STANLEY CUP
Bruins beat Blackhawks 2-0, lead Cup finals 2-1
BOSTON (AP) - The Boston Bruins have beaten the Chicago Blackhawks 2-0 to take a 2-1 lead in the Stanley Cup finals.
Daniel Paille and Patrice Bergeron scored in the second period and Tuukka Rask posted his third shutout of the playoffs by turning aside 28 shots last night, moving the Bruins within two wins of their second NHL championship in three years.
The Blackhawks suffered a key loss moments before the game when high-scoring forward Marian Hossa was scratched from the lineup after being hit by a puck during warm-ups.
Bryan Bickell nearly scored for Chicago, but his shot hit the right post with 42 seconds left.
Game 4 of the best-of-7 series is tomorrow night in Boston with the series shifting to Chicago on Saturday night.
WHITE SOX-ASTROS
Viciedo's triple leads White Sox over Astros 4-2
HOUSTON (AP) - Dayan Viciedo's bases-loaded triple in a four-run sixth inning sent the Chicago White Sox to a 4-2 win over the Houston Astros last night.
The victory snapped a 4-game losing streak for the White Sox and allowed them to avoid being swept in a 4-game series for the first time since 2008.
Chicago trailed 2-0 before Alejandro De Aza singled in the sixth and went to third on Adam Dunn's two-out single. Paul Konerko pulled Chicago to 2-1 with an RBI single that went between the legs of starter Bud Norris and into center field.
Conor Gillaspie barely beat the throw to first on a single that loaded the bases. That brought up Viciedo, whose triple landed on Tal's Hill in center field just out of the reach of a diving Brandon Barnes. That sent all three runners home to put Chicago up 4-2.
CUBS-CARDINALS
Miller, Molina lead Cardinals to victory
ST. LOUIS (AP) - Rookie Shelby Miller pitched five shutout innings and Yadier Molina had a two-run double to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-2 win over the Chicago Cubs last night.
Miller (8-4), who had to wait out a rain delay of 1 hour, 59 minutes to start the game, left due to cramping in his right leg. He allowed just two hits and struck out five in the shortest start of his career. His previous shortest stint was 5 1-3 innings at Los Angeles on May 26.
Kevin Siegrist and Seth Manness followed Miller and combined for two shutout innings before Trevor Rosenthal allowed a run in the eighth on a broken bat single by Nate Schierholtz. Edward Munica gave up a homer to Darwin Barney with two outs in the ninth, but still earned his 20th save in 20 opportunities.
Travis Wood (5-6) took the loss.
RUSSIA OUT
Nyet! Russia fails to qualify for women's worlds
(AP) - Epiphanny Prince will head back to Chicago a little sooner than expected.
Prince will return to the U.S. this week after Russia didn't advance past the opening round of the EuroBasket women's tournament. The Russian national team finished last in its pool, winning one game. Prince scored 13 points in the team's lone victory yesterday against Italy, but the Russians lost the tiebreaker to advance when Spain beat Sweden.
The New York native, who was averaging 20.7 points for the Chicago Sky before leaving to join the Russian national team earlier this month, missed three WNBA games. They went 1-2 without her.
By failing to finish in the top 5 of the tournament, Russia will miss next year's world championship for only the fourth time since it began in 1953.
ILLINOIS-LUNT
AP Source: Ex Okla. State QB Lunt joining Illinois
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) - A person familiar with the decision tells The Associated Press that former Oklahoma State quarterback Wes Lunt is transferring to Illinois.
The person spoke yesterday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized by Lunt to discuss the decision.
Lunt is from Rochester, Ill. He started five games last fall as a freshman but was sidelined by an injury. He was 81-131 for 1,108 yards and threw for six touchdowns.
The 6-4, 215-pound Lunt decided to leave the Cowboys after the season. Under NCAA transfer rules, Lunt will have to sit out this fall.
The Illini finished last season 2-10 with Nathan Scheelhaase (SHEEL'-hows) and Reilly O'Toole sharing the quarterback job. Scheelhaase will be a senior this fall while O'Toole will be a junior.
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