Sporting Kansas City, holding onto an uncomfortable fifth place in the Western Conference, hosts eighth-place Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday at Kansas City, Mo., with the chance to widen its lead and the risk of falling into deeper peril.The third regular-season meeting between SKC (10-11-5, 35 points) and Vancouver (8-11-6, 30 points) is closer than it appears, as Vancouver has a game in hand.With San Jose (7-6-10) having three games in hand on SKC and two on Vancouver, a win on the road against a team with one of the playoff positions would carry a lot of impact for the Whitecaps.Vancouver has lost three straight games and is winless in five in a row, having collected just two points over the last month. The Whitecaps have failed to score in a club-record four straight road matches, spanning 366 minutes, since June 25. They suffered a 2-1 home defeat to San Jose August 12.Despite the recent struggles, no team has more regular-season road wins since the start of 2015 than Vancouvers 10. Pedro Morales leads the Whitecaps with six assists and six goals -- five of which come from the penalty spot, including a successful conversion against Sporting KC on March 12.David Ousted, a 2015 Goalkeeper of the Year finalist, has a league-best 90 saves for a Vancouver defense that has faced 15.2 shots per game, third most in MLS.Sporting is in a stretch of five games in 15 days, including a 2-2 draw Tuesday at Central FC in Trinidad and Tobago in the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League.Regular starters including Dom Dwyer, Benny Feilhaber and Graham Zusi were rested for the trip and are likely to appear Saturday. Dwyer is coming off his fourth multi-goal game of 2016 in Saturdays 2-2 tie at FC Dallas.At halftime, Sporting Kansas City assistant coach and former midfielder Kerry Zavagnin will be inducted into the clubs Sporting Legends hall of honor. Fake Hurricanes Jerseys . The recently retired Stern was elected Friday to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and will be enshrined with the class of 2014 on Aug. Hurricanes Jerseys 2020 . The CFLs leading rusher kept adding to his gaudy numbers this season and scored the winning touchdown with just over two minutes to play. The New Westminster, B.C., native plowed three yards into the end zone for the last score of a heated, see-saw battle between the two teams with the best records in the CFL. https://www.cheaphurricanes.com/ .Y. -- Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo had little trouble picking up his first shutout of the season against a Buffalo Sabres team thats having trouble scoring goals. Carolina Hurricanes Pro Shop . The third-ranked Ivanovic, who won the event in 2008 and 10, served five aces and broke Wickmayer, also a former winner in 2009, five times. "The result looked easier than it really was," Ivanovic said. Carolina Hurricanes Store .Y. -- Syracuse has turned up the defence at the right time all season, and when High Point threatened to pull off a monumental upset the second-ranked Orange did what they do best with their quick hands and savvy play. ATLANTA -- Dustin Johnson was in trouble from the start Thursday, just not for very long. The game feels easy for the U.S. Open champion, who began his bid for the FedEx Cup title on Thursday with a 4-under 66 to share the lead at the Tour Championship.Johnson had 165 yards from the sand and worried about getting it over the lip of the bunker. He hit 8-iron to 2 feet for birdie and was on his way to his sixth consecutive round at 68 or lower.It was a very nice shot to start the day, Johnson said with a smile.Hideki Matsuyama of Japan ran off three straight birdies early in his round and finished with a birdie on the par-5 18th -- the nines have been switched at East Lake -- for a 66, while Kevin Chappell joined them with a bogey-free round.Johnson is coming off his third victory of the year at the BMW Championship two weeks ago, and there was no indication that anything has changed. He hit a reasonable amount of fairways (eight out of 14) considering the dry, fast conditions, and only once when he was out of position did he fail to save par.He is the No. 1 seed in the FedEx Cup, and the top five seeds only have to win the Tour Championship to claim the $10 million FedEx Cup bonus. The top five were all among the dozen players who broke par in the opening round.Jason Day, the worlds No. 1 player who hasnt won in four months, dropped his only shot on the opening hole and was at 67, along with Kevin Kisner and Si Woo Kim.Id like to give Dustin a good run for it, Day said.Jordan Spieth didnt look like he would post anything near a 68 after he was 3 over through two holes. The defending FedEx Cup champion let his short game bail him out in a big way. Spieth holed three straight putts from the 30-foot range -- one of them for par -- and raced back into the mix on the back nine by holing a bunker shot for birdie right of the 13th green and finishing with a pair of 20-foot birdies.This is a course I feel very comfortable on, Spieth said. I feel if I play really solid golf here -- and it doesnt have to be perfect golf -- I can shoot 8 under on this golf course. I have no doubt. It fits me really well.Also at 68 was Rory McIlroy, who had consecutive double bogeys toward the end of the front nine and pulled himself together with four straight birdies on the back.dddddddddddd. McIlroy had a 68 without making birdie on either of the par 5s.That wasnt the case for Phil Mickelson. He started his day by holing a 95-foot birdie putt. His fortunes turned on the par-5 sixth hole when his second shot went over the green and up against a fence, leading to bogey. He hit his next tee shot out of play and made triple bogey, and followed that with a double bogey with a drive into the water. Mickelson played 1 under from there to salvage a 74. He didnt hit a fairway until the 17th hole, and then headed straight to the practice range.These are the kind of days Johnson rarely has.Johnson has finished out of the top 10 only twice in the last four months -- one of them a missed cut at the PGA Championship out of nowhere -- and is making it tough on everyone. While everyone has a mathematical chance of winning the FedEx Cup, that depends on how the top five fare.And one of those is Johnson, who is faring quite well at the moment.Chappell, three times a runner-up this year, would have to win and have Johnson finish worse than ninth to win the $10 million bonus.With the form Dustin is in, I dont think that scenario is going to happen for me, Chappell said. But theres a chance to win a golf tournament, and thats all Im really focused on.Hes not worried about the Ryder Cup either. Chappell said he hasnt been contacted by U.S. captain Davis Love III, nor was he among three players not on the team who were invited to practice at Hazeltine over the weekend.Of that trio, Justin Thomas opened with a 68.Bubba Watson made two late bogeys from the rough and had a 72 to tie for 15th, while Daniel Berger shot 40 on the front nine and shot 74.Theres nothing I can do now, Watson said. Davis said its all about strategies and different things. Its not about my play. Its not about anybodys play. So I cant worry about that. And the golf course is so tough, Ive got to worry about this golf course. ' ' '