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talents will go head-to-head at the Saddledome on Saturday.Rookie star Elias Petterson leads the Vancouver Canucks into Calgary to face red-hot Johnny Gaudreau and the Flames.Both teams are coming off big road wins on Thursday.Article continues below ...Gaudreau posted his fourth career hat-trick Thursday in a 4-1 win in Winnipeg. He has 32 points in his last 19 games Filip Forsberg Jersey , 13 of those points being goals.Pettersson had a goal and an assist as Vancouver scored on four of their first six shots in Edmonton in a 4-2 win over the Oilers. He has the game-winning goal in four of Vancouver’s past seven wins.Both teams practiced at Calgary’s Stampede Corral on Thursday, walking over from the Saddledome in full uniform. The old 7,000-seat arena was the Flames first home when they moved from Atlanta in 1980.Thursday’s game in Winnipeg ended on a nervous note for Calgary. Gaudreau took a slash from Jets‘ big defensemen Dustin Byfuglien late in Thursday’s game when he raced towards an empty-net goal. He left the ice in discomfort. It was enough of a slash that Byfuglien was fined $2,500 on Friday.Gaudreau also shook off the whack when talking to the media.“You know, it’s part of hockey. I mean, it won’t be the last time I’m slashed,” Gaudreau he told reporters. “Just kind of surprised. I had a foot or two on him, so I didn’t think I was going to get a stick to the arm, but I found the empty net and that’s the way it goes.” The Flames get nervous when Gaudreau is slashed because he suffered a broken thumb two years ago and missed 21 games after taking a chop from Minnesota Wild forward Eric Staal. The league began a crackdown on slashing for the 2017-2018 because of an increasing use of the stick.Calgary snapped a three-game losing streak in Winnipeg and is 6-3-1 in their past 10 games. They occupied top spot in the Pacific Division as of Friday afternoon, with a two point lead on San Jose with a game in hand.Vancouver has surprised so far in what was expected to be a rebuilding year and are 7-2-1 in their past 10 games led by Pettersson Juuse Saros Jersey , who is headed towards a runaway win in the race for the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top freshmen. As of Friday Vancouver was a point back of the second wild card spot through 40 games.Though it’s only the midway point of the 82-game season, Saturday’s game is being given plenty of importance.“As much as we’ve been on a good run lately, so has everybody else,” Flames general manager Brad Treliving told Postmedia News.“It’s not like we’ve built this big (separation between other teams). Most times when you go on a run, you build a significant cushion. We are just trying to keep our heads above everybody right now. There’s lots of runway left in the season, lots of good hockey teams that we’re playing.” The Canucks likewise aren’t celebrating their early season success.“From Day 1, we’ve talked about how we want to play,”head coach Travis Green told reporters in Edmonton. “We want to be faster and harder to play against, and we wanted to play meaningful games down the stretch. “We’re not getting ahead of ourselves – we’re at .500 right now and we have a long way to go.” HOCKEYLAS VEGAS (AP) New Jersey’s Taylor Hall and the hometown Vegas Golden Knights went home with major honors from the NHL Awards.Hall won the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player in the hockey world’s annual postseason awards show.The high-scoring Devils forward beat out fellow first-time Hart finalists Nathan MacKinnon of Colorado and Anze Kopitar of Los Angeles. Hall got 72 first-place votes and 1,264 total points in the media voting to edge MacKinnon Kyle Turris Jersey , who got 60 first-place votes and 1,194 points. Hall became the first New Jersey player to win the NHL’s biggest individual honor after he finished sixth in the league with 93 points.The Golden Knights also took home four awards from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino after their remarkable inaugural season. Coach Gerard Gallant won the Jack Adams Award, and George McPhee was named the NHL’s general manager of the year in recognition of the Golden Knights’ immediate growth into champions of the Pacific Division and the Western Conference. High-scoring Knights forward William Karlsson won the Lady Byng Trophy for the player best combining sportsmanship and ability. Defenseman Deryk Engelland also won the Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award for his actions during his team’s breakthrough season in the wake of the shooting massacre on the Las Vegas Strip shortly before their first game.Tampa Bay’s Victor Hedman won his first Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman, while New York Islanders center Mathew Barzal won the Calder Trophy in a landslide as the league’s top rookie. Nashville’s Pekka Rinne won his first Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goalie, while Kopitar won his second Selke Trophy as the NHL’s best defensive forward.GOLFNEW YORK (AP) – Phil Mickelson has apologized four days after intentionally violating golf rules by hitting a moving ball on the green at the U.S. Open, saying his frustration got the best of him.The apology came in a statement released by his representatives.”I know this should’ve come sooner, but it’s taken me a few days to calm down,” Mickelson said. ”My anger and frustration got the best of me last weekend. I’m embarrassed and disappointed by my actions. It was clearly not my finest moment and I’m sorry.”Mickelson was struggling in the third round when he reached the 13th green. His bogey putt from above the hole ran by the cup and was headed down a slope when he trotted over and swatted it back toward the hole with the ball still in motion. He was assessed a two-stroke penalty, scored a 10 on the hole and wound up shooting 81.SOCCERKAZAN, Russia (AP) – Diego Costa scored on a deflection to lead Spain to a 1-0 win over Iran at the World Cup.Costa broke the deadlock in the 54th minute after being set up by Andres Iniesta. The powerful striker turned in the area and took a shot but the ball deflected off Ramin Rezeian before bouncing back onto Costa’s knee and into the net.Costa Youth Matt Irwin Jersey , who also scored two goals in the opening match, has three goals at this year’s World Cup, trailing Cristiano Ronaldo by one. He also has nine goals in his last nine starts for Spain.Both Spain and Portugal have four points in Group B following their 3-3 draw and subsequent 1-0 victories. Iran has three points in the group but Morocco has been eliminated.ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia (AP) – Luis Suarez put both Uruguay and host Russia into the second round of the World Cup while eliminating Saudi Arabia and Egypt at the same time.Suarez scored the winning goal in his 100th international appearance for Uruguay, knocking in a corner kick from Carlos Sanchez in the 23rd minute to give the two-time champions a 1-0 victory over the Saudis on Wednesday.Uruguay and Russia both have six points from their opening two matches, putting them into the round of 16. They will face each other on Monday in Samara with first place in Group A on the line.PRO BASKETBALLCHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) – The Charlotte Hornets have agreed to trade eight-time All-Star center Dwight Howard to the Brooklyn Nets for center Timofey Mozgov and two second-round draft picks, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press.The Hornets will get the Nets’ second-round pick Thursday night (45th overall) and a second-round pick in 2021, the person said. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the teams have not announced the trade and the league cannot approve the deal until the trade moratorium ends on July 6.The 32-year-old Howard played only one season for Charlotte, averaging 16.6 points and 12.5 rebounds per game. He is due to make $23.8 million this season Womens Mattias Ekholm Jersey , the final year of his contract.Brooklyn will be Howard’s fourth team in as many seasons.BASEBALLCHICAGO (AP) – The Chicago Cubs will have to get by without closer Brandon Morrow for a little while.The Cubs placed the right-hander on the 10-day disabled list because of lower back tightness, leaving a short-handed bullpen without its most important piece.Morrow – signed by Chicago to a $21 million, two-year contract in December after helping the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Cubs in the NLCS – has 16 saves in 17 chances. He hurt his back taking his pants off at home early Monday morning, after the team returned from St. Louis. The Cubs put him on the DL before their game against the Dodgers and announced right-hander Justin Hancock will remain with the club after being called up from Triple-A Iowa as the 26th man for Tuesday’s day-night doubleheader.NEW YORK (AP) – Billy Connors, a three-time New York Yankees pitching coach and confidant of late owner George Steinbrenner, has died. He was 76.The Yankees said that Connors died Saturday. The team held a moment of silence before their game Wednesday night against the Seattle Mariners at Yankee Stadium.Connors coached the Yankees from 1989-90, 1994-95 and 2000, and was vice president of player personnel from 1996-2012. He was instrumental in the development of Yankees pitchers Orlando Hernandez, Andy Pettitte, Chien-Ming Wang and Mariano Rivera.Steinbrenner and Connors would go over pitching plans not only at the team’s spring training complex in Tampa P.K Subban Jersey , Florida, but also while regularly watching Tampa Bay Lightning hockey games in the Boss’ suite.A native of Schenectady, New York, Connors played baseball and basketball at Syracuse and was member of the Schenectady team that won the Little League World Series in 1954.