Digest

Ice Hockey

Senators send Rangers packing

Erik Karlsson had a goal and an assist to help the Ottawa Senators advance to the Eastern Conference final with a 4-2 victory over the New York Rangers in Game 6 of their semifinal series on Tuesday night in Ottawa.

Mike Hoffman and Mark Stone scored in the first period to get the Senators off to a fast start, and Jean-Gabriel Pageau added an empty-netter. Clarke MacArthur had two assists and Craig Anderson stopped 37 shots.

Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider scored for the Rangers, and Henrik Lundqvist had 22 saves.

The Sens, headed to the conference final for the first time since their run to the Stanley Cup final in 2007, will face either Pittsburgh or Washington in the next round. Game 7 of that series is on Wednesday night in Washington.

Pearson stays put for Kings' ransom

Forward Tanner Pearson on Tuesday agreed to a four-year, $15 million contract to stay with the Los Angeles Kings.

Pearson had a career-high 24 goals and 20 assists in 80 games for the Kings last season, just his second full NHL campaign. He has emerged as one of the low-scoring Kings' top offensive threats in the past two seasons, scoring 39 goals while missing just five games.

The 24-year-old Canadian was a first-round draft pick and won a Stanley Cup ring in 2014, scoring 12 points in 24 postseason games.

France braced to face Team Canada

France overcame Switzerland 4-3 in a dramatic penalty shootout at the world championships on Tuesday.

A day after pounding world runner-up Finland 5-1, Stephane da Costa sealed the win in front of a huge partisan crowd at the Paris-Bercy Arena.

France, which lost its Group B opener to Norway, takes on defending champion Canada on Thursday. Canada, made up of players whose teams missed the NHL playoffs, tops the group after winning its first three games by a combined score of 17-3.

In Cologne, Germany, Latvia maintained top spot in Group A ahead of Russia after notching a third consecutive win with a 2-1 victory over last-place Italy.

Baseball

Mattingly tossed from two straight

Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly was ejected from a game against the St Louis Cardinals for the second night in a row on Tuesday.

Mattingly was thrown out by plate umpire Andy Fletcher in the bottom of the first inning. Christian Yelich protested when called out on strikes by Fletcher and was ejected, and when Mattingly came onto the field to argue, he also got tossed.

Mattingly didn't see much of Monday's game either, after being ejected in the second inning for arguing a called third strike.

Tennis

Murray has strong start in Madrid

World No 1 Andy Murray enjoyed a comfortable start to his quest for a third Madrid Masters title with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Romania's Marius Copil on Tuesday.

Murray has struggled for form and fitness since soaring to the top of the world rankings at the end of last year, but the Scot had far too much guile for the big-serving world No 104 as he didn't face a single break point in sealing victory in just under 90 minutes.

Murray will face either Lucas Pouille or Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the last 16 on Thursday.

Agencies