HOCKEY
Tag Bertuzzi opened the scoring just 33 seconds into the game, Parker Gahagan made 31 saves, and the Reading Royals made it back-to-back wins over the Maine Mariners at Cross Insurance Arena with a 5-1 ECHL victory Saturday night.
Yvan Mongo, Devon Paliani, Ryan Chyzowski and Shane Sellar also scored for Reading. Maine’s lone goal was by Cameron Askew early in the second period, after the Royals opened a 3-0 lead.
NHL: The New York Islanders fired coach Lane Lambert and replaced him with Hall of Fame goaltender Patrick Roy.
President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Lou Lamoriello announced the stunning move to dismiss Lambert and bring in Roy, who hasn’t coached in the NHL in nearly a decade.
The Islanders have lost four games in a row and six of seven to fall out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Lambert was midway through his second season. Roy coached the Colorado Avalanche for three seasons from 2013-16 before abruptly resigning a month before training camp.
Roy, 58, has spent the past five seasons coaching and serving as GM for the Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League.
• Anaheim Ducks forward Alex Killorn will be sidelined for four to six weeks after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his left knee.
• Nicholas Paul and Tyler Motte scored 52 seconds apart in the first period, and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Buffalo Sabres 3-1 in Buffalo, New York, for their fifth consecutive victory.
• Nathan MacKinnon had two goals and three assists, Logan O’Connor recorded a hat trick, and the visiting Colorado Avalanche held on to defeat the Philadelphia Flyers, 7-4.
GOLF
EUROPEAN TOUR: Rory McIlroy surged into contention at the Dubai Desert Classic in the United Arab Emirates by finishing off a 9-under 63 with an eagle on the final hole that left him two shots behind leader Cameron Young.
The No. 2-ranked McIlroy, the defending champion, started the day 10 strokes behind Young. But he made four straight birdies from the seventh hole and then rolled in a 45-foot eagle putt from off the green at 18 to cap a flawless round at Emirates Golf Club.
Young has a 14-under total of 202 as he looks for his first win on the European tour.
LPGA: Lydia Ko moved closer to her first victory in 14 months, shooting a 4-under 68 to take a two-shot lead into the final round of the LPGA Tour’s season-opening Tournament of Champions in Orlando, Florida.
Her closest pursuer is 19-year-old second-year pro Alexa Pano, who shot 67.
PGA: University of Alabama sophomore Nick Dunlap fired a 12-under 60 to take a three-shot lead over Sam Burns at The American Express in La Quinta, California, matching the lowest round by an amateur in PGA Tour history and surging into position for the first victory by a non-professional in 33 years.
Justin Thomas shot 61 and was four shots back of the 20-year-old Dunlap, who tore up La Quinta Country Club and moved to 27-under 189.
SOCCER
U.S. MEN: Nejc Gradišar scored in the 26th minute of his international debut following an American giveaway, and Slovenia extended the United States’ winless streak against European opponents to six games with a 1-0 victory in San Antonio in an exhibition between nations missing top players.
ITALY: AC Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan walked off the field after being subjected to racist chants by Udinese fans during a top-tier Italian league game – prompting the match to be suspended briefly during the first half.
Shortly after Milan had scored to take a 1-0 lead and was about to take a goal kick, Maignan signaled to his teammates to stop, walked to the referee and then to the sideline.
Teammates attempted to console Maignan on the sideline, but the France international took his gloves off and walked down the tunnel leading off the field.
Maignan, who is Black, had told the referee about monkey chants earlier in the match, prompting an announcement in the stadium asking fans to stop.
The Serie A game resumed about five minutes after the suspension when Maignan and teammates came back out. Milan won, 3-2.
ENGLAND: Central defender Gabriel Magalhaes helped Arsenal solve its scoring problems as the Gunners ended a three-game losing streak in all competitions with a 5-0 win over Crystal Palace in the Premier League.
• Ivan Toney scored just 19 minutes into his return from an eight-month ban as Brentford ended a five-match losing run in the Premier League by beating Nottingham Forest, 3-2.
SKIING
WORLD CUP: In a race overshadowed by a season-ending knee injury for home favorite Petra Vlhova following a crash, Olympic champion Sara Hector dominated a giant slalom in Jasna, Slovakia, for her first win in nearly two years.
Hector posted the fastest time in both runs as she beat American star Mikaela Shiffrin by 1.52 seconds. New Zealand’s Alice Robinson trailed by 2.71 seconds in third.
Racing in front of 10,000 fans near her hometown in the Tatra mountains, Vlhova fell and slid into the safety netting early in her first run and was taken off the hill on a sled. Her team said that Vlhova tore ligaments in her right knee.
• French skier Cyprien Sarrazin mastered the demanding Streif course in Kitzbuehel, Austria, for a second time in 24 hours, beating world champion Marco Odermatt to repeat his downhill triumph from the previous day.
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