What to watch this weekend in sports

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Here are some things for Canadian fans to keep an eye on:Golf: Conners in contention at the Masters Canada's Corey Conners birdied three of the final four holes yesterday at Augusta to card a 4-under opening round that put him in a tie for second place with defending champion and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler of the United States and young Swedish star Ludvig Aberg. The Canadian stayed hot today, shooting 2 under par on the first nine to stay right near the top of the leaderboard at our publish time.

England's Justin Rose followed up his sizzling 7-under opening round with a more pedestrian 1-under today to remain in the lead. U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau fired a 4-under to move into second at 7 under for the tournament, but Rory McIlroy was the story of the afternoon. After double bogeying two of the final four holes yesterday to finish with a disappointing even-par 72, the Northern Irishman bounced back with a 6-under round to climb to third place. Canada's Nick Taylor finished his day at even par for the tournament, making the cut in a major for the first time since 2020. Mike Weir (5 over at our publish time) and Taylor Pendrith (6 over) looked like they'd miss the cut. Here's an updated leaderboard.

WATCH | What to watch this weekend:

Canada opened its title defence yesterday in the Czech Republic with a 5-0 win over Finland before beating Switzerland 4-0 today. Daryl Watts scored her first world-championship goal, Laura Stacey had a goal and an assist and captain Marie-Philip Poulin added three helpers while Ann-Renée Desbiens made 17 saves for the shutout in her first start since suffering a lower-body injury in a March 18 PWHL game. The biggest game of the group stage is coming up Sunday at 1 p.m. ET when Canada faces the rival United States in what is very likely to be a preview of the championship final. The Americans also improved to 2-0 today by defeating the host Czech Republic 4-0. The Canadians play the Czechs on Monday afternoon in their final game of the preliminary round. All five teams in Canada's group automatically advance to next Thursday's quarterfinals along with the top three from the other (weaker) group. 

NHL: Playoff picture taking shape With a week left in the regular season, the surprising Montreal Canadiens can officially claim the last remaining playoff berth in the Eastern Conference with a regulation win at Ottawa tonight. Montreal has pretty much already secured its first trip to the post-season in four years, and a victory tonight would move the Habs within a point of the Senators for the top wild-card position. Montreal then visits Toronto on Saturday night for what could be a preview of a first-round matchup. The Maple Leafs lead the Atlantic Division and are likely to face either the Canadiens or Ottawa while Washington, which clinched the No. 1 seed in the East last night, gets the other wild card. Winnipeg is on the verge of clinching the top seed in the Western Conference after blanking the Central Division rival Dallas Stars 4-0 last night. Vezina Trophy shoo-in and MVP contender Connor Hellebuyck earned his league-leading eighth shutout. The Jets visit Chicago on Saturday before a Sunday home date with Edmonton, which is close to securing a playoff spot and a likely first-round matchup with Los Angeles. Calgary still has a slim chance of catching the Oilers.  In another big men's hockey game, Boston University and Western Michigan square off for the NCAA's Frozen Four championship on Saturday night in St. Louis.NBA: SGA closes out his MVP season With the regular season wrapping up on Sunday, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is looking to put the finishing touches on what should be the first NBA MVP victory by a Canadian since Steve Nash won it in both 2005 and '06.   After finishing second in voting to Denver's Nikola Jokic last year, Gilgeous-Alexander leads the league in scoring with 32.7 points per game while also averaging 6.4 assists, five rebounds and an excellent 1.7 steals for the NBA's top team. SGA's Oklahoma City Thunder have clinched not just the top seed in the Western Conference for the second straight year but also the best record in the entire league as they close out their schedule with trips to Utah tonight and New Orleans on Sunday afternoon. No. 2 seed Houston and the No. 3 Los Angeles Lakers have also clinched spots in the Western Conference playoff bracket. But right behind the Lakers is a logjam of teams trying to avoid the play-in round. Five clubs — Denver, the L.A. Clippers, Golden State, Memphis and Minnesota — are all within one game of each other and within two of the Lakers for third place, while Sacramento and Dallas are headed to the play-in. Surprising Cleveland has locked up the No. 1 spot in the Eastern Conference, ahead of defending NBA champion Boston. New York, Indiana, Milwaukee and Detroit are also going to the playoffs, while Orlando, Atlanta, Chicago and Miami will compete in the play-in. The Toronto Raptors (30-50) are eliminated from playoff contention and will finish 11th in the East. The play-ins start Tuesday and the 16-team bracket tips off next Saturday.

Other stuff to watch: The Grand Slam of Curling tour wraps up with the Players' Championship in Toronto. Canada's Rachel Homan is looking to cap off a fantastic season that saw her go undefeated at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts for the second straight year before capturing her second straight world title. She's also won two Slams and made it to the final of the other two so far. On the men's side, everyone will be looking to take down Scotland's Bruce Mouat, who won his second world title in three years last week. The last six spots in tennis' Billie Jean King Cup finals are on the line in a bunch of three-team qualifying groups being played in different parts of the world. The Canadian team of Rebecca Marino, Marina Stakusic, Victoria Mboko, Kayla Cross and Ariana Arseneault is in Tokyo, where they opened with a 3-0 sweep of Romania today and can win the group by defeating host Japan on Saturday at 10 p.m. ET on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem. Each of the six group winners will join reigning champion Italy and host China in the eighth-team finals in September. Canada won the Cup in 2023, led by Leylah Fernandez, before losing to Great Britain in the quarterfinals last year. The Diving World Cup tour continues in Windsor, Ont., where Canada will try to improve on its results from last week's season opener in Mexico. Kate Miller and Katelyn Fung placed sixth in the women's 10m synchronized event, Benjamin Tessier and Matt Cullen earned the same result in the men's 10m synchro, and Canada's best individual placing was an eighth in women's 3m springboard by two-time world championship medallist Mia Vallée. Rylan Wiens and Nathan Zsombor-Murray, who earned Canada's only diving medal at the Paris Olympics with a bronze in the 10m synchro, did not compete last week and are not in Windsor either. The medal rounds begin tonight and continue through Sunday on CBC Sports' streaming platforms. Olympic beach volleyball silver medallists Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson will play for a spot in the quarterfinals at a Pro Tour Elite 16 event in Brazil tonight at 7 p.m. ET against an American duo. The quarterfinals and semis take place Saturday, and the women's final is Sunday at noon ET. All rounds are being streamed by CBC Sports. Some of Canada's Olympic swimmers (though not Summer McIntosh) are competing in the Canada Open in Edmonton, where the notable names include Finlay Knox, Ingrid Wilm, Taylor Ruck, Mary-Sophie Harvey and Paralympians Nicolas Bennett and Shelby Newkirk. Racing continues tonight and Saturday on CBC Sports' streaming channels.