The NHL agreed to sell the team to Renaissance Sports & Entertainment, a group headed by George Gosbee and Anthony LeBlanc, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because there had been no official announcement.

They said NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, deputy commissioner Bill Daly and the prospective buyers will meet with Glendale officials on Tuesday for talks on a lease.

The NHL bought the Coyotes out of U.S. Bankruptcy Court in 2009 and has tried without success to find a buyer who would keep the team in Glendale.

A win Sunday night would be Johnson’s fourth in NASCAR’s longest race, trailing only Darrell Waltrip’s five victories at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Johnson could also strengthen his series points lead with his third win this season as he chases his fifth Sprint Cup title. And a win would be a record seventh at Charlotte.

It’s a resume already worthy of NASCAR’s Hall of Fame, but it’s not something the 37-year-old Johnson’s ready to think about. Johnson said it’s hard to consider his place in the sport when he’s still competing.

Johnson won his record fourth All-Star race here last week.

In the first all-German final, Borussia Dortmund is playing Bayern Munich later Saturday in European football’s showpiece match.

“It’s very important for German football that two of our teams are in the final,” 27-year-old Dortmund fan Peter Moffe said outside Wembley.

Yellow Dortmund shirts were dominating the north London streets around the stadium and in Trafalgar Square in the hours before the game amid a low-key security operation, days after a British soldier was killed in south London on Wednesday.

But the official Champions League final dinner on Friday was disrupted by three people infiltrating a London venue and reached UEFA President Michel Platini to protest against the under-21s European Championship being hosted by Israel next month.

UEFA described the incident as a “minor disturbance,” and said three arrests were made, although police said only two people were detained.

“A 24-year-old-man and a 24-year-old woman evaded private security at the UEFA Champions League Celebrity Party, being held at Billingsgate Market in the City of London, and managed to reach the stage and launch a protest,” City of London Police said in a statement to The Associated Press. “They were quickly ejected from the event by the private security and the event organizers made a complaint to the City of London Police. Shortly after both were arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass and assault and are currently being held in custody.”

The force said it is continuing to investigate “the circumstances of the incident.”

Nibali attacked with three kilometres to go on the steep ascent to Tre Cime di Lavaredo, the three-week race’s highest point at an altitude of 2,304 metres.

On the final stages of the climb, the road was surrounded by huge banks of snow.

It was Nibali’s second stage victory of the race, having also won Thursday’s mountain time trial.

His performance came in stark contrast to the developments at the race Friday, when the 19th stage was cancelled due to snow and it was announced that 2007 Giro winner Danilo Di Luca tested positive for EPO in a surprise check at his home before this year’s race.

“I wanted to leave a mark,” Nibali said. “After what happened yesterday I wanted to show something.”

An Italian with the Astana team, Nibali clocked five hours 27 minutes 41 seconds over the 211-kilometre leg, which began in Silandro and passed through the renowned ski resort of Cortina d’Ampezzo.

The 20th stage was originally supposed to include a few more climbs but the route was altered due to the adverse weather conditions and snow covering some roads.

Colombian pair Fabio Duarte and Rigoberto Uran finished second and third, 17 and 19 seconds behind, respectively.

Uran moved up from third to second overall, 4:43 behind Nibali. Cadel Evans, the 2011 Tour de France winner, dropped to third, 5:52 back.

Evans finished about 1 1/2 minutes behind Nibali in the stage, which was also characterized by sub-freezing temperatures.

Nibali had to have hot tea poured over his hands to relieve the cold after crossing the line, so he could take off his wet gloves without pain.

Along the final climb, Nibali had to push fans away who kept clinging to him.

“I was worried one of them might slip,” he said.

Before the stage started, Dutch rider Robert Gesink, one of the pre-race favourites, withdrew from the race.

The race ends on flat ground in Brescia on Sunday with a 197-kilometre stage starting in Riese Pio X.

Nibali also took the red points jersey from Mark Cavendish, but the British sprinter can reclaim it by winning the final stage.

“Our backs are against the wall,” Bosh said.

He’s absolutely correct. Advantage, Indiana.

Over the first two games of these Eastern Conference finals in Miami, it was Indiana that primarily had control, never allowing the reigning NBA champions to hold anything more than a five-point lead. The Pacers got a split for their efforts, and now head home to Indianapolis for Game 3 on Sunday night, surely aware that they’ve already taken a huge step toward pulling off what would undoubtedly be called a huge upset.

“It’s even. It’s 1-1,” Pacers star Paul George said. “They have the possibility of a split as well and taking home-court advantage back. So it’s even. We don’t feel like they’ve got the upper hand on us. We don’t feel like we’ve got the upper hand on them.”

If they were inclined, the Pacers could be justified to feel otherwise.

Other than letting Game 1 slip away when LeBron James was allowed basically unfettered access to the rim for an easy score on the final play of overtime, Indiana couldn’t have asked for more out of its few days in South Florida. The Pacers handed the Heat what became their fourth loss in 50 games. They grabbed home-court advantage. They had the Heat juggling rotations more than at any point so far in this post-season.

Maybe most importantly, they get a sports rarity: A do-over.

A year ago, the Pacers split two games in Miami, took the series back to Indianapolis and couldn’t ultimately finish the job. Losing to the Heat last season has haunted the Pacers to some extent ever since, so perhaps it’s fitting that a year later — albeit one round deeper into the playoffs — the same scenario has presented itself again.

“This whole team is showing great desire and great heart and great belief,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. “And that’s the only way to put what these guys are doing right now, is they believe we can win this series, and they’re giving it all their might. All their might. And they’re playing with confidence and they are rising to the challenge. I’m very, very proud of them. We still have a lot of work to do. We all understand that.”

So far in this post-season, work has seemed easy for the Pacers in Indianapolis.

Indiana is 6-0 at home in these playoffs, winning by an average of 14 points. The Heat are 4-0 on the road this post-season, also winning those games by an average of 14 points.

Welcome to the “something’s got to give” scenario.

“We just stay even-keeled,” James said. “We don’t get too high, we don’t get too low in the series. We know we’re going to go into a hostile environment against a very good team, and we look forward to the challenge.”

It wouldn’t be surprising if James spent the 45 hours spanning the end of Game 2 to the start of Game 3 replaying two passes in his mind, over and over again.

With the Heat down two, James twice tried to get passes to Ray Allen in the final 45 seconds. Both were broken up by West for turnovers that doomed Miami’s comeback hopes, and it was just the second time in James’ last 442 games where he was charged with two turnovers in the final minute of a fourth quarter, according to STATS.

Indiana’s defensive brilliance in this series goes beyond making passing lanes disappear late in Game 2.

The Pacers defended the 3-pointer better than anyone in the league during the regular season, while Miami had the second-best percentage from beyond the arc. That matchup has been all Indiana so far, with the Pacers keeping the Heat to a 30 per cent clip. Ray Allen, the most prolific 3-point shooter in league history, is 1 for 6 from that distance. Shane Battier is 0 for 6. Norris Cole, who came up big in the Chicago series, is 1 for 4.

“We’re a growing and evolving team,” Pacers centre Roy Hibbert said. “I think our defence really won us the game for us. … A lot of times teams just start buckling, and we’ve been through the wringer before. We’re young guys, but we know what we’re doing.”

Hibbert — a matchup nightmare for Miami — has made 19 of 33 shots in the series, averaging 24 points and 9.5 rebounds. George has scored 49 points in the two games. West has scored 39, got to the foul line more than anyone else in the first two games, and made the two huge defensive plays late in Game 2 while being asked to guard a sharpshooter like Allen, no less.

“Take nothing away from their ‘Big Three’ and what they have going,” George said, referring to James, Dwyane Wade and Bosh. “But we’ll take a ‘Big Five’ any day. And that’s what we have. We have a ‘Big Five’ where we have guys who can make plays and we don’t lean on one guy. It’s a team contribution and that’s how we play the game.”

James has scored 66 points in the series, one less than what Wade and Bosh have combined for against the Pacers. He also leads the Heat in free throws made and attempted, offensive rebounds, total rebounds and assists in the series.

Even the Pacers’ George Hill compared James to God after Game 2. And it was James who, with a brilliant effort in Indianapolis last year, found a way to save Miami in that series. He sounds eager to try and make it happen again.

“I am very disappointed in my judgment and my plays down the stretch,” James said. “But I’ll make up for them.”

The German driver finished ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton and, with Monaco’s track the hardest to overtake on in Formula One, Mercedes has a great chance to clinch a first win of the season on Sunday.

Red Bull has won the last three Monaco GPs — all from pole — but this time defending champion Sebastian Vettel will start from third ahead of teammate and last year’s winner Mark Webber.

Ferrari driver Felipe Massa goes from the back of the grid. The Brazilian was unable to start qualifying after a heavy crash in the morning’s third and final practice session, in which he was unharmed. He would anyway have incurred a five-place grid penalty because Ferrari had to fit a new gearbox following his crash.

Rosberg climbed slowly out of the cockpit and clenched both of his fists.

It was almost like a win on home track for the German, who has spent much of his life in Monaco.

Kimi Raikkonen is only four points behind championship leader Vettel, but the Finn will have his work cut out after finishing fifth. After his victory at the Spanish GP two weeks ago, Fernando Alonso will start from sixth.

Massa, Frenchman Romain Grosjean and German Adrian Sutil had all crashed in practice.

There was a brief but sharp shower before the start of qualifying and the track was still damp when drivers started.

In the morning, Massa and Grosjean both crashed at Sainte Devote — where Grosjean had also crashed in Thursday’s second practice session.

Massa’s impact was considerable as the front-left of his Ferrari took the full force before the car slid around into another barrier.

Sutil lost his Force India on the run up the hill through Massanet, hitting the barriers to his right.

The veteran midfielder was not included in Paris Saint-Germain’s squad to play Lorient in Sunday’s season-ending game, meaning his tearful farewell at the Parc des Princes last Saturday was Beckham’s final match before retiring.

Coach Carlo Ancelotti had said last weekend Beckham was unlikely to play at Lorient, having bid an emotional adieu to fans in his last home game. Beckham received a standing ovation as he left the field last Saturday, having been involved in two of his team’s goals in the 3-1 win against Brest.

It was his 14th game and fifth start since joining PSG in a surprise move on the last day of the transfer window, and he was appointed captain for the match. He set up PSG’s second goal against Brest with a corner kick from the left that midfielder Blaise Matuidi steered in.

PSG had clinched the league title the previous weekend after winning 1-0 away to Lyon, making Beckham the first English player to win the championship in four countries after title success with Manchester United, Real Madrid and the Los Angeles Galaxy. He announced the following week that he would retire at the end of the season.

PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi remains hopeful Beckham will have a part to play in PSG’s future, possibly in an ambassadorial role.

Beckham leaves PSG without scoring a goal, but showed he is still capable of pinpoint passing and crossing — and also stood out for his combative streak.

He was booked in the second leg of the Champions League quarterfinal against Barcelona, and against Evian on April 28 he was red-carded shortly after coming on as he went into a tackle with a dangerously raised foot. There was no contact, but the challenge was reckless.

Beckham was often praised by coach Carlo Ancelotti for the example he set other players, notably with his attitude in training.

Zimmermann (8-2) allowed two runs and six hits with no walks over seven innings — actually raising his ERA to 1.71 — on an unseasonably chilly and windy night in the nation’s capital. There was at least a bit of heat from the Nationals’ bats, which have been going through such a cold spell that manager Davey Johnson said before the game he wouldn’t shave again until his lineup started hitting.

As it turned out, the Nationals scored their most runs in a week, and they got four or more in the same inning for the first time in almost a month.

Phillies starter Kyle Kendrick (4-3) had his shortest outing of the season.

REDS 7, CUBS 4

CINCINNATI (AP) — Joey Votto extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a homer, and Ryan Hanigan and Brandon Phillips also homered, powering the Reds to their fourth straight win.

The Reds have won 12 of their past 15 games, surging to a season-high 12 games over .500. They’ve dominated the Cubs, winning 15 of their past 17 in the series.

Chicago is last in the NL Central, having lost a season-high five straight. The Cubs (18-29) slid a season-low 11 games under .500.

Votto and Hanigan homered in the fourth inning off Scott Feldman (4-4). Phillips connected off Hector Rondon in the eighth.

Bronson Arroyo (5-4) gave up three runs in six innings, including Feldman’s first career homer.

BREWERS 2, PIRATES 1

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Marco Estrada gave up one run over seven innings and Alex Gonzalez had a two-run double, leading the Milwaukee Brewers to a victory over the Pirates.

Estrada (4-2) retired the first 14 Pittsburgh batters he faced before a two-out bloop single to left field by Neil Walker in the fifth inning gave the Pirates their first base runner.

Estrada struck out eight and didn’t walk a batter. He fanned eight of 12 Pittsburgh batters at one point and improved his career record to 5-0 against the Pirates, including eight starts.

Four Brewers relievers combined to record the final six outs. Francisco Rodriguez retired the final batter to record his first save of the season and 295th of his career.

METS 5, BRAVES 5, Suspended

NEW YORK (AP) — Evan Gattis had a two-run, pinch-hit single in the top of the eighth, then the Mets rallied to tie it in a downpour in the bottom half before the Atlanta Braves and New York were suspended by rain with the score 5-5 Friday night.

The teams will resume play with none out in the top of the ninth inning on Saturday at 6:10 p.m. The regularly scheduled game is set to start 7:15 p.m.

With rain starting to fall heavily, Gattis put Atlanta up 5-3 with a bases-loaded single off Greg Burke. The Mets tied it in a wet and wild bottom half, taking advantage of centre fielder B.J. Upton’s error on Daniel Murphy’s RBI single and scoring on a wild pitch by Anthony Varvaro.

The game was suspended after a 75-minute delay.

“I didn’t do anything. I didn’t say one word to him. Not one,” Lawrie told reporters later. “Didn’t look at him one time. And I’m trouble for that.”

Lawrie did dump his helmet on the ground and walk away tossing his batting gloves behind him.

And that was enough to trigger the ejection from home plate umpire Bellino, apparently.

“It was a called strike three, he threw down his helmet and his bat, and was given an equipment fine by the home plate umpire,” crew chief Wally Bell told a pool reporter after the game. “As he walked away, in (Bellino’s) opinion, he flipped the gloves back in a bad manner and that will get an ejection. That’s what it was. He threw them back toward Danny in a way that wasn’t etiquette in baseball and he was ejected for it.”

Manager John Gibbons came out to protest and was also tossed.

“More or less protecting his player, then he started talking about balls and strikes and was ejected,” Bell said.

It was Gibbons’ third ejection of the season and first for Lawrie, upping Toronto’s total to six.

Lawrie said he threw his gloves behind him “so that the bat boy could come pick up my stuff and take it to the dugout.”

“Apparently he (Bellino) took it the wrong way and decided to throw me out,” Lawrie said.

The volatile Lawrie was suspended for four games last season when, after striking out, he slammed his helmet into the ground and it hit the umpire.

He said he did not think that such past actions had any impact on Friday night’s incident.

“Today’s a new day,” he said.

“Next time he’s got to throw his gloves in the other direction, I guess,” said Gibbons.

Roy Hibbert scored 29 points, West knocked away two passes by LeBron James for huge turnovers in the final minute, and the Pacers evened the East title series with a 97-93 victory over the Miami Heat in Game 2 of the series on Friday night.

Paul George scored 22 points, George Hill added 18 and West finished with 13 for the Pacers, who handed the Heat just their fourth loss in their last 50 games.

The series resumes with Game 3 on Sunday night in Indianapolis.

James scored 36 points for the Heat, who got 17 points from Chris Bosh and 14 from Dwyane Wade. The Heat led 88-84 in the fourth quarter, then were outscored 13-5 the rest of the way.

And West was the biggest reason.

With Indiana up 95-93, West intercepted a pass that James was throwing to Ray Allen with 43 seconds left, but the Pacers didn’t even get a shot off on the ensuing possession. In fact, Indiana may have gotten a bit lucky that the shot clock expired with the ball rolling around — if Wade had collected the ball in time, he had Mario Chalmers all alone at the other end in position to almost certainly tie the game.

On the next Miami possession, James drove to the right block, spun and tried passing out toward the perimeter.

He released the ball, and West got his right hand on it to knock it off-course. Immediately afterward, West took that same hand and extended it skyward in celebration.

The Pacers — just as they did in the second-round series last year — knew they were winning Game 2 in Miami. Hill made two free throws with 8.3 seconds left to clinch it, and just like that, Miami’s home-court advantage was gone.

Lance Stephenson scored 10 for the Pacers.

The Heat trailed for virtually all of the game’s first 30 minutes, then tied the game three times in the third quarter — but Indiana always had a response. When the game was tied at 60, the Pacers scored seven of the next 10 points. Tied at 67, George quickly had a layup to put the Pacers back on top. Tied at 69, George struck again, this time with a jumper.

With 5.1 seconds left in the third, George drove the lane and finished a highlight-reel dunk over Miami’s Chris Andersen while getting fouled, the free throw putting the Pacers up by five. James connected on a long 3-pointer to close the quarter, then he and George exchanged a few words afterward and slapped each other’s hand as if to say, “here we go.”

Sure enough, the show was just getting started.

Hibbert was creating one problem after another for Miami, so James took it upon himself to find a solution in the fourth. And with about 8 minutes left, he swatted a putback attempt away from the 7-foot-2 Indiana centre, starting a play that ended with Chalmers scoring at the other end to give Miami an 85-84 lead.

On the next possession, James tied up a rebound with Hibbert, then won the ensuing jump ball. Not long afterward, Bosh made a 3-pointer and Miami’s lead was up to 88-84 — its biggest of the night.

Indiana scored the next five points to reclaim the lead. James’ three-point play with 3:32 left put the Heat on top 91-89, and Hibbert answered that with a jump hook over the reigning MVP to tie the game for the 10th time.

If there was any remaining lament from losing Game 1 on the final play of overtime, the Pacers made sure it didn’t show. They trailed for all of 15 seconds in the first half, and after neither team held a lead of more than seven in the series opener, Indiana found itself leading by 10 late in the first quarter and by 13 with a minute to go before intermission.

Hibbert was either unguarded or unguardable, making six of his eight shots in the first two quarters and getting to the line on the way to a 19-point half. West, Hill and George combined for 27 more before the break, and when Hibbert scored with 1:25 left the Pacers’ lead was 53-40.

The Heat needed less than a minute to erase more than half of that deficit.

James made a pair of free throws with 59.1 seconds left, Chalmers had a layup and Mike Miller — who hadn’t taken a shot since May 8, but checked in with 3:23 remaining in the half after Allen and Shane Battier continued to struggle from the outside — connected on a 3-pointer as time expired, pulling Miami within 53-47 at the break.

And when Indiana went up nine early in the third quarter, Miami responded with another burst, this time an 11-2 run highlighted by a spectacular reverse dunk by James and capped by two baskets from Wade, the last of which knotted the game at 60-all.

By then, it was clear.

Just like Game 1, this one wouldn’t be decided until the end.

NOTES: South Florida resident Jozy Altidore of the U.S. men’s national soccer team was among those in attendance, two days before he’s set to report to Cleveland and begin training camp for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers. Other celebs in the crowd included newly retired football star and Miami Hurricanes great Ray Lewis, Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. and Rosie O’Donnell. … The Pacers were called for four technicals (one a defensive 3-second) in a 4-minute span of the second quarter. … Indiana reserve Sam Young sprained his left ankle in the third quarter. … Indiana was not planning to fly home after the game, instead staying in Miami one more night and avoiding getting back to Indianapolis around 4 a.m. or even later.