HOCKEY
Dominic Cormier scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period, and the Reading Royals added two empty-net goals to clinch a 4-1 win over the Maine Mariners in an ECHL game Saturday night at Cross Insurance Arena.
Maine’s lone goal was a short-handed tally by Patrick Shea that tied the game at 1-1 in the first period.
Recently acquired goalie Peter Thome made 32 saves in his Mariners debut.
FOOTBALL
NFL: The Steelers activated outside linebacker T.J. Watt off injured reserve on Saturday, clearing the way for him to return for Sunday’s visit from New Orleans.
Watt, the 2021 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, hasn’t played since tearing his left pectoral in a Week 1 win over Cincinnati. He underwent minor knee surgery during his stay on IR but returned to practice two weeks ago. On Friday, he said he’s ready to play.
The Steelers (2-6), struggled without Watt, dropping six of seven without the three-time All-Pro and generating just eight sacks. Pittsburgh had seven sacks against the Bengals with Watt in the lineup.
Pittsburgh ruled out safety Minkah Fitzpatrick for the game against the Saints (3-6) with an appendix issue.
• The Tennessee Titans activated their first players off injured reserve, bringing rookie wide receiver Treylon Burks and cornerback Elijah Molden back and sidelining veteran linebacker Zach Cunningham and defensive back Josh Thompson.
That keeps the Titans (5-3) with 13 players on injured reserve as they prepare to host Denver (3-5) on Sunday.
BASKETBALL
NBA: Brooklyn guard Kyrie Irving won’t play Sunday against the Los Angeles Lakers, the first game he is eligible to return after he was suspended by the Nets for refusing to say he had no antisemitic beliefs.
Coach Jacque Vaughn said Saturday before the Nets beat the Clippers that Irving wouldn’t play, but provided no other updates. After remaining in Los Angeles to play the Lakers, the Nets continue their road trip with games in Sacramento and Portland.
HOCKEY
NHL: Claude Giroux had two assists in his return to Philadelphia, Alex DeBrincat scored a pair of power-play goals and the Ottawa Senators snapped a seven-game winless streak by beating the Flyers 4-1.
Giroux was warmly welcomed by fans before the game, having been the longest-serving captain in Flyers history and second all-time in scoring for the franchise. But in the first period, he let the Philly fans know he’s with someone new — helping set up Ottawa’s Thomas Chabot for the tying goal.
GOLF
CHAMPIONS TOUR: Padraig Harrington shot 9-under 62 to take a five-shot lead over Steven Alker in the third round of the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Phoenix.
Harrington had four straight birdies on the back nine to reach 21 under in the PGA Tour Champions finale.
LPGA TOUR: Allisen Corpuz made four birdies in a six-hole stretch in the middle of her second round at the Pelican Women’s Championship in Belleair, Florida, and had another 5-under 65, giving her a one-shot lead going into the final round of the penultimate LPGA Tour event of the year.
Maja Stark, Lexi Thompson and Maria Fassi were one shot back.
EUROPEAN TOUR: Rasmus Højgaard and Thomas Detry shared the lead at the Nedbank Golf Challenge in Sun City, South Africa after a busy day when some players had to finish their second rounds and then come straight back out to play the third round.
Rain and lightning had shortened the second day at Sun City, leaving Ryan Fox and European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald in a share of the lead, although they had barely started their second rounds when players were called off because of the weather.
Fox and Donald were dislodged on Saturday as Denmark’s Højgaard and Belgium’s Detry made their way to the top to lead by a shot on 9 under par going into the final day of the penultimate tournament of the European tour season.
Højgaard shot a third straight 3-under 69 of the tournament. Detry surged up the leaderboard to join him with a second straight 67.
TENNIS
BILLIE JEAN KING CUP: Australia reached the final of the biggest team event in women’s tennis for the 19th time after winning the decisive doubles on a match tiebreaker to beat Britain 2-1 in the Billie Jean King Cup in Glasgow, Scotland.
Facing the seven-time winners in Sunday’s title match will be Switzerland, which took an unassailable 2-0 lead over the Czech Republic before needing to play doubles.
NEXT GEN ATP FINALS: American Brandon Nakashima stayed perfect in Milan as he won the Next Gen ATP Finals with his second straight-set victory over Jiří Lehečka this week.
Nakashima took just 80 minutes to win 4-3 (5), 4-3 (6), 4-2, securing the title on the first of three championship points when Lehečka sent a forehand long.
The fourth-seeded Nakashima won all five of his matches at the year-ending tournament for 21-and-under players, including a straight-set victory over Lehečka in the group stage.
SOCCER
PREMIER LEAGUE: Ivan Toney issued the perfect response to being omitted from England’s World Cup squad by scoring both goals in Brentford’s shock 2-1 Premier League win at Manchester City.
SERIE A: Goals from Victor Osimhen, Piotr Zieliński and Eljif Elmas saw Napoli beat Udinese 3-2 for its 11th straight league victory and open up a significant gap over its rivals.
It was a nervy finale for the home side, however, following two late goals from substitutes Ilija Nestorovski and Lazar Samardžić.
The five teams immediately below Napoli don’t play until Sunday, with four of them facing each other.
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