National Sports

VANCOUVER — The Vancouver Canucks have not made Jim Rutherford’s job easy. The team languished at the bottom of the Pacific Division standings when Rutherford was appointed president of hockey operations in early December.

Noelle Quinn lives for March. It's crunch time for college basketball players, the time of year that reveals character, she said. "Because it's one-and-done, there's legit no tomorrow," said Quinn, the new assistant coach of Canada's women's team.

MUNICH — Bayern Munich manager Julian Nagelsmann says Canadian soccer star Alphonso Davies is still several weeks away from returning to action. That prognosis would rule him out of Canada's final three World Cup qualifying matches.

VANCOUVER — The Vancouver Canucks know their margin of error has been whittled away. If the Canucks want to make the playoffs, they can't afford another loss like the 1-0 defeat it suffered to the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday.

Thursday's Scoreboard NHL N.Y. Islanders 2 N.Y. Rangers 1 Toronto 3 Carolina 2 Dallas 4 Montreal 3 (OT) Philadelphia 5 Nashville 4 Washington 7 Columbus 2 Pittsburgh 3 St. Louis 2 (SO) Buffalo at Edmonton, 9 p.m.

EDMONTON — The Edmonton Oilers finally showed what they could look like playing a complete game.

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Rafael Nadal defeated Nick Kyrgios 7-6 (0), 5-7, 6-4 Thursday to reach the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open in a match featuring obscenities, underhand serves, a point penalty and smashed rackets.

TORONTO — Erik Kallgren just had a week he'll never forgot. And it doesn't appear to have fazed him one bit.

NORTH BAY, Ont. — Matvey Petrov scored the game winner at 19:34 of the third period to lead the North Bay Battalion to a 2-1 victory over the Mississauga Steelheads in the Ontario Hockey League on Thursday.

CHARLOTTETOWN — Patrick Guay scored a hat trick as the Charlottetown Islanders blanked Moncton, to stretch their lead in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League's Eastern Conference on Thursday. Guay has 38 goals on the season.