Sports

By JEROME PUGMIRE AP Sports Writer PARIS (AP) — Nantes has earned its first trophy in 21 years after winning the French Cup final against Nice 1-0 at the Stade de France. Ludovic Blas converted the penalty that lifted Nantes to a fourth French Cup success and first trophy since the league title in 2001.

By AARON BEARD AP Sports Writer The NHL playoffs are missing the close games and comebacks that seemingly come annually with all the postseason intensity. Excluding games with empty-netters increasing the margin, 10 of the 20 first-round games through Friday night have been decided by three or more goals. By comparison, there had been only

By JENNA FRYER AP Auto Racing Writer MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Ferrari stormed to the front of the grid for the inaugural Miami Grand Prix as Formula One championship leader Charles Leclerc and teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. locked up the front row in Saturday qualifying. It’s the first time Ferrari will lead the field

By ROB HARRIS AP Global Soccer Writer LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Liverpool is top of the English Premier League again after drawing with Tottenham 1-1 but Manchester City can go three points clear on Sunday. Dropping points is also a setback for Tottenham’s bid to overhaul Arsenal in fourth place. Tottenham moved to only a

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Colorado goaltender Darcy Kuemper yanked his mask off and fell to the ice holding his head after being struck by a stick Saturday. Play stopped with 56.6 seconds left in the first period against Nashville. Replays showed Predators center Ryan Johansen’s stick apparently poked through Kuemper’s mask. The goalie was able

By BRIAN HALL Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Byron Buxton has been a key part of the Minnesota Twins’ early-season success, which ran to 13 wins in 16 games on Saturday afternoon with a 1-0 win against the Oakland Athletics. Minnesota hopes Buxton will be available to help keep the run going. The Twins beat

By DENNIS WASZAK Jr. AP Pro Football Writer FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — The New York Jets signed cornerback Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner to a fully guaranteed four-year deal worth $38.7 million. He is the first of the team’s seven draft picks to get under contract. The team announced the signing Saturday after the second day

By KEN POWTAK Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — Boston Red Sox left-hander Chris Sale has suffered a setback in his recovery from a fractured rib cage suffered in late February. That’s according to chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, who spoke before Saturday’s game against the White Sox. The last-place Red Sox had lost 12 of

By JOE REEDY AP Sports Writer Fox Sports’ coverage of the Professional Bowlers Association continues to gain momentum during the PBA Playoffs. Going into Sunday’s semifinals in Jupiter, Florida, Fox’s first four broadcasts have seen ratings increases. Last month’s USBC Masters averaged 847,000 viewers on FOX, up 28% from the March 13 PBA WSOB World

DARLINGTON, S.C. (AP) — Former NASCAR Cup Series champions Chase Elliott and Kevin Harvick will start at the rear of the field Sunday at Darlington Raceway. Denny Hamlin will be back there, too. Elliott and Harvick had issues in Saturday’s practice session. Hamlin had problems in qualifying later in the day. All three will have

BALTIMORE (AP) — A second straight game between the Baltimore Orioles and Kansas City Royals has been postponed because of rain. The teams also had a game Friday night called off, one of six games around the major leagues that were rained out that night. That was the most in a day because of inclement

CINCINNATI (AP) — Pittsburgh emergency catcher Josh VanMeter had a rough time in his first try behind the plate since he was a teenager, and the Cincinnati Reds took advantage to end a nine-game losing streak, beating the Pirates 9-2 in the opener of a doubleheader. Tyler Stephenson fouled a ball hard off VanMeter’s mask,

By PETE IACOBELLI AP Sports Writer DARLINGTON, S.C. (AP) — NASCAR’s new Next Gen machine will get its first true test at Darlington Raceway, the circuit’s oldest superspeedway. Two-time winner Ross Chastain said it kept him up this week thinking about what might happen at the Goodyear 400 this weekend. And he’s not the only

By STEPHEN WHYNO AP Hockey Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Ilya Samsonov made 29 saves as the Washington Capitals beat the Florida Panthers 6-1 in Game 3 to take a lead in their first-round playoff series. Alex Ovechkin scored a power-play goal and assisted on another to put the Capitals up two games to one. Washington

By ROB HARRIS AP Global Soccer Writer The forced sale of Chelsea is ending after attracting the highest price for a sports team of 2.5 billion pounds ($3.1 billion) from a consortium fronted by Los Angeles Dodgers part-owner Todd Boehly. There are still potential stumbling blocks to the sale of Roman Abramovich’s asset, frozen by

By JOE REEDY AP Sports Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Evander Kane is happy to be making headlines for his on-ice play instead of off-ice controversies. Edmonton’s enigmatic forward has an NHL-best five goals in the past two games of the Western Conference first-round series against Los Angeles. Kane had his first hat trick in

By JENNA FRYER AP Auto Racing Writer MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Formula One pictured a race in Miami and envisioned sun, sand, beaches and boats. But when the inaugural Miami Grand Prix landed at Hard Rock Stadium, nowhere near the South Beach backdrop F1 was seeking, the promoter said don’t worry. The venue now