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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Digest: Lightning beat Penguins 4-3, even Eastern Conference finals

Tampa Bay Lightning's Tyler Johnson, left, celebrates his goal with teammate Alex Killorn, center, during the second period of Game 4 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals Friday. (Chris O'Meara / Associated Press)
From staff and wire reports

NHL: Ryan Callahan provided an early spark, Andrei Vasilevskiy made two big saves in the closing minutes to avoid a total third-period collapse and the Tampa Bay Lightning held on for a 4-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night at Tampa, Florida, in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals.

Callahan tipped a shot past goalie Matt Murray just 17 seconds into the game. Andrej Sustr, Jonathan Drouin and Tyler Johnson also scored and the Lightning rebounded from being badly outplayed in the previous two games to even the series 2-2 heading back to Pittsburgh for Game 5 on Sunday.

Vasilevskiy had a 4-0 lead entering the third period, but the Penguins didn’t give up. Phil Kessel and Evgeni Malkin scored to give Pittsburgh hope, and Chris Kunitz’s power-play goal trimmed the deficit to one with just under 7 minutes remaining.

Tampa Bay was outshot 16-7 over the final 20 minutes after dominating the first two periods. Marc-Andre Fleury replaced Murray in goal for the Penguins at the start of the third, and Kessel’s team-leading eighth goal began the rally that just fell short.

Allen to start Game 4: Blues Coach Ken Hitchcock said that Jake Allen will start in goal for Game 4 on Saturday against the Sharks after losing two straight games with starter Brian Elliot in the Western Conference final. Elliott has started all 17 games this postseason for St. Louis.

Elliott was pulled in the third period of a 3-0 loss in Game 3 after allowing his third goal on 14 shots. After a stellar performance in the opener when he stopped 31 of 32 shots in a 2-1 victory, Elliott has allowed three goals in back-to-back games.

Allen started all six games last postseason for St. Louis when he allowed 2.20 goals per game and posted a .904 save percentage in a first-round loss to Minnesota.

Crane takes one-stroke lead at Nelson

Golf: Ben Crane made a 14-foot birdie putt on his last hole Friday for a 7-under 63 and a one-stroke lead after two rounds at the Byron Nelson in Irving, Texas. At 12-under 128, Crane was one stroke ahead of Jordan Spieth, Sergio Garcia, Brooks Koepka and Bud Cauley.

Spieth had a 65. He’s playing only his second tournament since squandering a five-stroke lead on the back nine at the Masters. The world’s No. 2-ranked player missed the cut last week at The Players Championship.

The last time Crane led a tournament was at Memphis two years ago, the last of his five PGA Tour victories.

Perry hold onto lead: Kenny Perry shot a 2-under 70 to maintain a one-stroke lead over Bernhard Langer and Billy Andrade in the Regions Tradition in Birmingham, Alabama.

Perry had three birdies and a bogey to reach 10-under 134 at Greystone in the first of the year’s five PGA Tour Champions majors. The 2014 Regions Tradition winner has missed only one green in regulation.

Conditions changed after his bogey-free opening 64. Tournament officials opted for a two-tee start because of weather concerns, with Perry and Langer starting on the 10th tee. The course received 0.14 inches of rain overnight and in the morning, forcing a 30-minute delay to start.

Langer had a 69, and Andrade shot 68.

Ryu leads second round: So Yeon Ryu had six birdies in an eight-hole stretch and shot a 7-under 64 to take the second-round lead in the Kingsmill Championship in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Ranked 11th in the world but sixth in the race for the four spots on South Korea’s Olympic team, Ryu opened with a bogey on the 10th hole, then used the birdie run to make the turn in 5-under 30. The 2011 U.S. Women’s Open champion added birdies on the par-4 fourth and par-5 seventh and closed with two pars to reach 7-under 135 on the soggy River Course.

Fourth-ranked Stacy Lewis, No. 6 Amy Yang and first-round leader Mika Miyazato were a stroke back. Lewis had a bogey-free 66, Yang had a 67, and Miyazato followed her opening 65 with a 71.

Marquez scores in 91st to lift Philadelphia

Miscellany: Richie Marquez scored his first MLS goal in the 91st minute and the Philadelphia Union beat D.C. United 1-0 in Chester, Pennsylvania, to move into first place in the Eastern Conference.

Sebastien Le Toux curled a cross into the box that went over the head of C.J. Sapong and a defender, but Marquez was left open at the far post for a sliding finish.

Philadelphia (5-3-3) is undefeated in its last five matches, including three draws. D.C. United (3-5-4) has lost two of its last three.

Sparks topple Mystics: Kristi Toliver scored 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting and the Los Angeles Sparks routed the host Washington Mystics 97-67.

Jantel Lavender added 12 points, Nneka Ogwumike and Alana Beard had 10 points apiece for the Sparks.

Bolt wins 100 at Golden Spike: Usain Bolt used his strong finish to win the 100 meters in 9.98 seconds at the Golden Spike meet in Ostrava, Czech Republic. Bolt recovered from a slow start but pulled ahead in the second half of the race to breeze unchallenged to the victory.

With the time, Bolt improved on his season’s best of 10.05 in the Cayman Islands on Saturday. After that first race of the season, he needed treatment on a tight hamstring in Germany on the way to the Czech Republic. He didn’t appear to be limited on Friday though his time was still far from his world record of 9.58 in 2009.

Rio Olympics tops London in condom supply: About 450,000 condoms will be distributed during the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, three times more than for the London Games four years ago, the International Olympic Committee says. Part of the reason was because 100,000 female condoms will be available for the first time, along with 350,000 condoms for men.

About 175,000 packets of lubricant are also being supplied. The IOC says the condoms would encourage 10,500 athletes and staff to practice safe sex. It’s not clear if the increase is related to Brazil’s outbreak of the Zika virus. The Associated Press asked the question of the IOC in an email but did not receive an immediate response.

The Zika virus is carried by mosquitoes, but can also be transmitted sexually. The virus is linked to microcephaly, a condition in which babies are born with undersized brains and skulls.

Djokovic, Nadal could face in semifinals: Novak Djokovic could face nine-time champion Rafael Nadal in the French Open semifinals in his quest to complete a career Grand Slam. The top-ranked Serb, who will face Lu Yen-hsun in the first round, was put in the same side of the draw as Nadal.

Because of Roger Federer’s withdrawal, Nadal has been seeded No. 4, avoiding a possible quarterfinal rematch against Djokovic. Nadal takes on big server Sam Groth in the first round.

Alaphilippe keeps California overall lead

Cycling: Rohan Dennis delivered a blistering performance to win the Stage 6 time trial at the Tour of California in Folsom, California, while Julian Alaphilippe did enough to retain his overall lead. Dennis covered the 12.6-mile course in 24 minutes, 16 seconds. Alaphilippe finished eighth, 45 seconds behind the winning time, to keep a 16-second lead over Dennis.

Amador takes pink, Nieve wins: Andrey Amador became the first rider from Costa Rica to wear the pink jersey at the Giro d’Italia, while Mikel Nieve won the first big mountain stage in Cividale del Friuli, Italy.

Nieve clocked just over 4 1/2 hours over the 170-kilometer (106-mile) route from Palmanova to Cividale del Friuli.