, zero for par and two for birdie. Eagles are worth five points while double bogeys are minus-3.

Johnson finished +13 on the day, and combined with his opening round of +15, sits at +28 heading into Sunday’s final round.

The two-time major champion on the PGA Tour carded seven birdies and made one bogey on Saturday. He birdied four of the last seven holes and has a three-point lead over South African Retief Goosen (+25) and seven-point lead over four others.

“(I) hit it nice. Really hit my driver nice with the exception of 18 and maybe one other one if I’m not mistaken,” said Johnson. “Encouraged, encouraged with the trajectory of my game.”

Johnson, who finished tied for eighth at last week’s Senior PGA Championship, is optimistic about his game.

“I was volatile last week. I know I had a decent week from a finish standpoint, but I had 10 bogeys and three doubles,” said Johnson, who turned 50 in February and won his first title on the senior tour in March. “It was very colorful, if you will. I’m trying to clean that up.”

Goosen improved from +12 on Friday to +13 on Saturday. He picked up 12 points on his last 11 holes, which included birdies on two par-threes.

Asked if his round felt like a score of 66, Goosen said, “I don’t know what it feels like really. You don’t really — you’re just so much more into points and trying to just birdie every hole. It’s funny how it works, you’re not really thinking about a score, you’re just thinking birdie.”

Goosen’s countryman Rory Sabbatini, David Duval, George McNeill and Ben Crane are all at +21, while Alex Cejka of the Czech Republic is at +20.

Canada’s Stephen Ames fired the best round of the tournament on Saturday with a score of +16 and is tied for 10th at +18. He earned five points on his first hole of the day, making an eagle on the par-5 No. 10.

–Field Level Media

The Colorado Avalanche are one game away from a sweep as they prepare to face the Los Angeles Kings on the road for Game 4 of their Western Conference first-round series Sunday.

However, don’t mistake the chance for a sweep as the Avalanche dominating the Kings. The first two games in Denver were 2-1 games, and in Game 2, the Avalanche needed a goal from Gabriel Landeskog with 3:35 left in regulation to force overtime.

Thursday’s Game 3 in Los Angeles was another tight affair that Colorado pulled out 4-2 thanks to a Brock Nelson’s empty-netter sealing the win with 2:18 left.

Colorado will likely be down a key player Sunday. Sturdy defenseman Josh Manson took a hit from Joel Edmundson with about 90 seconds in the first period Thursday. He tried to play in the second period, but exited for good with 12 minutes left in the period.

On Saturday, Avalanche coach Jared Bednar told reporters that Manson was still sore and unlikely to play Sunday.

Manson has two assists in the series, including a helper on Landeskog’s Game 3 goal. Both Manson and fellow blueliner Devon Toews share the lead in assists for Colorado in the series.

Forward Artturi Lehkonen leads Colorado with three points on two goals and an assist. He scored a short-handed goal with less than 13 minutes left in Thursday’s game to give the Avalanche a 3-1 lead.

On Friday, Kings coach D.J. Smith told reporters there would be some changes to the lineup. However, Smith said there would not be any drastic moves, with maybe a couple new faces and possibly reconfiguring the top two lines.

“Honestly, they get a bounce on the first goal,” Smith said. “If we get a bounce, we’re sitting here with a different story. So, I think you got to stick with what you’re doing. You just got to do it better, longer and harder.”

The Kings, who scored the fourth-fewest goals (220) in the regular season, have been led by Artemi Panarin. The forward acquired in early February from the New York Rangers has two of the team’s four goals in the series. He shares the lead in points with Alex Laferriere, who has three assists.

The closeness of the games should not come as a surprise. Colorado, which allowed the fewest goals (197), and Los Angeles, which allowed the seventh-fewest (238), are in one of only two first-round series that feature both teams ranked in the top seven in goals allowed.

Colorado also led the league in goals scored (298). However, Nathan MacKinnon, Martin Necas and Cale Makar, who all averaged better than a point per game in the regular season, have so far been held to just three points combined in the series. Makar, a defenseman, has the only goal amongst the trio.

Each playoff series presents a different challenge, Bednar told reporters Saturday. This series has put the defense to the test, which he said it has passed, but the coach said the Avalanche’s best game this series could be yet to come.

“For all we know, if you’re fortunate to move on, this can be the best defending team that we play in the whole entire playoffs,” he said. “You have to be prepared to hit the ground running and play the way you need to play right away without having any lapses.”

–Field Level Media

The Canadiens look to build a commanding lead in their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series when they face the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 4 Sunday night in Montreal.

Lane Hutson’s goal at 2:09 of overtime in Game 3 Friday night gave the Canadiens a 3-2 win and a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. They now look to move within a game of advancing before the series shifts back to Tampa Bay for Game 5.

All three games between No. 2 seed Tampa Bay and No. 3 seed Montreal have ended in overtime with the teams alternating wins.

“I just believe in our system, all my teammates and coaching staff,” Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky said after an optional practice on Saturday. “I feel like we’re all prepared for any scenario. I feel like if we play our way and we have the puck a lot, we’re good defensively. I feel like we can for sure win again (Sunday).”

Alexandre Texier and Kirby Dach each had a goal and an assist, Zachary Bolduc had two assists and Jakub Dobes made 15 saves for the Canadiens.

Dach tied the game 2-2 at 12:43 of the second period.

“We weren’t as sharp as we needed to be, for sure,” Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh said. “Giving up breakaways and odd-mans, we haven’t done a lot of that in this series, but tonight it certainly got away from us defensively.”

Lane Hutson became the third Canadiens’ defenseman to score a playoff overtime goal in the past 25 years and the first since Jeff Petry in 2020.

The Canadiens have put themselves in a strong position without much production from their top line. Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki and Slafkovsky have no points during 5-on-5 play over the first three games. Slafkovsky had a power-play hat trick in Game 1, and Caufield and Suzuki each have three assists, all coming with the man advantage.

“There’s a lot of talk and a lot of pressure we put on ourselves to go out there and perform and do the best we can,” Suzuki said of Game 3. “But we had good looks all night. And Cole almost ended it in overtime.”

Brayden Point and Brandon Hagel scored for the Lightning in Game 3. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 26 saves, including three on Montreal breakaways.

“We’re three games in now. I think we’ve got a pretty good feel for each other, we have a pretty good feel for what the environment’s like in this building,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “But our execution has to be (better). We have to elevate now.”

Hagel has scored in all three games and has five points (four goals, one assist) in the series.

After outshooting the Canadiens 57-46 in the first two games of the series, the Lightning were outshot 29-17 on Friday night.

“We’re definitely still in the series, but the next one’s so important,” Point said. “We know we can be better. We’ve got to learn from our mistakes here tonight, and we’ve got to show better next game.”

Tampa Bay defenseman Victor Hedman, who has taken a leave of absence for personal reasons, took part in the team’s optional practice on Saturday, but is not expected to return during this series.

–Field Level Media