NFL
Bailey Zappe threw three first-half touchdown passes, and the New England Patriots snapped a five-game skid while damaging the playoff hopes of the Pittsburgh Steelers with a 21-18 victory. Zappe passed for 240 yards in his second start for the Patriots, who became the second two-win team in five days to hand the Steelers a potentially season-altering loss at home. Hunter Henry had two touchdown catches for New England. Ezekiel Elliott had 140 yards from scrimmage and caught a TD for the NFL's lowest-scoring offense. Mitch Trubisky had a touchdown pass and a rushing TD for Pittsburgh but made some questionable throws in place of the injured Kenny Pickett.
Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott has acknowledged regret for crediting the 9/11 hijackers for their coordination during a team meeting four years ago. McDermott had cited the hijackers while stressing the importance of communication. Upon realizing how his message was being interpreted, McDermott said he called a second team meeting an hour later to apologize to his players. He says he plans to do so again with his current team. McDermott's comments during the meeting were revealed in an article posted on the Substack page of NFL writer Tyler Dunne. The article cited numerous unnamed sources and McDermott did not dispute the reporting.
NBA
Tyrese Haliburton had 27 points and 13 assists and the Indiana Pacers beat the Milwaukee Bucks 128-119 on Thursday to advance to the championship game in the NBA’s inaugural In-Season Tournament. On Saturday night, the Pacers will face the Los Angeles Lakers, a 133-89 winner over New Orleans in the second semifinal. Myles Turner added 26 points for the Pacers. Obi Toppin had 14 on 6-of-8 shooting, Isaiah Jackson chipped in 11 and Bruce Brown had 10. Giannis Antetokounmpo had 37 points and 10 rebounds for Milwaukee. Damian Lillard added 24 points, Khris Middleton had 20 and Brook Lopez 18.
LeBron James scored 30 points in less than three quarters and the Los Angeles Lakers steamrolled the New Orleans Pelicans 133-89 on Thursday night to reach the championship game in the NBA In-Season Tournament. The Lakers will play the surprising Indiana Pacers on Saturday night for the inaugural NBA Cup. Indiana advanced with a 128-119 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks in the other semifinal. Unlike the other tournament games, that one will not count in the regular-season standings. Austin Reaves scored 17 points for Los Angeles, Anthony Davis had 16 points and 15 rebounds and Taurean Prince finished with 15 points. Trey Murphy III led the Pelicans with 14 points. Zion Williamson had 13 points and Herbert Jones 10.
MLB
Juan Soto’s arrival is a sign the New York Yankees want stars to help them rebound from their worst season in three decades. Acquiring the three-time All-Star outfielder from San Diego was a vintage George Steinbrenner move. The Yankees got Soto and Gold Glove center fielder Trent Grisham for right-handed pitchers Michael King, Jhony Brito, Randy Vásquez and Drew Thorpe along with catcher Kyle Higashioka. General manager Brian Cashman says “we certainly want to try under the Steinbrenner leadership to make this the mecca of baseball.”
NHL
Mathew Barzal had two goals and two assists, Bo Horvat also scored twice and picked up an assist, and the New York Islanders beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 7-3. Pierre Engvall, Cal Clutterbuck and Kyle Palmieri also scored for New York, which extended its point streak to four games. Semyon Varlamov finished with 32 saves in his first win at home this season. Adam Fantilli scored twice and added an assist for the Blue Jackets, who lost their third straight. Emil Bremstrom also scored and Spencer Martin made 28 saves.
JJ Peterka, Tage Thompson and Victor Olofsson scored and the Buffalo Sabres snapped a four-game losing streak with a 3-1 win over the Boston Bruins. Devon Levi made 30 saves for Buffalo, which beat the Atlantic Division-leading Bruins for the first time in nearly a calendar year. The Bruins had won three straight against Buffalo. The Sabres last beat Boston on Dec. 31, 2022. Brad Marchand scored for Boston, which had its four-game winning streak halted. Marchand also recorded the 1,000th penalty of his career. Linus Ullmark finished with 33 saves, and the Bruins were outshot 35-29.
Simon Nemec scored his first career goal midway through the second period, Akira Schmid made 16 of his 37 saves in the third and the New Jersey Devils beat the skidding Seattle Kraken 2-1 for their fifth victory in six games. Nemec, the No. 2 pick in the 2022 draft, made his debut last week at home against San Jose and had two assists in his first game. His first goal was largely due to the play made by Jesper Brett carrying the puck behind the net after Seattle was unable to clear its defensive zone. Ondrej Palat also scored for the Devils. Tye Kartye scored for the Kraken, who dropped their sixth straight.
Travis Konecny scored twice, Carter Hart made 25 saves and the Philadelphia Flyers beat Arizona 4-1 on Thursday night to end the Coyotes’ winning streak at five. Cam York had a goal and an assist and Joel Farabee and also scored for the Flyers. They have won three straight, four of six and nine of 13. Lawson Crouse scored for the Coyotes, who made NHL history by beating the last five Stanley Cup champions during the winning streak. Connor Ingram, who made 22 saves, also had his five-game winning streak broken. He gave up only five goals during the streak, which included each of his two shutouts this season.
Quinton Byfield had two goals and an assist, Cam Talbot earned a shutout and the Los Angeles Kings beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-0 Thursday night for their NHL record 11th road victory to open the season. The Kings (16-4-3) are one road win away from matching the NHL record of 12 consecutive road victories at any point during the season. Drew Doughty had a goal and an assist and Trevor Moore also scored for Los Angeles. Anze Kopitar had three assists and Talbot made 24 saves. Montreal was shut out by Los Angeles for the second time this season. The Kings earned a 4-0 win in Los Angeles on Nov. 25. Samuel Montembeault stopped 38 shots for Montrea
Joseph Woll made 29 saves before leaving because of an injury midway through the third period and the Toronto Maple Leafs held on to beat the Ottawa Senators 4-3 on Thursday night. Woll left after stopping a shot from Rourke Chartier. Toronto led 3-2 at the time, and William Nylander made it 4-2 with 6:57 remaining. Mitch Marner, David Kampf and Calle Jarnkrok also scored for the Maple Leafs, and Martin Jones stopped none of 10 shots in relief of Woll. Josh Norris, Jacob Bernard-Docker and Claude Giroux scored for Ottawa. Anton Forsberg stopped 18 shots.
William Eklund scored in the closing seconds of overtime, Tomas Hertl had a hat trick and the San Jose Sharks erased a three-goal, third-period deficit to defeat the New York Islanders 5-4. Kevin Labanc also scored and Kaapo Kahkonen made 33 saves for the Sharks. Julien Gauthier, Brock Nelson, Mike Reilly and Ryan Pulock scored for the Islanders who began a six-game homestand with a loss. Simon Holmstrom and Bo Horvat each added two assists and Ilya Sorokin finished with 27 saves.
Ryan McDonagh and Roman Josi each had a goal and an assist, and the Nashville Predators beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-1. Juuso Parssinen, Filip Forsberg and Yakov Trenin also scored and Juuse Saros made 32 saves for Nashville, which has won three straight and nine of 11. Alex Barré-Boulet scored and Jonas Johansson made 25 saves for the Lightning, who had their two-game winning streak snapped. Nashville went 2-for-3 on the power play while holding the Lightning scoreless on their four chances with the man advantage.
Roope Hintz scored twice in the third period and the Dallas Stars rallied to beat the Washington Capitals 5-4 in a shootout. The Stars ended their two-game skid and spoiled another milestone achievement by Alex Ovechkin. Jason Robertson scored the only goal in the shootout to hand the Capitals a third consecutive defeat despite Ovechkin recording his 1,500th regular-season NHL point. Scott Wedgewood made 23 saves in regulation and overtime and three more in the shootout to send the Stars home from their road trip on a happy note.
Petr Mrazek made 37 saves in his 25th career shutout, and the Chicago Blackhawks stopped a four-game slide with a 1-0 victory over the Anaheim Ducks. Philipp Kurashev scored for last-place Chicago, which had dropped 10 of 12 overall. Connor Bedard picked up an assist while Leo Carlsson was mostly quiet in a matchup of the top two picks in this year’s NHL draft. Bedard went No. 1 overall to Chicago, followed by Carlsson going to Anaheim. It was Mrazek’s first shutout since April 4, 2021, for Carolina against Dallas. Lukas Dostal made 24 stops for Anaheim, which lost for the 10th time in 11 games.
Kyle Connor scored twice, Connor Hellebuyck stopped 32 shots in his 250th career win and the Winnipeg Jets defeated the Colorado Avalanche 4-2. The Jets won their third straight coming off a three-game skid. Also, third-place Winnipeg moved within two points of Central Division-leading Colorado. Josh Morrissey finished with a goal and an assist for Winnipeg, giving him 12 points in his last nine games. Adam Lowry also scored. Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and assist and Joel Kiviranta also scored for Colorado. Alexandar Georgiev finished with 24 saves.
Blake Coleman had a short-handed goal and an assist and the Calgary Flames rallied to beat the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2. Coleman’s scored the go-ahead goal at 11:44 of the third period. Ramus Andersson and Connor Zary also scored in the third for Calgary, which faced a two-goal deficit after one period. Calgary’s Dustin Wolf made 28 saves in his second career NHL start. Stefan Noesen and Michael Bunting scored for Carolina. Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 24 shots.
Casey DeSmith made 26 saves for his first shutout of the season and 10th in the NHL and the Vancouver Canucks beat Minnesota 2-0 on Thursday night to end the Wild’s winning streak at four. Nils Hoglander and Teddy Blueger scored to help Vancouver improve to 17-9-1. Filip Gustavsson made 15 saves for Minnesota. The Wild dropped to 9-11-4. They had won their last eight meetings with Vancouver.
LIV GOLF
Jon Rahm is now part of Saudi-funded LIV Golf. The shocking news was confirmed when Rahm donned a black LIV Golf jacket during an appearance on Fox News. Rahm leaves right as the PGA Tour and the Saudi backers of LIV Golf are racing to finalize an agreement to become commercial partners. Those talks now are in jeopardy. One of golf's best players and the current Masters champion going to the rival league is certain to deepen the divide in golf. The deal is reported to be in the $500 million range, which likely includes equity in his new team.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels is The Associated Press college football player of the year. Daniels received 35 of the 51 first-place votes and 130 total points from AP Top 25 poll voters. Washington quarterback Michael Penix was second with 15 first-place votes and 97 points. Oregon QB Bo Nix was third ahead of Ohio State receiver Marvin Harrison and Oklahoma State running back Ollie Gordon II. Daniels is the second LSU player in five seasons to win the award; Joe Burrow won in 2019, when he also won the Heisman Trophy.
Duke has hired Penn State defensive coordinator Manny Diaz as its head coach. The school announced Diaz’s hiring on Thursday night and is finalizing plans for a news conference Saturday. Diaz replaces Mike Elko, who was hired as coach by Texas A&M. Diaz spent three seasons as Miami's coach before being fired in 2021. He has spent the past two seasons at Penn State and led some of the nation's top defensive units. He also had stops as an assistant at Mississippi State, Louisiana Tech, Texas, Middle Tennessee and North Carolina State.
NCAA
A federal lawsuit filed by a group of states alleges the NCAA’s transfer rule for college athletes violates antitrust law. The lawsuit filed in West Virginia challenges the NCAA’s authority to impose a one-year delay in the eligibility of certain athletes who transfer. The suit says the rule “unjustifiably" restrains these athletes' ability to engage in the market for their labor. NCAA rules allow underclassmen to transfer once without having to sit out a year. Any additional transfer as an undergraduate would require a waiver from the NCAA for the athlete to compete immediately. The lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order against the NCAA from enforcing the transfer rule.
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