The New York Rangers have acquired Patrick Kane in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks. The Rangers sent a conditional second-round draft pick and a future fourth-rounder to Chicago and a third-rounder in 2025 to Arizona to complete the deal. Kane joins the Rangers after waiving his no-movement clause to leave the only NHL organization he has played for. The 34-year-old won the Stanley Cup three times with the Blackhawks and was playoff MVP in 2013. Getting Kane is the latest big move by New York in the team's pursuit of its first championship since 1994.
Meanwhile, on the ice, Eric Robinson enjoyed the first three-goal game of his career, and the Columbus Blue Jackets weathered a late comeback bid to beat Buffalo 5-3 and stall the Sabres’ playoff push. Boone Jenner and Kent Johnson also scored for a Columbus team that won its league-low seventh road game of the season. Elvis Merzlikins stopped 39 shots and added an assist for the Eastern Conference's last-place team already looking ahead to next year by offloading pending free agents before the NHL trade deadline Friday. Buffalo rookie Jack Quinn had a goal and an assist. J.J. Peterka also scored and Tage Thompson got his team-leading 41st goal for the ninth-place Sabres.
Frederick Gaudreau scored in the shootout to lift the Minnesota Wild to a 2-1 win over the New York Islanders. Filip Gustavsson made 39 saves and stopped two shots in the shootout for Minnesota, which has won six of seven and has a season-high, seven-game point streak. Ryan Reaves scored for the first time as a member of the Wild, who stayed ahead of Winnipeg for third in the Central Division. Josh Bailey scored and Ilya Sorokin stopped 30 shots for New York, which had won four of six.
Charlie McAvoy scored at 4:55 of overtime to give the Boston a 4-3 victory over the Calgary Flames on Tuesday night, extending the NHL-leading Bruins’ winning streak to eight games. Linus Ullmark made a career-high 54 saves. llmark is the league leader in wins, goals-against average and save percentage. He is 31-4-1 this season. In overtime, McAvoy deflected in Patrice Bergeron’s pass just as the game appeared to be headed to a shootout. Dmitry Orlov had two goals and an assist, and Pavel Zacha also scored. The Bruins (47-8-5) have a 13-point lead over Carolina in the overall standings. Blake Coleman, Dillon Dube and Jonathan Huberdeau scored for Calgary.
Final Columbus 5 Buffalo 3
Final Pittsburgh 3 Nashville 1
Final SO Minnesota 2 N-Y Islanders 1
Final OT Boston 4 Calgary 3
Final Montreal 3 San Jose 1
In the NBA:
Giannis returns, Bucks beat Nets 118-104 for 15th straight
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 33 points and 15 rebounds, and the Milwaukee Bucks extended their winning streak to 15 games by beating the Brooklyn Nets 118-104. Jrue Holiday had 14 points and eight assists for the Bucks, who went 10-0 in February and have passed the Boston Celtics for the best record in the NBA. Brook Lopez added 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Khris Middleton had 18 points off the bench. Milwaukee held Brooklyn to 42 second-half points, dealing the Nets their third straight loss and seventh in their past nine games. Mikal Bridges led Brooklyn with 31 points.
Milwaukee 118 Brooklyn 104
Meanwhile, The family of the late Kobe Bryant has agreed to settle legal issues surrounding photos of the body of the NBA star and others who were killed in a 2020 helicopter crash. Attorneys say Los Angeles County agreed to pay Bryant's widow, Vanessa Bryant, and their daughters $13.5 million on top of the $15 million that jurors awarded her at a trial in August. County deputies and firefighters had shot photos of the bodies and shared them with others in their departments. A county lawyer said the pictures were part of their job, but Vanessa Bryant's lawyer said they were shared as “visual gossip.”
NFL
A person familiar with the docket tells The Associated Press that Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder's future is on the agenda to be discussed at upcoming committee meetings in Florida before the annual NFL meeting in Arizona scheduled for late March. The person tells the AP that voting to oust Snyder if he doesn't sell the team remains a possibility. Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay in October said there was merit to remove Snyder as Commanders owner amid multiple ongoing investigations. Dan and wife Tanya hired a firm two weeks later to explore possible transactions related to selling part or all of the team.
Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane says safety Damar Hamlin has a few more visits to doctors before determining whether he can pursue his goal of returning to play football after going into cardiac arrest and having to be resuscitated on field in January. Beane says all is well with the test results Hamlin's had so far in providing the update from the NFL's combine in Indianapolis. He says further testing is required before specialists and the Bills doctors can provide Hamlin clearance to return to the field.
The Green Bay Packers are still waiting for Aaron Rodgers to decide whether or where he'll play next season. Other teams at the NFL's annual scouting combine seem to be jockeying for other quarterbacks. As coaches and general managers kicked off one of the league's biggest offseason events, the discussions took off. Marcus Mariota was cut, Derek Carr became a hot commodity, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were expected to discuss how they'll replace the retired Tom Brady.
MLB
Gavin Lux will miss the season for the Los Angeles Dodgers because of torn ligaments in his right knee. The 25-year-old was in line to become their new starting shortstop before getting hurt in a spring training game. Lux says the toughest part is knowing the opportunity he had before getting hurt. He ducked to avoid a throw when running between second and third base during a spring training game against the San Diego Padres. He then took a couple of steps before his right knee buckled. He says it was a freak thing.
HORSE RACING HOF FINALISTS
Six trainers, one jockey and nine racehorses make up the Hall of Fame finalists on this year’s National Museum of Racing ballot. Finalists include jockey Corey Nakatani, trainers Christophe Clement, Kiaran McLaughlin, Graham Motion, Doug O’Neill, John Sadler and John Shirreffs, and thoroughbreds Arrogate, Blind Luck, California Chrome, Game on Dude, Havre de Grace, Kona Gold, Lady Eli, Rags to Riches and Songbird. Results will be announced April 25th and the induction ceremony is August 4th in Saratoga Springs.
Iditarod
The second half-century for the world’s most famous sled dog race is getting off to a rough start. Only 33 mushers will participate in the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Saturday, the smallest field ever to take their teams nearly 1,000 miles over Alaska’s wilderness. The small turnout is raising concerns about the future of an iconic race that has taken hits from the pandemic, climate change, inflation and the loss of deep-pocketed sponsors, just as multiple big-name champions are retiring. Iditarod CEO Rob Urbach says the race’s financial health is good, and payouts should be a little higher this year.
(C) 2023 Associated Press
