National Sports

ATLANTA — When the New York Mets finally found out Yoenis Céspedes was OK, they suddenly learned something else: The slugger had opted out of playing the rest of this season.

EDMONTON — Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored the first of Arizona's three first-period goals, a healthy Phil Kessel had two assists and the Coyotes held on to beat the Nashville Predators 4-3 Sunday to open their Stanley Cup qualifier series.

MONTREAL — The National Hockey League says it presented an English-only version of the Canadian national anthem on Saturday night because the Montreal Canadiens were considered the road team in their opening game of the league's restart against the P

DETROIT — Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto has been placed on the injured list before the opener of Sunday's doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers.

EDMONTON — Minnesota Wild defenceman Matt Dumba became the first NHL player to kneel for a national anthem during the league's restart on Saturday.

EDMONTON — The Calgary Flames and Winnipeg Jets had little history between them because they'd only met once in this truncated NHL regular season.

TORONTO — A big unknown ahead of the NHL's restart to its pandemic-hit season — the most unusual campaign in league history — was how playing inside empty, cavernous arenas in the middle of summer would impact the game.

Saturday's Games NHL At Toronto Carolina 3 N.Y. Rangers 2 (Hurricanes lead best-of-five series 1-0) N.Y.

TORONTO — Montreal head coach Claude Julien said back in the spring his young, largely inexperienced roster had a real opportunity to grow after being given a second life by the NHL's restart.

Here is the latest news on Day 1 of the National Hockey League's restart in Toronto and Edmonton. All times Eastern. --- 1:10 a.m.