NHL:
David Pastrnak had two goals and an assist and the Boston Bruins rolled past the Western Conference-leading Colorado Avalanche 5-1. Patrice Bergeron, Jake DeBrusk and Charlie Coyle also scored for Boston, which has won two straight. Jeremy Swayman had 28 saves and Taylor Hall added three assists. Pastrnak now has a team-leading 27 goals on the season.
Nathan MacKinnon had the lone goal for Colorado, which had its two-game win streak snapped. Darcy Kuemper finished with 40 saves.
In other NHL ice action:
Tyler Motte had a goal and an assist, and the Vancouver Canucks beat the Seattle Kraken 5-2. Travis Hamonic, Vasily Podkolzin, Bo Horvat and Tanner Pearson also scored for the Canucks. Jared McCann, who was playing in his 400th NHL game, and Mark Giordano scored for the Kraken, who lost their fourth straight game. Thatcher Demko stopped 25 of 27 shots for the Canucks. Kraken goalie Chris Driedger made a season-high 41 saves. Vancouver’s 46 shots was also a season high.
Brett Pesce scored 4 minutes, 42 seconds into overtime, Vincent Trocheck had a goal and an assist and the Metropolitan Division-leading Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3. Nino Niederreiter and Teuvo Teravainen also scored for the Hurricanes, who won their third straight. Gerry Mayhew, Patrick Brown and Oskar Lindblom tallied goals for the Flyers. Philadelphia, playing its second contest of a club-record eight-game homestand, lost its fifth in a row and 18th in the past 20.
Elias Lindholm’s go-ahead goal with 47 seconds remaining extended his goal streak to eight games and the Calgary Flames tied a franchise record with their 10th consecutive victory, winning 3-1 over the Winnipeg Jets on Monday. Sean Monahan and Tyler Toffoli, into an empty net, also scored for Calgary, which wrapped up a perfect seven-game homestand. The 10-game winning streak ties a franchise record. That's only happened twice before. Once was in the 2016-17 season with the streak beginning five years ago to this day. The other time was in 1978-79 when the franchise was still in Atlanta.
Josh Anderson and Cole Caufield had three-point games and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2. Anderson had two goals and an assist, and Caufield a goal and two assists as the Canadiens won their third straight. Rem Pitlick also scored and Brendan Gallagher had two assists. Samuel Montembeault made 35 saves. Ilya Mikheyev and Pierre Engvall scored for Toronto. Petr Mrazek allowed five goals on 25 shots.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL:
Malaki Branham scored 27 points and No. 22 Ohio State rallied to beat Indiana 80-69 in overtime. Indiana led by four with 2:47 to go in regulation, but E.J. Liddell forced a steal with 1:11 remaining and slammed home the tying dunk with six seconds left.
The Hoosiers jumped ahead by two early in overtime, but Jamari Wheeler hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 2:58 left as Ohio State took the lead for good.
Liddell had 16 points and Eugene Brown III scored 10. The Buckeyes led by 10 with 12:06 remaining in the second half, but the Hoosiers used an 18-4 run to grab a 59-55 lead with 5:09 left.
Xavier Johnson led Indiana with 16 points, going 10 of 10 from the free-throw line.
In other college basketball action:
Adam Flagler scored a career-high 29 points and James Akinjo’s jumper with 14 seconds remaining provided the winning points as No. 10 Baylor defeated Oklahoma State 66-64 in overtime. Oklahoma State’s Isaac Likekele missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer that would have won it. Matthew Mayer added 12 points for Baylor. Bryce Thompson scored 15 points and Moussa Cisse added 12 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks for the Cowboys, Oklahoma State beat Baylor 61-54 on Jan. 15 when the Bears were ranked No. 1.
Jaylen Clark had 16 points and nine rebounds in his third straight start and No. 12 UCLA avoided a second-half collapse to beat Arizona State 66-52. UCLA improved to 20-5 overall and 12-4 in the Pac-12 with its third consecutive victory. Arizona State fell to 10-16 overall and 6-10 in league play. The Sun Devils closed within one point to cap a 24-12 surge that opened the second half. But the Bruins answered with a 14-2 run to stay in front for good. DJ Horne, Jay Heath and Marreon Jackson scored nine points each for ASU.
Michigan basketball coach Juwan Howard has been suspended the final five games of the regular season and fined $40,000 for hitting a Wisconsin assistant in the head, triggering a postgame melee. The Big Ten Conference also suspended three players one game for the altercation following the 15th-ranked Badgers’ 77-63 win on Sunday: Michigan’s Moussa Diabate and Terrance Williams II, and Jahcobi Neath of Wisconsin.
Wisconsin coach Greg Gard was fined $10,000 for violating the conference’s sportsmanship policy, but was not suspended.
Howard is expected to be back for the Big Ten tournament, which begins March 9 in Indianapolis.
Gonzaga is the unanimous No. 1 in the latest Associated Press men’s basketball poll. The Zags aren’t likely to budge the way they’re dominating the West Coast Conference.
Gonzaga remained at No. 1 for the second straight week, receiving all 61 votes from a media panel. Arizona moved up a spot to No. 2 for its highest ranking in four years, with Auburn, Purdue and Kansas rounding out the top five.
Gonzaga is winning its WCC games by an average of 27 points. Saint Mary’s gave the WCC two ranked teams and No. 25 Iowa moved into the poll for the first time this season.
Expect the NCAA Men’s Final Four to have a more familiar look and feel to it this spring. And that’s not just because it’ll be in New Orleans for a record sixth time. A capacity crowd of about 70,000 is expected in the Superdome. The free, open Friday practices and the college All-Star game are back on the schedule. So are the sprawling Fan Fest and March Madness Music Festival. The National Association of Basketball Coaches convention that is traditionally held in conjunction with the Final Four also remains on track to take place as an in-person event for the first time since 2019.
NBA:
Goran Dragic plans to sign with Brooklyn, giving the Nets a veteran boost in the backcourt. Agent Bill Duffy said Monday that Dragic was going to Brooklyn, where the Nets need guard help after trading James Harden to Philadelphia. Ben Simmons, acquired in that deal, still isn’t ready to play after sitting out all season, and Kyrie Irving still can’t play in home games because he hasn’t met New York City’s vaccine requirement. Dragic played in just five games this season in Toronto, where he was traded from Miami in the offseason in the deal for Kyle Lowry.
Elsewhere around the NBA:
When the All-Star break ends, the stretch run begins. The All-Star weekend came at about the 60-game mark for teams, far beyond the midpoint of the 82-game schedule. It’s a sprint to the finish now. The Nets could have Kevin Durant and Ben Simmons on the floor soon to spark a surge. But, the Lakers might be without Anthony Davis for more than a month, putting a heavy burden on LeBron James.
MLB:
Baseball negotiations resumed with renewed intensity Monday in an effort to salvage opening day, and Major League Baseball made slight moves toward locked-out players. With perhaps a week left to salvage opening day, union head Tony Clark attended negotiations for the first time since the MLB lockout began, accompanied by New York Mets stars Max Scherzer and Francisco Lindor.
MLB increased its offer of a bonus pool for pre-arbitration players by $5 million to $20 million, a fraction of the $115 million the union has asked for.
Clubs also increased their proposal for a lottery for the amateur draft from the top three picks to the top four. Players have asked for the top eight.
HORSE RACING:
Medina Spirit has been stripped of the victory in last year’s Kentucky Derby and Mandaloun has been declared the winner in a ruling by state racing stewards.
The since-deceased Medina Spirit tested positive after the race last May for a steroid, betamethasone, that is legal in Kentucky but banned on race day. Medina Spirit finished half a length ahead of Mandaloun in the race, giving trainer Bob Baffert what was then his seventh Kentucky Derby title. Baffert was subsequently banned for two years by Churchill Downs following the positive test.
Monday’s decision by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission makes Medina Spirit the second horse in the 147-year history of the race to be disqualified for a banned substance. The first was Dancer’s Image in 1968.
TENNIS:
Novak Djokovic has won his first match of the year after beating Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 6-3 to open the Dubai Championships. Djokovic couldn’t defend his Australian Open title last month because he was deported from the country for being unvaccinated. The United Arab Emirates allowed him entry, and Djokovic cashed in at a tournament he’s won five times. He next faces Karen Khachanov or Alex de Minaur.
NFL:
Wes Phillips will follow Kevin O’Connell to Minnesota from the Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams. Phillips will serve as offensive coordinator for the Vikings under their new head coach O’Connell. Phillips was one of five more assistants for O’Connell’s staff finalized on Monday. The others are special teams coordinator Matt Daniels, defensive backs coach Daronte Jones, assistant special teams coach Ben Kotwica and outside linebackers coach and pass rush specialist Mike Smith. Phillips was the tight ends coach for the Rams for the last three years and added the passing game coordinator title in 2021.
In other NFL news:
The Houston Texans on Monday announced their full coaching staff under new coach Lovie Smith. New additions to the staff include tight ends coach Tim Berbenich, who spent last season as a running backs coach for the Raiders and offensive line coach George Warhop, who had the same job in Jacksonville for the past three seasons.
The NFL scouting combine will have a host of COVID-19 mitigation measures that are rankling agents and prospects. The combine told all 324 players invited to the league’s annual evaluation gathering that they’ll have to spend their time in a bubble and can only bring one support person such as a personal trainer. Most prospects have a team of support that includes nutritionists, therapists and others. Agents are miffed the restrictions were issued over the weekend with the Omicron variant wave receding. The NFL has resisted that idea of keeping players in a bubble during the pandemic.
SOCCER:
Pelé has extended a scheduled stay in a Sao Paulo hospital due to a urinary infection. Hospital Albert Einstein says in a statement on Monday that 81-year-old Pelé came in on Feb. 13 to continue treatment for his colon cancer, and days later doctors found the infection. The hospital says his clinical condition is stable, and his release should take place in the next few days. Pelé has had chemotherapy to treat the tumor that was found during routine exams at the end of August.
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