National Sports

LAVAL, Que. — Veteran Montreal boxer Jean Pascal promised the hometown crowd a knockout, but ended up having trouble just laying a glove on Michael Eifert in a 12-round IBF light-heavyweight eliminator at Place Bell arena on Thursday.

WINNIPEG — Jeremy Swayman gave the Boston Bruins just what they needed Thursday night. Swayman stopped 36 shots for his third shutout of the season as Boston defeated the Winnipeg Jets 3-0 before 14,555 fans at Canada Life Centre.

SHAWINIGAN, Que. — Felix Lacerte and Stephane Jr Huard scored shootout goals to pace the Shawinigan Cataractes past the Victoriaville Tigres 3-2 in the lone game in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League on Thursday night.

TORONTO — Fred VanVleet feels like his Toronto Raptors are finding their rhythm with the NBA post-season right around the corner.

NORTH BAY, Ont. — Kyle McDonald scored twice to lead the North Bay Battalion past the Peterborough Petes 5-3 in the lone game in the Ontario Hockey league on Thursday night.

OTTAWA — Despite their best efforts, the Ottawa Senators came up short against the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday.

SARASOTA, Fla. — Starter Zach Thompson allowed five hits and four earned runs over three innings as the Baltimore Orioles defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 7-4 on Thursday night. The 29-year-old right-hander registered three strikeouts with no walks.

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Carter Verhaeghe scored twice in Florida's franchise-record, seven-goal first period and the Panthers beat the Montreal Canadiens 9-5 on Thursday night.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Canada's Maggie Mac Neil captured the women's 50-yard freestyle event in record fashion Thursday night at the NCAA swimming championship. Mac Neil, of London, Ont., won the event in an NCAA-record time of 20.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Tosan Evbuomwan and Princeton used a late-game run to earn the school's first NCAA Tournament win in 25 years, topping No. 2 seed Arizona 59-55 on Thursday.