SDPN

TORONTO — The Professional Women’s Hockey League rule book released hours before its first game Monday features a short-handed goal ending a power-play for the opposing team. The six-team PWHL, which opened Monday with Toronto hosting New York, modelled its rule book on the NHL’s and the International Ice Hockey Federation’s.

The Ottawa Senators have appointed Steve Staios as the team’s general manager, removing the interim tag from the title he held. Dave Poulin, who played for the Philadelphia Flyers and Boston Bruins before joining the Toronto Maple Leafs front office, has been named the senior vice-president of hockey operations. Poulin was a contributor to TSN. Ryan Bowness has also been named the associate general manager, having been the general manager of the Senators’ AHL farm team the Belleville Senators.

TORONTO — RJ Barrett woke up in an Indianapolis hotel room, ready to play the Pacers with the New York Knicks. But when he checked his phone he thought he was still dreaming because he’d been traded to his hometown Toronto Raptors. “My initial reaction was like, ‘what’s going on?’ I just woke up to it,” said a smiling Barrett. “I was immediately happy. “I grew up a Raptors fan all my life.

GOTHENBURG, Sweden (AP) — St. Louis Blues prospect Jakub Stancl scored his second goal of the game with 11.7 seconds left in third period as the Czech Republic beat Canada 3-2 in the quarterfinals of the IIHF world junior hockey championship, knocking one of the tournament favorites out in stunning fashion. Tomas Cibulka had the other goal for the Czechs. Carolina Hurricanes 2022 draft pick Jakub Vondras got the win.

TORONTO — Max Domi sufficiently stepped in for a flu-ridden Auston Matthews by scoring a goal and two assists to lead the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 7-0 throttling of the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday. The Maple Leafs (16-6-6) blowout win stopped the Penguins’ (13-13-3) two-game win streak before 18,921 at Scotiabank Arena. In his return, it was quite the downer for former Toronto general manager Kyle Dubas. He departed last summer to run the Penguins.

CALGARY — Yegor Sharangovich scored for the fifth consecutive game as the Calgary Flames snapped a four-game winless skid on Saturday with a 4-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning. A.J. Greer, MacKenzie Weegar, and Connor Zary also scored for Calgary (12-14-5). Defenceman Jordan Oesterle had the lone multi-point game with two assists. The Flames were back home after a disappointing 0-1-2 road trip through Colorado, Vegas and Minnesota in which they blew third-period leads in all three games.

EDMONTON — Carter Verhaeghe had two goals and an assist as the Florida Panthers made up for being shutout their previous two outings by coming away with a 5-1 victory over the suddenly cooled off Edmonton Oilers on Saturday. Sam Bennett had a goal and two assists and Brandon Montour and Aleksander Barkov also scored for the Panthers (18-10-2) who snapped a two-game skid. Zach Hyman replied for the Oilers (13-14-1) who have now lost two straight on the heels of an eight-game winning streak.

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — The Dallas Cowboys, aka “America’s Team,” are having a hard time when they leave North Texas. The Cowboys clinched a playoff berth before Sunday’s game at Buffalo began, but they fell a game behind in the race for the NFC’s top seed thanks to their ongoing struggles on the road. The Cowboys (10-4) were overpowered on both sides of the line of scrimmage in soggy conditions and saw their five-game win streak end with a 31-10 loss to the Bills.

TORONTO — Pascal Siakam scored 33 points in his best three-point shooting performance in over a month as the Toronto Raptors held off the Atlanta Hawks 135-128 on Wednesday. Siakam pulled down seven rebounds and had seven assists as Toronto (10-14) snapped a four-game losing skid. He was 5 for 6 from beyond the arc for his best three-point shooting performance in 15 games. Siakam went 5 for 8 in a 130-111 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Nov. 1.

MONTREAL — Sidney Crosby put on a show with two goals and an assist as the Pittsburgh Penguins came back from two goals down to defeat the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 in a shootout on Wednesday night. Jansen Harkins scored the winner to end a lengthy shootout with a goal in the 12th round. Jake Guentzel had the other goal in regulation for Pittsburgh (13-12-3) a night after the Penguins beat the Arizona Coyotes 4-2 to snap a four-game skid.