Sports
Habs notch first playoff win since '21, edge Lightning in Game 7
May 3, 2026; Tampa, Florida, USA; Montreal Canadiens defenseman Mike Matheson (8) handles the puck under pressure from Tampa Bay Lightning forward Jake Guentzel (59) during the second period in game seven of the first round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Benchmark International Arena. Mandatory Credit: Morgan Tencza-Imagn Images Alex Newhook broke a third-period tie with the game-winning goal to give the visiting Montreal Canadiens a 2-1 Game 7 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday.
Nick Suzuki also scored for the Canadiens, who were outshot 29-9 and outplayed for much of the deciding game, but now face the Buffalo Sabres, who finished atop the Atlantic Division, in the second round, a best-of-seven series that begins Wednesday in Buffalo.
The Canadiens set a Stanley Cup Playoffs record for fewest shots on goal in a win, per Sportsnet.
Montreal goaltender Jakub Dobes made 28 saves, standing especially tall while Tampa Bay peppered him with shots in the second period.
With overtime on the horizon, Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped a point shot, sending the puck bounding to the end boards. But Newhook batted it out of the air toward the front of the cage, banking it off Vasilevskiy and into the cage for his first goal of this year’s playoffs with 8:53 remaining in regulation.
Montreal had last won a series in 2021, the year the Canadiens lost to Tampa Bay in the Stanley Cup Final.
Dominic James scored for the Lightning, who were eliminated in the opening round of the playoffs for a fourth consecutive year.
Vasilevskiy stopped seven of nine shots in the game.
The Canadiens opened the scoring on the game’s first big break. Suzuki netted his first goal of the series when he deflected Kaiden Guhle’s point shot off Lightning defenseman J.J. Moser and into the net at 18:39 of the opening frame.
James tied the game with a deflection tally of his own, tipping a Charle-Edouard D’Astous point shot for a power-play marker at 13:27 of the second period.
The Canadiens failed to register a shot on goal in the middle period, even with a power play, while the Lightning fired 12 on the Montreal net in the period. It is the first time the Canadiens failed to net a shot on goal in a period during the playoffs since shots were counted in 1955-56.
The Canadiens finally put a puck on net more than five minutes into the third period, going nearly 27 minutes between shots. That sparked Montreal to gain some momentum and eventually Newhook’s winning goal.
The Lightning pushed, and even pulled the goalie for the extra attacker with more than two minutes remaining, but could not find the equalizer.
Montreal benefited from the return of defenseman Noah Dobson, who had been out since being hit in the left hand by a slap shot April 11. Dobson blocked a shot with his right hand in the waning minutes of regulation.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Team Vitality remains perfect, rolls in BLAST Rivals Spring grand final
Jan 28, 2017; Atlanta, GA, USA; ELEAGUE CS:GO MAJOR Semi Finals at the Fox Theatre. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Freeman/Turner Sports via Imagn Images Team Vitality clinched back-to-back unbeaten runs through the group and playoff stages by beating Natus Vincere 3-0 in the grand final of the BLAST Rivals Spring event Sunday in Fort Worth, Texas.
After winning the Intel Extreme Masters Rio event on April 19 without dropping a game in the playoffs, Vitality once again had a 2-0 win in the semifinals after receiving a bye for an undefeated group stage. The shutout in the grand final clinched Team Vitality the $125,000 first prize to go along with two BLAST Frequent Flyer tokens.
Natus Vincere claimed $75,000 for the second-place finish as GamerLegion and FaZe Clan earned $40,000 after falling in the semifinals.
The $350,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament began with eight teams divided into two double-elimination groups for the initial stage. The group winners moved directly to the semifinals of the single-elimination playoff. The group runners-up went to the quarterfinals as high seeds, and the teams that finished third in their groups advanced to the quarterfinals as low seeds.
All matches in the group stage and the playoffs were best-of-three until Sunday’s grand final, which was best-of-five.
Vitality kept it close with Natus Vincere through the first two matches, eking out a 16-12 overtime win on Nuke and a 13-11 win on Anubis. It was all but over by the third match and Vitality wasted no time by picking up a 13-3 win on Dust II.
Estonia’s Robin ‘ropz’ Kool led the charge for Team Vitality with a 60-38 kills-to-deaths ratio. Israel’s Shahar ‘flameZ’ Shushan also had a solid showing with 54 kills, including a team-high 26 on Nuke to kick off the grand final.
Ukraine’s Ihor ‘w0nderful’ Zhdanov was the only member of Natus Vincere to finish with a positive kills-to-deaths ratio at 53-42. Kosovo’s Drin ‘makazze’ Shaqiri finished with the most kills on any map during the grand final with 27 on Anubis.
BLAST Rivals Spring prize pool
1. $125,000, two BLAST Frequent Flyer tokens — Team Vitality
2. $75,000 — Natus Vincere
3-4. $40,000 — GamerLegion, FaZe Clan
5-6. $25,000 — Astralis, G2 Esports
7-8. $10,000 — FUT Esports, FURIA
–Field Level Media
Sports
Brad Stuver, Austin shut out St. Louis City
May 3, 2026; Austin, Texas, USA; Austin FC forward Christian Ramirez (21) is congratulated by teammates for making a goal against St. Louis CITY SC during the second half at Q2 Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dustin Safranek-Imagn Images Christian Ramirez and Myrto Uzuni scored within 12 minutes of each other in the second half and Brad Stuver turned away four shots for his second straight clean sheet to lead host Austin FC to a 2-0 win over struggling St. Louis City on Sunday.
The Verde (3-4-4, 13 points) have captured consecutive games via identical scores and have turned around a season that had seen them suffer through a seven-match winless swoon.
St. Louis City (1-6-3, 6 points) are now winless in their past five matches and have lost three times over that stretch.
Ramirez’s goal in the 69th minute broke Sunday’s scoreless deadlock. The scoring play started from a corner kick that was originally cleared from the zone before Uzuni pounced on the loose ball, sending it back into the box for teammate Dani Pereira.
Pereira then chipped a pass toward the far post that Ramirez leaped to head into the net past St. Louis goalkeeper Roman Burki for a 1-0 lead.
Austin added to the goal in the 81st minute when Uzuni booted home a left-footed shot after Jon Gallagher ran down the ball near the end line and passed to Ramirez. Ramirez then feed Uzuni at the center of the box for a shot into the lower left corner that doubled the lead.
The Verde got a boost in the match from the return of midfielder Owen Wolff, who entered in the 82nd minute after missing Austin’s first 10 games of the season.
Austin had an excellent scoring chance in the early minutes but Gallagher’s header from deep in the box with a 24% goal expectancy went over the crossbar. Marcel Hartel countered with a shot on goal for St. Louis City three minutes later that Stuver batted away.
Uzuni was in prime position to open the scoring in the 22nd minute when he headed a free kick toward the net that Burki somehow stopped. Stuver then returned the favor in the 26th minute when he dove to make a save on Simon Becher.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Stewart Cink wins Regions Tradition to clinch back-to-back majors
Stewart Cink hits his driver on the first tee during the first round of The Galleri Classic at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif., Friday, March 28, 2025. Less than a month ago, Stewart Cink had never won a PGA Tour Champions major.
Now he has won two.
Cink shot a 3-under-par 69 on Sunday at the Regions Tradition in Birmingham, Ala., taking home the title by three strokes over nearest competitor Scott Hend of Australia in breezy conditions.
“It wasn’t easy,” Cink said. “But I was pretty resilient and I trusted what I had and our game plan was good. You know, I wasn’t perfect by any stretch, but I played good golf under the circumstances.”
The Florence, Ala. native had his own cheering section at Greystone Golf and Country Club on Sunday, as Cink carded five birdies against two bogeys to earn his second straight major after winning the Senior PGA Championship in Bradenton, Fla. two weeks ago.
“This is where I cut my teeth in golf,” Cink said. “The fans out here were awesome, I saw a lot of familiar faces. Everybody’s put on the years, but some people from junior golf that I played with and against and their families. A lot of my friends and family have been out here all week anyway that I knew they were coming. It’s just been great.”
The eight-time PGA Champions tourney winner cited the importance of keeping his focus on the present for his recent hot streak, which has included four wins overall in 2026. He has yet to finish lower than sixth this calendar year.
“One of the things I’m doing a pretty good job of is just kind of staying in the moment,” he said. “It feels good to get back in the winner’s circle again, of course. I hope there’s a lot more times coming.”
Hend surged up the leaderboard to apply some pressure as most other golfers struggled to match Cink’s strong day. Hend did Cink four better with a 7-under 65, but he ultimately had too much ground to make up coming into the day. Still, a day with six birdies, a bogey and an eagle on the par-5 No. 13 left much to be proud of.
Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie shot a 1-under 71 which left him in third place at 13 under once the dust settled, while Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen took fourth with a 3-under 69 that put him at 12 under.
Three golfers rounded out the top five in a tie for fifth: South Korea’s Charlie Wi (68), Germany’s Alex Cejka (70) and Doug Barron (71).
–Field Level Media
Team Vitality remains perfect, rolls in BLAST Rivals Spring grand final
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