WJPA Sports

TORONTO (AP) — William Nylander scored twice, Joseph Woll made 22 saves and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Boston Bruins 2-1 on Thursday night to force a seventh game in the first-round Eastern Conference series. Toronto has overcame a 3-1 series deficit, also staving off elimination with a 2-1 victory in overtime in Boston on Tuesday night, to send the series back to Boston for a winner-take-all finale Saturday night. The series winner will face the Florida Panthers. Jeremy Swayman stopped 24 shots for the Bruins, who also blew a 3-1 lead against the Florida Panthers last year in the first round before losing in Game 7 following a record-setting regular season. Morgan Geekie spoiled Woll’s shutout bid with 0.1 seconds left.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Comcast has blacked out 15 regional sports networks offered by Bally Sports, escalating a contract dispute with their distributor. The cutoff that began Wednesday affects games played by a dozen Major League Baseball teams based in nine states. Diamond Sports Group, which distributes the networks under the Bally name, called the blackout “disappointing” and blamed Comcast for refusing to “engage in substantive discussions.” Comcast, meanwhile, said that Diamond has declined several of its offers, such as allowing Diamond to unilaterally renew its existing agreement with Comcast for a year. As a result, Comcast said, it no longer has rights to the sports broadcasts and had no choice but to cut them off.

Tiger Woods is headed to the U.S. Open after receiving the first of what likely will be many special exemptions. Woods has been eligible for every U.S. Open since he played in his first one in 1995 as the reigning U.S. Amateur champion. By the time he played his first Open as a pro, Woods already was the Masters champion. And 14 more major titles followed. Jack Nicklaus received eight U.S. Open exemptions. Arnold Palmer received five. Woods is a three-time U.S. Open champion as part of his 15 majors. The U.S. Open is June 13-16 at Pinehurst No. 2.