NEWS » Sky have been led by veteran Cappie Pondexter, wh

TORONTO -- Canada was not the best team on the ice until it mattered.Down two goals with three minutes left, the high-powered Canadians kicked it up a notch and Team Europe simply couldnt stop them.Brad Marchand scored a short-handed goal with 43.1 seconds left after Patrice Bergeron tied it with 2:53 to go on a power play, lifting Canada to a 2-1 victory and the World Cup of Hockey title Thursday night.Sidney Crosbys line with the Boston Bruins pair of Marchand and Bergeron dominated in the final minutes as the trio did throughout the two-week tournament.Theyre addicted to winning, and they just make it happen, Canada coach Mike Babcock said.The Canadians won the best-of-three finals 2-0.Theyve won 16 straight games, including Olympic gold medals at the Sochi and Vancouver Games, since losing to the U.S. in the 2010 Olympics.Its pretty special, Crosby said. Its not easy to do, and for a good chunk of us, a lot of us were there in Russia.Europe seemed as if it had a chance to score a go-ahead goal late when Drew Doughty was called for high-sticking with just under two minutes left, but Canada was the team that took advantage when Marchand got the puck into open space and beat Jaroslav Halak with a shot from the slot to win the first World Cup since 2004.Its just crazy the way everything worked out, said Crosby, selected the MVP of the tournament after scoring three goals and finishing with a World Cup-high 10 points. When you get a penalty that late in the game, youre just trying to force overtime.After Crosby got his latest personal reward, he was presented with a silver World Cup of Hockey trophy and skated with it around the ice just months after hosting the Stanley Cup for the second time in his career.He set up the tying goal, passing the puck off the boards to Brent Burns, whose shot just inside the blue line was redirected by Bergerons raised stick.In the biggest moments, he turns it up, Babcock said.Carey Price made 32 saves for the Canadians, who started slow before ending the tournament with a furious rally that fired up a once-quiet crowd.Zdeno Chara scored early for Europe, and Halak made 32 saves for the eight-nation team .Its a tough loss because we were able to push them all the way to the limits, Chara said.In front of an unenthusiastic crowd and a lot of empty seats in the home of the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Canadians started flat and the Europeans made them pay for their apparent apathy.Unlike the previous two times Canada trailed briefly to the U.S. and Russia, it could not come back against Europe quickly.It looked as if it wasnt going to be Canadas night when John Tavares had a wide-open net to shoot into but hit the right post from the bottom of the right circle. Earlier in the same shift, the New York Islanders forward missed the net on a one-timer opportunity.Canada averaged 4.4 goals over the first five games of the tournament, giving Price plenty of support. It didnt score as much in the final game of the tournament, but two goals were enough to win thanks to Price.Europe outshot the Canadians 12-8 after the first period and 27-21 after the second before they closed well enough to finish with one more shot.Canada had a man advantage again early in the third period, but got only one shot on Halak, a Slovak and Islanders standout, on the power play.Crosby had a chance to score with seven-plus minutes left, but Halak kicked the shot away with his right skate.In the end, Halak could not keep the puck out of his net twice.The way it turned out at the end is very painful, Europe coach Ralph Krueger said. But you need to open eye to big picture and the journey. How we played was amazing. They played their hearts out. ... 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The Mercury are a victory away from advancing to the best-of-five semifinals but will have to win in New York on Saturday to do so.Meanwhile, Atlanta got one of the best individual performances in playoff history from Angel McCoughtry in the first round. On Sunday, the Dream head to Chicago, where they hope to avenge a painful playoff series loss to the Sky two years ago.Awaiting the winners are No. 1 seed Minnesota and No. 2 Los Angeles.No. 8 Phoenix vs. No. 3 New York (NBA TV, ESPN3, 7 p.m. ET Saturday)Heres the deal with the Mercury: No one would have been stunned to see them lose in the first round at Indiana. But no one will be stunned to see them move on to the semifinals. Thats how hard it has been to predict what Phoenix might do.It has been an up-and-down season for the Mercury because they couldnt count on their defense, which is the very thing that was a rock for them when they won the WNBA championship in 2014.During the 2016 regular season, Phoenix allowed foes an average of 83.3 points per game. The Mercurys effort in their 89-78 victory over the Fever on Wednesday was much closer to what theyll need to beat the Liberty. The Mercury held the Fever to 37.2 percent shooting while shooting 54.5 percent themselves.Any night we play good team defense, we pack the paint around the ball and get on shooters, the results come out in our favor, Phoenixs Brittney Griner said. We know what we need to do now; everybody has to go up another level.Phoenix got important offensive contributions from several players on Wednesday, with Diana Taurasi leading the way with 20 points. Griner and DeWanna Bonner each had 18, and Candice Dupree and Penny Taylor each scored 12.Bonner has been coming off the bench the past five games, with Marta Xargay starting instead, and that worked well for the Mercury on Wednesday. Bonner was fresh and very effective in the fourth quarter, scoring 11 of her points to hold off the Fever.It was an emotional night, as Indianas Tamika Catchings played her last game, but it could also have been the last for Australias Taylor. Now Saturdays game will be the end for either Taylor or New Yorks Swin Cash, who is also retiring at seasons end.Neither the Mercury nor the Liberty played much defense in their first meeting this season, a 104-97 Phoenix victory in New York on June 26. Dupree had a season-high 26 points in that game, going 11-of-13 from the field. Tina Charles had 26 for New York but took 27 shots to do it. And the Liberty went 12-of-15 from the line compared with the Mercurys 27-of-33.The second meeting, in Phoenix on July 1, was more the type of game that defined the Mercury much of the season: They scored a lot, but they gave up a lot more. New York won 99-88, led by Charles 31. This time, the Liberty were able to match -- actually, slightly exceed -- the Mercury going to the line, with New York at 25-of-29 and Phoenix 23-of-26.The last game, though, was a Liberty blowout: 92-70 on Sept. 3 in New York. Phoenix shot just 32.8 percent from the field, and Griner had her lowest output of the season with two points. The Liberty held Griners offense down without center Kiah Stokes, a defensive specialist who has been out since Aug. 26.Were a bit of a toss-up, Taurasi said of the Mercury this season. But since the Olympic break, we kind of know who we are. Everyone is healthy. We see ourselves playing differently and feeliing differently.ddddddddddddEven so, Phoenix was 6-4 after the Rio Games going into the postseason, so toss-up really is probably the best way to put it. However, as they showed at Indiana, the Mercury are especially hard to beat when they face elimination. Thats the Taurasi factor as much as anything. New York will have to find a way to limit her, which Indiana could not do.No. 6 Atlanta at No. 4 Chicago (ESPN2, 1 p.m. ET Sunday)Wednesday, the Dream didnt have their second-leading scorer, Tiffany Hayes, who was out because of a suspension after her seventh technical foul in the regular-season finale. They didnt have inside veteran presence Sancho Lyttle, who is injured.But they had McCoughtry, who knew she had to put the Dream on her back. She did just that in a 94-85 victory over Seattle, scoring 37 points to go with seven assists and three rebounds. She shot 66.7 percent from the field (14-of-21), which also was critical. During the regular season, she shot 43.4 percent.It was one of McCoughtrys finest performances, and it couldnt have come at a better time. But rookie Bria Holmes also had a very timely big game, playing all 40 minutes and finishing with a season-high 21 points, plus seven rebounds and three assists.Seattle No. 1 pick Breanna Stewart, whos sure to win rookie of the year, had 19 points, seven rebounds and three assists. But her first WNBA season came to a close, while Holmes, who was drafted No. 11 out of West Virginia, moves on.The Dream prevailed 2-1 in the regular-season series with the Sky, winning the first two games in Atlanta, 87-81 on May 22 and 101-97 on June 17. In the teams first game back after the Olympics, the Sky won 90-82 in Chicago on Aug. 26.The big difference is that Elena Delle Donne, last seasons MVP, had 34 points in that victory over Atlanta, but now shes out after thumb surgery. And although the Sky actually played surprisingly well in five games without her -- winning three, including against Minnesota -- theres no getting around the big void it leaves for Chicago.Defense is going to be key for the Sky, which is a worrisome proposition. That hasnt been the Skys strength, not this season or in recent ones. And no team is more successful getting to the line than the Dream, who went there a league-high 909 times in the regular season. However, they made just 75.1 percent (683); only Connecticut was worse at the stripe (71.5.) So against the Sky, the Dream not only have to draw fouls, they also must convert the free throws.Few are better at that skill than Delle Donne, who shot 93.5 percent from the line this year and is at 93.8 percent for her career. But with her out, the Sky have been led by veteran Cappie Pondexter, who averaged 22.3 points in four games after Delle Donnes injury. Neither Pondexter nor Courtney Vandersloot played in the Skys regular-season finale at Seattle, as that had no impact on their seeding.In 2014, the Dream and the Sky met in the Eastern Conference semifinals (in the WNBAs old playoff format), with Atlanta as the No. 1 seed and presumed favorite. But Chicago won the series 2-1, rallying from 16 down after three quarters in Game 3 in Atlanta. Delle Donne had 34 points in that 81-80 victory, and the Sky then went on to beat Indiana in the East finals before losing to Phoenix in the WNBA Finals.That tough defeat at home to end 2014 sat irritatingly with Atlanta through last year, as the Dream didnt make the playoffs. Now they hope to end the Skys season at home this year. ' ' '