NHL

Stanley Cup final

Chicago at Boston

(Boston leads series 2-1)

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Interleague

Toronto 5 Colorado 2

N.Y. Yankees 6 L.A. Dodgers 4

L.A. Dodgers 6 N.Y. Yankees 0

Milwaukee at Houston, 8:10 p.m.

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Baseball

American League

Baltimore 13 Detroit 3

Cleveland 6 Kansas City 3

Tampa Bay 6 Boston 2

Oakland at Texas

Chicago White Sox at Minnesota

Seattle at L.A. Angels

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National League

Arizona 3 Miami 1

San Francisco 4 San Diego 2

Washington 6 Philadelphia 2 (11 innings)

Atlanta 5 N.Y. Mets 3

Pittsburgh at Cincinnati

Chicago Cubs at St. Louis

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MLS

Montreal 2 Houston 0

Chicago 2 Colorado 1

Chivas USA at Vancouver

Portland at Los Angeles

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The Dodgers salvaged manager Don Mattingly’s return to the Bronx after a 6-4 loss in the opener.

Chris Capuano (2-5) pitched three-hit ball for six innings in his comeback from the disabled list. The Dodgers rebounded from a sloppy loss to former teammate Hiroki Kuroda (7-5) in a matchup between injury-ravaged teams with $200 million payrolls.

In the first matchup between the teams in New York since the Dodgers clinched the 1981 World Series title with a Game 6 victory at old Yankee Stadium, Ichiro Suzuki homered, drove in three runs and made a spectacular catch on the warning track for the Yankees.

New York got help from reliever Ronald Belisario’s two errors on the same play in a three-run seventh.

The clubs played a split doubleheader because of a rainout Tuesday night. The announced attendance for both games between the old October rivals who’ve met in a record 11 World Series topped a total of 80,000, even though there were many empty seats.

The Dodgers started out quickly against Phil Hughes (3-6), who allowed a season-high 10 hits in six innings.

The first four batters reached on singles with Puig bunting for a hit and Ramirez getting his fifth hit of the day — an RBI single. Adrian Gonzalez also drove in a run but Tim Federowicz grounded into a 5-4-3 double play to end the rally.

Gonzalez doubled in the third and scored on Andre Ethier’s two-base hit after Ramirez made an out for the first time.

Ethier helped quash a Yankees rally in the fourth, throwing out Robinson Cano trying for a double with none out to the delight of 85-year-old Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully, who was making his first foray into Twitter.

“I think Andre Ethier has done a really good job in Center Field. Especially for someone who has played Right Field for years. #VinScully,” he tweeted.

Puig homered to right field leading off the seventh to make it 6-0.

In the opener, Puig was caught trying to turn a routine single into double in the first inning — then made it work on a ball hit into only a slightly better spot in the eighth, eliciting an ovation from the very vocal Dodgers fans, who outhollered Yankees fans on many occasions.

The cheers were especially loud from all fans for Mattingly in his return — even if he was wearing the wrong shade of blue.

The Bleacher Creatures chanted “Donnie Baseball!” during each game, and fans cheered a video tribute in the opener and a live shot of Mattingly in the visitor’s dugout in the nightcap. The 1985 AL MVP tipped his cap in appreciation.

In the second game, Puig, the Cuban defector with 15 major league games of experience, bunted for a hit, was hit by a pitch, stole a base to help manufacture a run and hit his fifth homer.

“You can recognize the tools right away,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said after Game 1. “There’s an awful lot to like about this kid.”

Ramirez went 4 for 4 with a two-run homer in the eighth in the day game, and drove in Puig twice to help make Capuano’s return from a strained upper back muscle easy. He entered 1-4 with a 5.45 ERA in eight games — six starts — and has been on the DL twice. But he was nasty Wednesday in his first scoreless start since August 2012.

Kuroda gave up two runs and eight hits in 6 2-3 innings to outpitch South Korean rookie Hyun-Jin Ryu (6-3) in the afternoon. Ryu allowed a two-run double to Lyle Overbay and a homer to Suzuki in the sixth.

With runners on first and second in the seventh, Belisario let Vernon Wells’ meek pop in front of the mound drop for an error. Jayson Nix advanced to third on the drop and scored when Belisario threw the ball into centre field trying to get Cano at second base. Belisario hit Thomas Neal with a pitch, then Suzuki greeted Paco Rodriguez with a blooped two-run single to make it 6-2.

Ramirez hit a two-run homer off Preston Claiborne after Suzuki robbed Gonzalez of an extra-base hit in the eighth to pull the Dodgers to 6-4. But Mariano Rivera came on in the ninth and struck out Puig to end it for his 25th save.

NOTES: New Brooklyn Nets coach Jason Kidd threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the second game. Before the game he talked with Rivera in the dugout. “He’s the blueprint of when you talk about a career that’s gone for some time. He’s a success,” Kidd said. “He’s done it all. He’s done everything.” … The Dodgers optioned outfielder Alex Castellanos to Triple-A Albuquerque. Castellanos went 0 for 2 in the opener.

Mark Buehrle pitched five effective innings to even his record at 4-4 as the Blue Jays (35-36) inched closer to the .500 mark. Four Toronto relievers held the Rockies without a run the rest of the way, with Casey Janssen working the ninth for his 16th save.

Toronto is enjoying its longest winning streak since winning 10 in a row almost five years ago. The eight-gamer is the longest active streak in the major leagues.

Jose Bautista got things started in the opening frame when he reached on a throwing error by third baseman Nolan Arenado. The Toronto slugger moved to second on a single by Edwin Encarnacion and Lind followed by launching a 2-1 pitch over the right-field wall for his ninth homer of the year.

The Toronto first baseman has had at least one hit in 19 of his last 22 starts and is batting a stellar .340 on the season.

Colorado got on the board in the second inning when Jordan Pacheco led off with a double and scored on a single by Yorvit Torrealba.

Toronto restored its three-run lead in the fourth inning. Colby Rasmus walked and moved to third when second baseman D.J. LeMahieu booted a Maicer Izturis grounder.

Emilio Bonifacio hit a tailor-made double-play ball but used his speed to beat the throw to first, allowing Rasmus to score. Bonifacio promptly stole second but was stranded when Colorado starter Juan Nicasio (4-3) struck out Munenori Kawasaki.

Carlos Gonzalez hit a frozen rope inside the right-field pole for his 21st homer of the season to open the fifth inning to make the score 4-2.

Wilin Rosario doubled and moved to third when Kawasaki was wide with his throw to first base. With two out, Tyler Colvin worked a full count against Buehrle before swinging through a change-up after a steady stream of fastballs to end the threat.

Buehrle was steady but not spectacular, managing to keep Colorado from a big inning. The veteran left-hander gave up eight hits, a walk and two earned runs over five innings while striking out four.

Right-hander Neil Wagner came on in relief and struck out the first two batters he faced. LeMahieu then worked a 14-pitch at-bat before popping up to short.

Brett Cecil was dominant once again, striking out a pair and getting a ground-ball out in the seventh. The left-hander has not allowed a hit since May 28, a club-record span of 38 batters. With his second out, Cecil broke David Cone’s record of 36 set back in June 1995.

The Blue Jays added an insurance run in the seventh inning when Kawasaki tripled and scored on Melky Cabrera’s single. Toronto put runners on the corners but Lind flew out to deep right-centre field with two outs.

Nicasio allowed four hits and four runs — two of them earned — over five innings. He had three strikeouts and walked a batter.

Notes: Blue Jays shortstop Jose Reyes is set to play a series for triple-A Buffalo this weekend. The four-time all-star has been on the disabled list since April 13 after suffering a severe left ankle sprain. … The Blue Jays have a day off Thursday before continuing the six-game homestand with a weekend series against the Baltimore Orioles. R.A. Dickey (6-8) is scheduled to start Friday night’s opener against Baltimore’s Jason Hammel (7-4). … The Rockies will continue their nine-game road swing with stops in Washington and Boston. … Toronto has an all-time record of 9-6 against Colorado. The home team has swept every series. The Blue Jays are 9-0 at Rogers Centre and 0-6 at Coors Field. … Attendance at Rogers Centre was 27,235.

The Eastern Conference-leading Impact (9-3-2) improved to 6-0-1 at Saputo Stadium and won a fourth in a row at home in Major League Soccer play.

Houston (6-5-4) are winless in their last five (0-3-2).

The crowd of 17,694 saw the Impact in full attack mode as they created chance after chance against a Houston side missing some key players before switching to a more defensive game in the second half.

Daniele Paponi missed two good chances in the first eight minutes and had another called offside.

Only 13 minutes in, Patrice Bernier sent a clever sidefoot pass over the defence and Felipe chested it down and scored his third of the season.

The Dynamo wasted a glorious chance to tie it in the 20th minute when Matteo Ferrari was called for a late tackle in the area on Will Bruin. But Englishman Giles Barnes’ hooked the ball from the penalty spot well over the net.

Then it was Corey Ashe’s turn to misfire as he shanked an attempt to play the ball back to Houston goalie Tally Hall in the 32nd. Di Vaio ran it down, went in alone and calmly chipped in his 10th of the campaign. Nine of the former Bolgna star’s 10 goals have come at home.

Houston had a good chance after a free kick in the 58th, but Warren Creavalle’s left footed shot went just over the bar.

Di Vaio had the crowd on its feet in the 62nd as he headed Nyassi’s pass off the bar, then recovered the ball but shot just wide.

The crowd booed when Brian Ching subbed in for Barnes in the 78th. Ching was claimed by Montreal in the 2012 expansion draft but asked to be dealt back to Houston.

Notes: Houston was missing two players to international duty, Honduran Boniek Garcia and American Brad Davis. … Montreal made four changes after their loss in Columbus over the weekend. Paponi and Andrea Pisanu started, while Sanna Nyassi was back from playing for Gambia. Alessandro Nesta returned from a one-game suspension. Justin Mapp sat out with a thigh injury.

Hossa played after missing Game 3 on Monday night with an undisclosed upper body injury. Hossa was a late scratch from the lineup for that game. The Bruins won 2-0 and took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said after the team’s Wednesday morning practice, “He’s fine.”

Hossa is tied for the Blackhawks’ scoring lead in the playoffs with 15 points on seven goals and eight assists. Three of those goals have been game-winners.

During the regular season, the right wing was third on the team with 17 goals.

No matter what happens Thursday night, LeBron James and the Miami Heat, and Tim Duncan’s San Antonio Spurs have already won NBA titles and secured a place in history.

Now is their opportunity to elevate it.

The truly memorable teams won the hard way, and that will be the case for the one celebrating at centre court this time. It’s either a Heat repeat, possible only after James led them back from what seemed certain elimination in the closing seconds of Game 6, or the Spurs shaking off as gut-wrenching a loss as a team can have to become just the fourth club to win a Game 7 of the NBA Finals on the road.

“As a competitor you love it, because you know you have an opportunity and it’s up to you,” Heat guard Ray Allen said. “We have a chance in our building to make something great. All of our legacies are tied to this moment, this game. It’s something our kids will be able to talk about that they were a part of. Forever will remember these moments, so we want to not live and have any regrets.”

Allen played in the game the last time the NBA’s season went down to the very last day, the Boston Celtics fading at the finish and falling 83-79 to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2010. That made home teams 14-3 in finals Game 7s, with no road team winning since Washington beat Seattle in 1978.

Overcoming those odds, not to mention the NBA’s winningest team, would make this more memorable than the Spurs’ previous four titles, though this is a franchise that never dwells too much on the past or looks too far into the future.

All that matters is now.

“You know what, it’s all about just winning the title. It’s not about situation or what has led up to it,” Duncan said. “It’s a great story for everybody else, but we’re here for one reason, one reason only: It’s to try to win this game (Thursday). We have had a very good season thus far, and I think we just want to get to the game more than anything. We just want to see what happens and be able to leave everything out there.”

The teams trudged back to the arena Wednesday, some 12 hours after the Heat pulled out a 103-100 overtime victory in Game 6 to even the series. The Spurs, five points ahead with 28 seconds left in regulation, had to fight off fatigue and heartbreak, insisting neither would linger into Thursday.

By far the best game of this series, Game 6 immediately took its place among the best finishes in finals history, with everything from James’ triple-double to Allen’s tying 3-pointer with 5.2 seconds left in regulation.

It had close calls, debatable decisions, and the NBA’s best player at his very best when his team needed him most.

Games 2-5 in the series had been ugly, but that one was a beauty.

“I think — I know — that game will go down as one of the best finals games that’s been seen,” Heat guard Dwyane Wade said. “But I think this series will go down as being one of the most competitive, bizarre series that’s been seen. So this is what you pay for to watch. You pay to watch two great teams battle to the very, very end, and that’s what we’ll do (Thursday). It will be to the very last second.”

The Heat could become the NBA’s first repeat champions since the Lakers in 2010. James and Chris Bosh moved to Miami to join Wade a few weeks later and they are in the finals for the third time in three chances.

But playing for titles is more expected than celebrated now in Miami, and a 66-win season that included a 27-game winning streak — and perhaps the whole Big Three era — goes down as a failure if the Heat fall Thursday. Yet James said he doesn’t need the victory to validate his decision to take his talents to South Beach.

“I mean, I need it because I want it and I only came here — my only goal is to win championships,” he said. “I said it, this is what I came here for. This is what I wanted to be a part of this team for.”

He, Wade and Bosh are going for No. 2, while San Antonio is getting a second shot at what would be a fourth together for Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. All their years together have given the Spurs’ trio the belief they can bounce back from Tuesday’s collapse.

The team went to dinner after the game, Duncan figuring that was better than guys sitting alone with their thoughts in their rooms. Parker and Boris Diaw discussed a similar situation with the French national team in the 2005 European championships, when they blew a late lead against Greece in the semifinals but then came back to beat Spain for the bronze medal.

“We just have to be positive and forget Game 6,” Parker said. “It was a great opportunity, but that’s life. It’s basketball and everybody will be ready.”

So will James, who was planning a relaxing night with family and friends Wednesday. He has the most at stake in the game, and when it’s over he’ll be either a two-time NBA Finals MVP or a two-time loser in a Heat uniform.

“I want to go down as one of the greatest. I want our team to go down as one of the greatest teams. And we have an opportunity to do that,” James said. “Hasn’t been many teams to win back-to-back championships. It’s so hard. It’s the hardest thing. I said last year it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, winning my first. Last year don’t even come close to what we’ve gone through in this post-season and in these finals.

“So I’ll be there (Thursday) night. I’m going to give it my all.”

The Spurs have never lost in the finals, but they’ve never faced a situation quite like this. They won a Game 7 for the 2005 championship, but that victory over Detroit was at home. The last five finals that went the distance all went to the home team.

“I don’t really care what it’s been like for anybody else at any time,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “All I know is we have had a hell of a year and we have an opportunity to win a championship. That’s all that matters.”

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Follow Brian Mahoney on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Briancmahoney

That’s the philosophy of the Canadian Olympic Committee team currently in Sochi, Russia, inspecting the 2014 Winter Olympic sites.

The COC prepares Canada’s athletes for the Games environment and looks after their needs on the ground.

Chief executive officer Chris Overholt, chief sport officer Caroline Assalian and chief marketing officer Derek Kent are part of a group determining what Canada’s athletes will require to win medals Feb. 7-23 in Sochi.

Canada’s objective is to win the overall medal count.

“The difference between finishing first or second, or finishing off the podium and on the podium, it’s become so competitive that any athlete can win on any particular day,” Assalian explained Wednesday from Sochi.

“We know if we help that performance and it’s a fraction-of-a-second difference, it will make the difference between winning or not winning.

“That medal could make the difference between finishing first overall and not.”

This is the 11th visit by the COC to Sochi. This fact-finding mission concludes June 27.

Assalian hasn’t found security overbearing, even though the Boston Marathon bombings in April and the suspects’ links to the unstable Russian province of Dagestan sparked concerns the Sochi Games will be an armed camp.

“It’s not invasive. It’s normal,” Assalian said. “We feel very safe. We’re walking around and walking around on our own.”

The Sochi venues are located in two hubs — coastal and mountain.

The stadium for the opening and closing ceremonies, indoor sport venues and one of three athletes’ villages are located within the coastal hub in Sochi.

Their proximity eliminates the transportation headaches athletes often experience at Games, Assalian points out.

“The athletes worry about ‘where am I sleeping, is my room and my bed comfortable, what am I eating, am I getting the right food, how far is it for me to go to training and where is my competition site?’” she explains.

“The big thing here is everything is so close. The athletes are living, eating, training and competing within walking distance.”

In addition to the athletes, the COC must also anticipate the needs of their coaches and families, sport-science and medical staff and sponsors.

“It’s being responsible for 600 people every day under any circumstance,” Assalian said.

“It’s as small and as critical as being able to watch Canadian (television) coverage in Sochi in a foreign land.”

“The figure skaters and hockey players will see each other in the village, but they also want to know how the boblsedders are doing and how the freestyle skiers are doing.”

Hotel accommodation is not as abundant in the Black Sea resort city as it was at the last three Olympic Games in London, Vancouver and Beijing.

Assalian foresees the COC going the extra mile to make sure Olympians’ families are taken care of, so the athletes don’t worry.

“It may be one step removed from the competition, but you know the athletes care about where mom and dad are staying and how are they getting to the venues,” she said.

The COC is also looking at airlines with direct flights from European cities into Sochi, in order to shorten travel for Canadians at training camps and World Cup events there prior to the Games.

Sochi is currently an enormous construction site and the COC team has experienced gridlock, Assalian said. She believes congestion will be eased with the completion of a train system.

She added that the COC will meet with the Sochi organizing committee starting Friday.

The location of Canada’s quarters in the villages and Canada Olympic House, where athletes meet friends and family, are among items to be discussed.

A group of 18 players patched together and coached by former Montreal Impact player Patrick Leduc will begin play Sunday in the International Tournament of Peoples and Cultures in Marseille, France.

The week-long event has teams from provinces and regions that are not independent —although some wish to be — but feel unique enough to have their own teams.

The other squads are from Tibet, Iraqi Kurdistan, Aram in Syria, Western Sahara, the northern Indian regions of Ladahk and Nagaland and the host French region of Provence.

“It’s the first time that a senior male team (from Quebec) will play at the international level,” said Yannick Saint-Germain, president of the team that calls itself Les Quebecois. “We have under-14 or under-16 teams that have played against France or Mexico, but as seniors, it’s the first time.

“It’s an historical moment for us, and I hope it won’t be the last tournament for us.”

Leduc scrambled to find players whose clubs were willing to release them in mid-season and ended up with some decent talent in former Impact players Reda Agourram, Alex Suprenant and Kevin Cossette, former FC Edmonton member Fabrice Lassonde and others.

Sovereigntists in Quebec have pushed for a “national” hockey team to play against Canada and other countries, but it has never come close to happening.

Saint-Germain turned to soccer, where there is an international body called the Non-Federated Board overseeing soccer among cultures and regions that are not members of the sport’s world governing body FIFA.

He attended the Viva World Cup, or non-FIFA world cup, last year in Kurdistan. Now he hopes to enter the Quebec team in next year’s tournament in Lapland.

“I’m not the only one who has dreamed of having a national team in hockey or soccer or any sport,” said St-Germain. “Many people think about it.

“I wanted to see if it was feasible. I Googled to see if there were other non-independent states with national teams and I discovered there’s a lot.”

Zanzibar, and island off the coast of Tanzania in east Africa, for example. Or North Cyprus, which lost to Kurdistan in last year’s non-FIFA World Cup final.

Saint-Germain and Leduc said the team’s mission is cultural rather than political, but Quebec’s independence movement is solidly behind it.

The team is partly funded by the sovereigntist Parti Quebecois government and has backing from the ultra-nationalist St-Jean-Baptiste Society.

The schedule includes a game against Tibet on June 24, Quebec’s national holiday.

“There are a lot of non-independent nations that play internationally in their confederations, like Puerto Rico, for example,” said Saint-Germain. “As I say, football independence has nothing to do with political independence.

“It’s two different things. Of course people who are for the independence of Quebec are very happy about this project, and I understand that, but there’s no relation. You can be a province and play. Ontario or New Brunswick could play, why not?”

Leduc said the team has not taken a political position.

“We didn’t base our selection on whether you vote for the Parti Quebecois or the Liberals,” he said. “I have francophones, anglophones, allophones, but I only wanted to know if they were forward, midfielder or defender.

“I’ve realized also that whether they vote blue or red, it doesn’t matter. They’re proud to represent Quebec. A 25-year-old player is really happy to be part of a select team and to play at the elite level once again in his career.”

It was a proud moment to put on the blue and white shirt with the fleur-de-lys on the front for Cossette, who plays semipro in Quebec City.

“At 16, I played for Quebec in a Canadian championship, but to represent it at the senior level and to play with the best in Quebec is a source of pride,” he said. “I’m completely a Quebecer.

“I have no other nationality.”

Tommy Lucas, the bilingual former captain of the McGill Redmen, has no problem with it.

“It’s my home and it’s always been my home,” he said. “My parents are from England but I was born here.

“Especially Montreal, this is where I belong. I’m excited to represent Quebec. I feel a strong sense of pride and that’s definitely going to help me perform during the tournament.”

The team is not sanctioned by the Quebec Soccer Federation, which was in the spotlight last week for its controversial decision to ban turbans and other religious headgear, only to rescind the order when FIFA clarified its rules. The QSF is affiliated with FIFA through the Canadian Soccer Association.

Leduc said they approached the federation for support and found them “ambivalent.

“In future, maybe long term, we’d like to be sanctioned by the federation and play official games, whether it be against teams like Catalonia or other regions, or official games. Haiti is coming here this summer, so why not have a Quebec team play them?”

The players gathered for one last fundraiser Tuesday night at a bistro called Massila, the ancient name for Marseille, which was designated by the European Union as European Capital of Culture for 2013. They held their first practice later that night.

They won’t have much of a budget. The trip will cost about $40,000, with the team staying in a university dorm and getting around on public transit.

But they hope to do well on the pitch, even if they have no idea of the level of play of most opponents.

“I expect varying levels,” said Leduc. “I expect Provence will be a tough game.

“Kurdistan I know will be a really tough team, but I don’t know how strong Tibet will be. It’s fun that they’re participating.”

It will be a grind. Quebec opens with games on consecutive days against Western Sahara, Tibet and Provence. The semifinals are on June 27 with the final the following day. There are consolation games for those that don’t make the semis.

They are entering the unknown, but Agourram was adamant it is not vacation and they will give their best on the pitch.

“We know nothing about the teams we’re going to play against, but I think we have a good team and I’m confident we’ll have good results,” he said.

Plans for the 18,000-seat arena were announced Wednesday at a meeting of economic development officials to approve the deal. Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch has long said he wanted a replacement for the 32-year-old Joe Louis Arena.

The Red Wings said there will be $367 million in private investment and $283 million in public funds in the complex, which would also include residential, retail and office space. Developers said the public money would come from existing economic development funds and requires no new taxes or funds from the cash-strapped city, which is the largest in the country under state financial oversight.

The city’s Downtown Development Authority approved a memorandum of understanding with Wayne County, home to Detroit, and Olympia Development of Michigan, which is owned by Mike and Marian Ilitch. Mike Ilitch also owns the Detroit Tigers, and his family owns Little Caesars Pizza and downtown Detroit’s Fox Theatre.

The arena would be at Interstate 75 and Woodward Avenue, near the Detroit Tigers’ Comerica Park and the Detroit Lions’ Ford Field.

Michigan lawmakers in December approved a measure allowing tax dollars collected by the Downtown Development Authority to be used for the development. The DDA has been allowed for nearly two decades to pay down Detroit’s general obligation bonds with about $12.8 million a year that otherwise would have gone to education statewide.

Developers and supporters of that legislation said it will create upward of 8,300 new construction jobs and pump $1 billion into Michigan’s economy. Opponents counter that funding a private stadium with taxpayer dollars shouldn’t be a priority, especially when that money was otherwise going to the School Aid Fund.

The person spoke on the condition of anonymity Wednesday because the Flyers have not announced their decision. ESPN.com first reported Briere’s pending buyout Tuesday evening.

The Flyers still owe Briere $5 million as part of the eight-year, $52 million contract he signed in free agency on July 1, 2007. He’s a 15-year NHL veteran, who had six goals and 10 assists in 34 games last season.

A seven-time 25-goal scorer, Briere’s production has tailed off as a result of various injuries, including a concussion.

The move will shave $6.5 million off the Flyers’ salary cap.