WJPA Sports

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) – Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and an assist to lift the Florida Panthers to a 4-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night.  Denis Malgin had a goal and an assist, and Noel Acciari, and Frank Vatrano also scored goals for the Panthers. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 22 shots. Aleksander Barkov had a pair of assists.  Patric Hornqvist and Teddy Blueger scored for Pittsburgh. Matt Murray made 18 saves.  The Panthers have won two of their past three games. After winning five in a row, the Penguins lost their second straight game.  Leading 2-1, Huberdeau stretched the Panthers lead to 3-1 when he deflected a shot from Anton Stralman with 6:18 left in the third.  The Penguins closed to 3-2 on Hornqvist’s goal.with 5:35 left, but Vatrano’s empty-net goal with 1:03 left made the score 4-2.  Malgin put the Panthers ahead 2-1 when he took a pass from Huberdeau to the side of the crease and poked the puck into the near side with 2:00 left in the second.  Acciari gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead on a flukey goal midway through the second period. Acciari shot from the high slot. Murray blocked the shot but the puck went straight up in the air and bounced off Murray’s back and into the net at 10:53.  The Penguins answered about 63 seconds later on Blueger’s goal. Blueger took a drop pass from Jake Guentzel and tapped in the puck from in front at 11:57 to tie the score at 1.

HOUSTON (AP) – The Washington Nationals have opened the World Series by stealing home-field advantage from the Houston Astros.  Juan Soto drove in three runs and Max Scherzer provided a gritty effort on the mound as the Nationals held off the Astros, 5-4. Soto delivered a solo homer and a two-run double while the Nats were turning a 2-0 deficit into a 5-2 lead against Gerrit Cole.
Scherzer quickly fell behind when Yuli Gurriel lined a two-run double with two out in the bottom of the first. The three-time Cy Young Award winner needed 112 pitches to get through five innings, striking out seven and allowing five hits and three walks.  Ryan Zimmerman sparked Washington’s comeback with a second-inning homer. Adam Eaton put the Nationals ahead to stay with a run-scoring single in the fifth, two batters before Soto widened their lead.  George Springer made it a one-run game with a seventh-inning homer and an RBI double in the eighth. Sean Doolittle protected the lead by getting the final out in the eighth, stranding Spring at second before picking up the save.  Cole suffered his first loss in 26 starts since May 22 against the Chicago White Sox. He entered the game 3-0 with a 0.40 ERA in the postseason before surrendering eight hits over seven innings.  Game 2 is Wednesday night in Houston. The Astros look to Justin Verlander to help them tie up the series. Stephen Strasburg will pitch for the Nats.

The WPIAL has released the schedule for Thursday’s girls soccer quarterfinals. Both remaining Washington County teams will play at Peters Township. Here’s the schedule for area teams and WPIAL bracket links. The WPIAL Soccer Championships are scheduled for Highmark Stadium, Oct. 31-Nov. 2.

CLICK for Girls WPIAL Soccer Brackets
Girls Quarterfinals, Thursday, Oct. 24 (sites/times to be announced)
1A #2 Bentworth vs. #10 Serra Catholic, 6 pm at Peters Township
4A #2 Peters Township vs. #7 Butler, 8 pm at Peters Township