National Sports

TAMPA, Fla. — Tom Brady tied the NFL record for regular season wins with some timely help from a porous New England defence showing signs of improvement.

Thursday's Games MLB Post-season American League Division Series Houston 8 Boston 2 (Astros lead series 1-0) Cleveland 4 New York 0 (Indians lead series 1-0) --- NHL Montreal 3 Buffalo 2 (SO) Washington 5 Ottawa 4 (SO) Colorado 4 N.Y.

Thursday's Games MLB Post-season American League Division Series Houston 8 Boston 2 (Astros lead series 1-0) Cleveland 4 New York 0 (Indians lead series 1-0) --- NHL Montreal 3 Buffalo 2 (SO) Washington 5 Ottawa 4 (SO) Colorado 4 N.Y.

PORTLAND, Ore. — Damian Lillard led Portland with 16 points and eight assists in 26 minutes as the Trail Blazers beat the Toronto Raptors 106-101 on Thursday night in pre-season action. CJ McCollum added 15 points for Portland (1-1).

OTTAWA — The Ottawa Senators learned the hard way that Alex Ovechkin is as good as ever. Ovechkin scored a hat trick Thursday night as his Washington Capitals beat the Ottawa Senators 5-4 in a shootout to open their respective seasons.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Canadiens goalie Carey Price looked his familiar formidable self. And newcomer Jonathan Drouin delivered on offence in leading Montreal to a season-opening 3-2 shootout victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night.

MONTREAL — China's Ruoteng Xiao is the new men's all-around champion after winning gold on Thursday night at the artistic gymnastics world championships. Xiao finished with a score of 86.933 points ahead of compatriot Chaopan Lin (86.

HOUSTON — Jose Altuve had just arrived in the Astros dugout after launching his third home run of the game when George Springer grabbed his right biceps and examined it, as if searching for an explanation for his teammate's extraordinary pop.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Cam Newton apologized Thursday night in a Twitter video post for sexist comments made to a female reporter.

LONDON — Harry Kane secured England's place at the World Cup by scoring in stoppage time to seal a 1-0 victory over Slovenia on Thursday that highlighted the limitations of Gareth Southgate's Russia-bound team.