NHL
Artemi Panarin scored his team-best 24th goal, Vincent Trocheck added three assists and the New York Rangers defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1 last night. Chris Kreider, Jacob Trouba and Jimmy Vesey also scored for the Rangers, who rebounded from Tuesday’s 6-1 home loss to Carolina and improved to 10-1-0 in games after a loss this season. Igor Shesterkin made 22 saves. Former Ranger Colin Blackwell scored for Chicago, which lost its fourth straight and for the sixth time in seven games. The Rangers have won six of their last seven meetings with the Blackhawks.
Bo Horvat scored twice, the second in New York’s three-goal third period, and Ilya Sorokin made 24 saves to help the Islanders beat the Arizona Coyotes 5-1 last night. Anders Lee and Julien Gauthier scored 52 seconds apart for a 4-1 lead early in the third, and Horvat skated in alone for an unassisted goal with seven minutes remaining. Mike Reilly also scored for the Islanders, who had lost three of four. Matthew Barzal had two assists to give him 401 points in the NHL. Barzal, named to his third All-Star team Thursday, has six assists in his last six games. Nick Schmaltz scored and Connor Ingram made 23 saves for Arizona. The Coyotes had won six of eight.
Buffalo rookie Devon Levi made 32 saves in his first game at hometown Bell Centre to help the Sabres beat the Montreal Canadiens 6-1 on Thursday night. The 22-year-old Levi, from nearby Dollard-des-Ormeaux, grew up watching the Canadiens and idolizing goalie Carey Price. Levi said there were 99 family members and friends in attendance. Tage Thompson had two goals and an assist, Jeff Skinner added a goal and three assists, Casey Mittelstadt and Jack Quinn each had a goal and an assist and Rasmus Dahlin scored into an empty net. The Sabres improved to 16-19-4. Joel Armia scored for Montreal, and Jake Allen stopped 32 shots. Returning from a seven-game trip, the Canadiens dropped to 16-17-5.
Sidney Crosby scored on the power play to snap a third-period tie and added two assists, lifting the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 6-5 win over the Boston Bruins. Crosby’s goal broke a 5-all deadlock and halted a four-game winning streak for the first-place Bruins, who rallied from three down to tie it. The Penguins also got goals from Drew O’Connor, Ryan Graves, Jake Guentzel, Lars Eller and Jeff Carter. Alex Nedeljkovic made 24 saves. Brad Marchand scored twice for the Bruins, and David Pastrnak had a goal and two assists. Morgan Geekie added a goal and an assist, and Jeremy Swayman stopped 29 shots.
Johnny Gaudreau scored in the shootout, Damon Severson and Jake Bean netted goals in the third period and the Columbus Blue Jackets came back to defeat the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 on Thursday night. Gaudreau, Columbus’ first shooter, beat Flyers goalie Samuel Ersson and Daniil Tarasov clinched the victory for the Blue Jackets with a glove save on Tyson Foerster. Travis Konecny scored both goals for Philadelphia. The Flyers dropped their fourth consecutive contest and sixth in the last seven.
Robert Thomas had a goal and an assist to lead the St. Louis Blues over the Vancouver Canucks 2-1. Thomas, selected to his first All-Star Game earlier in the day, broke a 1-all tie at 8:03 of the third period, picking the top left corner of the net from the high slot for his team-leading 16th goal of the season. Colton Parayko also scored for the Blues, who snapped a two-game skid. Jordan Binnington made 25 saves to improve to 12-11-1. Conor Garland scored for the Canucks, who had won eight of 11. Thatcher Demko made 30 saves but fell to 18-8-1. The Blues have earned points in six straight home games against Vancouver, going 4-0-2 during that span.
Defenseman Darren Raddysh scored his first two goals of the season and Victor Hedman had a power-play goal in the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 4-1 victory over the injury-ravaged Minnesota Wild on Thursday night. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves to end a three-start losing streak and Brandon Hagel added an empty-net goal for the Lightning. The Wild took their fourth consecutive loss. Wild goalie Marc-Andre Fleury missed for the third straight game the chance to match Patrick Roy for second place on the NHL victory list. Zach Bogosian scored for the Wild to end Vasilevskiy’s shutout bid with 4:25 left.
Connor Zary, Blake Coleman, Rasmus Andersson and Yegor Sharangovich each had a goal and an assist in the Calgary Flames’ 6-3 victory over the Nashville Predators on Thursday night. Nazem Kadri and Noah Hanifin also scored and Dan Vladar made 30 saves in the Flames’ third straight victory. Filip Forsberg, Colton Sissons and Michael McCarron scored and Juuse Saros made 21 saves for Nashville. It had won two in a row. The teams combined for six goals in a wild opening period.
Nathan MacKinnon scored his second goal at 3:40 of overtime as the Colorado Avalanche rallied from a two-goal deficits to beat the Dallas Stars 5-4 on Thursday night. Jonathan Drouin had two goals for his seventh career multigoal game and Mikko Rantanen also scored for Colorado. Alexandar Georgiev stopped 28 shots. Tyler Seguin scored two goals, and Joe Pavelski and Evgenii Dadonov also scored for the Stars. Scott Wedgewood made 29 saves.
Tomas Tatar and Andre Burakovsky scored 3:43 apart late in the second period as the Seattle Kraken beat the Ottawa Senators 4-1 for their sixth straight victory. Yanni Gourde scored in the first period and Vince Dunn had an empty-net goal and an assist for the Kraken, who are riding a franchise-record 10-game point streak. Joey Daccord followed up his Winter Classic shutout with 32 saves, and Jordan Eberle added two assists. Parker Kelly scored his third goal of the season and Joonas Korpisalo stopped 24 shots for the Senators, who have lost three of four. Daccord kept Ottawa off the board until Kelly’s deflection with 7:40 left, giving him the longest shutout streak in Kraken history.
Sam Reinhart had a goal and an assist and the Florida Panthers defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 4-1. The Panthers won for the sixth straight time, while goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves to win his fifth straight start. Matthew Tkachuk and Carter Verhaeghe also registered a goal and an assist, while Sam Bennett added a goal. The Panthers completed a season sweep of the Knights, exacting revenge from last season’s five-game loss in the Stanley Cup Final. Pavel Dorofeyev scored for Vegas, which has lost six of its last seven.
Gabriel Vilardi broke a tie on a power play at 3:14 of the third period, Connor Hellebuyck made 27 saves and the Winnipeg Jets beat the San Jose Sharks 2-1 on Thursday night to extend their points streak to a franchise-record 10 games. NHL-worst San Jose has lost 10 straight to fall to 9-27-3. The Sharks began the season with 11 consecutive losses. Winnipeg has won four in a row to improve to 24-9-4. Morgan Barron also scored Winnipeg, which has allowed three or fewer goals in a franchise-record 27 straight games. Alexander Barabanov for San Jose, which hasn’t recorded a point since beating the Jets 2-1 on Dec. 12. Hellebuyck, named to his fourth All-Star Game earlier Thursday, improved to 19-6-3.
Robby Fabbri scored twice, Lucas Raymond and Patrick Kane converted in the shootout and the Detroit Red Wings defeated the Los Angeles Kings 4-3. Fabbri’s second two-goal game of the season helped Detroit snap a six-game losing streak to Los Angeles. Jeff Petry also scored for the Red Wings and Daniel Sprong had a pair of assists. Alex Lyon made 40 saves. Adrian Kempe had his second two-goal game in eight days, but it wasn’t enough as the Kings lost their fourth straight. Kempe has eight points in the last six games. Matt Roy scored his first goal this season for Los Angeles. Alex Laferriere and Pierre-Luc Dubois assisted on both of Kempe’s goals. David Rittich stopped 23 shots.
NBA
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 44 points and 14 rebounds and the Milwaukee Bucks overcame an electric performance by Victor Wembanyama on his 20th birthday to beat the San Antonio Spurs 125-121 on Thursday night. Wembanyama had 27 points, and Devin Vassell led the Spurs with 34. Wembanyama’s first meeting with Antetokounmpo was delayed by the French rookie’s sprained ankle Dec. 19 in Milwaukee, but it proved to be worth the wait. Antetokounmpo drew a charge on Wembanyama after hitting a 3-pointer to it at 118 with three minutes remaining. The Greek star hit his second 3-pointer of the game 34 seconds later to give the Bucks a 121-118 lead.Wembanyama responded by blocking Damian Lillard’s layup and making a 3-pointer to tie it with 53 second left.
Nikola Jokic hit a 40-footer as time expired and the Denver Nuggets stunned the Golden State Warriors 130-127 on Thursday night after trailing by 18 points in the fourth quarter. Jokic had 34 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds. He tied it at 127 with a short jumper with 26 seconds left. Golden State’s final possession ended with Stephen Curry’s turnover, setting the the stage for Jokic’s winner from near the right sideline. The defending champion Nuggets have won 11 of 13 and six straight on the road. Aaron Gordon scored 30 points for Denver. Curry led Golden State with 30 points.
The NBA fined the Brooklyn Nets $100,000 on Thursday, marking the first time a team was sanctioned for violating the league’s player participation policy that went into effect this season. The Nets held out four rotation players — starters Spencer Dinwiddie, Nic Claxton and Cam Johnson, along with key reserve Dorian Finney-Smith — in what became a 144-122 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Dec. 27. Three of the players Brooklyn started that night logged 12 minutes or less.
NFL
Dalvin Cook is joining the Baltimore Ravens for a playoff run after being waived by the New York Jets. Cook’s agents with LAA Sports & Entertainment confirmed the move to The Associated Press on Thursday. It came after Cook cleared waivers and became a free agent. The four-time Pro Bowl running back will have a chance to get familiar with the Ravens’ offense before the team opens its postseason during the AFC divisional round in 2 1/2 weeks. NFL Network first reported the decision by Baltimore to sign Cook. ESPN reported Cook will first be added to the Ravens’ practice squad.
Fire officials say a child playing with a cigarette lighter started a fire at the $6.9 million home owned by Miami Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill. Davie Fire Marshal Robert Taylor tells The Associated Press that the fire was accidental. He did not provide the age of the child, or the amount of damage caused by the fire. Hill was at Dolphins practice when the fire broke out. He left when he got word about the blaze. Miami television station WSVN showed a large amount of black smoke coming from the roof as firefighters doused the house with water. No one was injured in the fire.
WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
UAlbany 69 Bryant 50
Manhattan 60 Siena 53
Rider 63 Iona 56
North Carolina 75 Syracuse 51
UVM 67 New Hampshire 58
The NCAA and ESPN have agreed to a $920 million, eight-year deal that will give the network exclusive rights to 40 championships, including the Division I women’s basketball tournament. The women's side of March Madness has been growing in popularity and the association has been accused of undervaluing it in the past. NCAA President Charlie Baker told The Associated Press the deal has an average annual value of $115 million. That's an increase of more than 300% per year on what the previous 14-year deal with ESPN was paying the association. The deal covers 21 women’s and 19 men’s sports.
The AP Top 25 men's college basketball poll has been a mainstay for 75 years, but much like the game itself, it has evolved with the times. What was once a top 20, and contracted to a top 10, reached its now-familiar 25-team ranking in 1989. The panel of 63 voters has become more inclusive, adding more women and minorities to the mix. But the biggest evolution may be in how those voters consume the game. In the early years, newspapers provided them with scores, box scores and, if they were lucky, game stories. These days, just about every game is available to watch somewhere, whether it be on TV or streamed online.
OLYMPICS
Officials say South African athlete Oscar Pistorius has been released from prison on parole after serving nearly nine years in prison for killing his girlfriend and is now at home. The Department of Corrections gave no more details of Pistorius’ release. The announcement came at around 8:30 a.m., indicating that officials released the world-famous double-amputee Olympic runner in the early hours. Pistorius has served nearly nine years of his 13 years and five months murder sentence for killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day 2013. He was approved for parole in November. Serious offenders in South Africa are eligible for parole after serving at least half their sentence.
PGA TOUR
Sahith Theegala is the leader at Kapalua after the first round of the year at The Sentry. He had six straight birdies to start the back nine and shot 64 in the PGA Tour season opener. All the emotion belonged to Collin Morikawa. He has deep ties to Maui and was moved by the opening ceremony of a Hawaiian prayer and blessing. So much is geared toward relief efforts for the deadly Lahaina fires in August. That's the historic town 10 miles away where Morikawa's grandparents were born. He hit the opening tee shot and posted a 65. FedEx Cup champion Viktor Hovland had the same score.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Former Kansas State quarterback Will Howard has announced his intention to transfer to Ohio State on social media. He will replace Kyle McCord, who started most of the season for the Buckeyes but is transferring to Syracuse. Howard also considered Miami and USC along with declaring for the NFL draft before choosing Ohio State. Kansas State has been expected to turn over its offense to five-star prospect Avery Johnson, and that was likely a factor in Howard's decision to enter the transfer portal. He's started 27 games and thrown for 5,786 yards and 48 touchdowns during his career.
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