NHL
Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy scored in the shootout and the Boston Bruins snapped a four-game losing streak with a 4-3 win over the Dallas Stars. Jeremy Swayman stopped 8 of 9 shots in the shootout and finished the game with 43 saves. Bruins forward David Pastrnak tied the game on a 6-on-5 advantage with 1:45 remaining in regulation. Dallas defenseman Esa Lindell snapped a 2-2 tie with 9:16 left in the third period after keeping the puck on a 2-on-1 break for his fifth goal of the season. Wyatt Johnston and Ryan Suter also scored in regulation for Dallas while Jake Oettinger made 27 saves. Boston’s Justin Brazeau scored his first NHL goal in his first NHL game while Jesper Boqvist also scored.
Troy Terry scored the go-ahead goal with 64 seconds left in the second period and had two assists, and the Anaheim Ducks rebounded from their most-lopsided loss of the season with a 4-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres. Frank Vatrano scored twice to increase his season total to a career-best 26 goals, and Mason McTavish added three assists. Adam Henrique also scored and John Gibson stopped 34 shots two days after Anaheim was routed in a 9-2 loss at Toronto. Tage Thompson, Jordan Greenway and Zach Benson scored for the Sabres, while Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen finished with 11 saves.
Auston Matthews scored his NHL-leading 49th goal of the season and added an assist, sparking the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 4-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues. Matthews had recorded hat tricks in his two previous games. His go-ahead goal came on a power play in the third period. Matthew Knies also scored and William Nylander scored a short-handed goal for the Maple Leafs. Bobby McMann added an empty net goal. Ilya Samsonov registered 19 saves for Toronto. Brandon Saad and Pavel Buchnevich scored for St. Louis. Joel Hofer stopped 25 shots.
Joel Eriksson Ek and Kirill Kaprizov each had hat tricks and three assists for the Minnesota Wild, who faced a three-goal deficit in the second period before storming back with six unanswered goals and hanging on for a record-filled 10-7 victory over the Vancouver Canucks. Minnesota’s six scores in a span of 5:45 was the fastest such flurry in the NHL in 25 years. Matt Boldy, Mats Zuccarello, Marco Rossi and Jonas Brodin also scored for the Wild, who set their franchise record for goals in a game. They also registered their fastest four-goal stretch in team history.
Ben Chiarot scored 1:06 into overtime, Patrick Kane got his 800th career assist and the Detroit Red Wings beat the Seattle Kraken 4-3. Chiarot netted the winner from the slot off a backhand pass from Dylan Larkin. It was Chiarot’s fourth goal of the season and first since Dec. 31. Moritz Seider, Lucas Raymond and Daniel Sprong scored in regulation for the Red Wings, who concluded a 2-2-0 road trip with back-to-back wins. Alex Lyon made 38 saves. Detroit is 12-4-2 since Jan. 1 and holds the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. Jared McCann scored twice for the Kraken, who are 4-7-2 since a franchise-best nine-game win streak. Jaden Schwartz also scored, Will Borgen had two assists and Joey Daccord stopped 28 shots.
Nazem Kadri had two goals and an assist as the Calgary Flames rallied from a two-goal deficit to post a 6-3 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Monday. Jonathan Huberdeau and Andrew Mangiapane had a goal and an assist and Oliver Kylington and Blake Coleman also scored for Calgary, which snapped a three-game losing streak. Sean Monahan scored all three goals for Winnipeg, which had its three-game winning streak snapped. Flames netminder Jacob Markstrom made 28 stops. Connor Hellebuyck had 28 saves for the Jets.
Mason Morelli had a goal and an assist in his NHL debut, Logan Thompson had his fourth career shutout and the Vegas Golden Knights completed a season sweep against the San Jose Sharks with a 4-0 victory. The 28-year-old Morelli spent six years in the minors in the ECHL and AHL before finally getting called up to the NHL over the weekend. San Jose was blanked for a league-high ninth time this season. That tied a franchise record for most times being shut out in a season last done in 2021-2
Evander Kane scored two of Edmonton’s four goals in the third period and the Oilers stretched the Arizona Coyotes’ losing streak to 10 games with a 6-3 win. Zach Hyman, Warren Foegele, Leon Draisaitl and Mattias Janmark also scored for Edmonton, and Stuart Skinner had 22 saves. Connor McDavid had two assists, pushing his season total to 62. Arizona’s Nick Bjugstad scored twice and Matt Villalta made 20 saves in his first NHL start. Clayton Keller had a goal and an assist to become the fifth Coyotes player to have at least four 50-point seasons.
Martin Necas and Sebastian Aho each had a goal and an assist, and the Carolina Hurricanes held on to beat the Chicago Blackhawks 6-3. Michael Bunting, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Brent Burns and Jordan Martinook also scored for the Hurricanes, who have won three straight and eight of 10. Spencer Martin, claimed off waivers in January, had 14 saves to win his third straight start. Connor Bedard had a goal and two assists, and Nick Foligno and Tyler Johnson also scored for the Blackhawks, who lost their 21st straight on the road. Chicago hasn’t won away from home since beating Tampa Bay on Nov. 9. Petr Mrazek stopped 36 shots against his former team.
Mathieu Joseph had two goals, Anton Forsberg made 23 saves and the Ottawa Senators beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2. Ottawa, last in the Atlantic Division, handed the Lightning a second consecutive alarming defeat. Tampa Bay was coming off a 9-2 home loss to Florida on Saturday night. Mitchell Chaffee and Brayden Point scored for the Lightning, who have a one-point lead over Detroit for the first of two Eastern Conference wild cards. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 24 shots. Ottawa also got goals from Tim Stützle and Vladimir Tarasenko.
The scoring binge the NHL has been on the last few seasons spread to Minnesota with hat tricks for Joel Eriksson Ek and Kirill Kaprizov in a record-filled 10-7 win over Vancouver. Eriksson Ek and Kaprizov each had a six-point game that matched Marian Gaborik’s franchise mark. The Wild became the third team in the NHL this season to hit the 10-goal mark, following the Canucks and the Pittsburgh Penguins. They set their franchise record for goals in a game and period. They also had six goals in a 5:45 span for the fastest in the league in 25 years.
NBA
The Brooklyn Nets have fired Jacque Vaughn after ending a disappointing first half of the season with a 50-point loss in Boston in their final game before the All-Star break. About a year after giving Vaughn a contract extension, the Nets changed course on Monday and said an interim coach would be named soon. The Nets are 21-33 and in 11th place in the Eastern Conference. They dropped five of their last six games. Nets general manager Sean Marks says “this was an incredibly difficult decision, but one we feel is in the best interest of the team going forward.”
Defense wasn’t really played in the All-Star Game, which explains why the Eastern Conference scored a record 211 points and the game saw nearly 400 points combined on Sunday night. Points couldn’t have been easier to come by. But in the regular season — although some might dispute this — defense does get played. And points just keep piling up anyway with the NBA on pace to see its highest-scoring season in more than 50 years with teams averaging more than 115 points per game, up about 1% from last year and up a staggering 15.5% from where it was a decade ago
DAYTONA 500
William Byron launched Hendrick Motorsports’ 40th anniversary season by snapping the team’s nine-year Daytona 500 losing streak with his Monday win in the rain-postponed “Great American Race.” The last Hendrick driver to win the Daytona 500 was Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2014. The 26-year-old from Charlotte, North Carolina is the sixth different driver to win the 500 for Rick Hendrick, the winningest team owner in NASCAR history who made his way to victory lane on the actual 40th anniversary of his first Cup win. Byron beat Hendrick teammate Alex Bowman as the race ended under one lap of caution.
Alex Bowman never saw how the big wreck started that marred the end of the Daytona 500. He was surprised to learn he triggered the big one. Bowman sparked the crash that involved nearly two dozen cars and knocked six former NASCAR champions out of contention in the Daytona 500. Bowman bump-drafted Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron on the backstretch with nine laps to go when Byron lost control, turned into Brad Keselowski and wrecked the field. Byron and Bowman were the biggest beneficiaries of the melee. They escaped with little damage to their cars and went on to give Hendrick Motorsports a 1-2 finish in “The Great American Race.”
Jimmie Johnson was collected in a wreck only six laps into the Daytona 500. He plummeted out of contention and finished 28th in the No. 84 Toyota on Monday night. The Daytona 500 was the kind of race in his championship heyday Johnson was always a threat to win. Johnson won the race twice, in 2006 and 2013, while driving for Rick Hendrick. The seven-time NASCAR champion and newest Hall of Fame inductee had a more successful night as team owner than he did as a driver. Legacy drivers John Hunter Nemechek finished seventh and Erik Jones was eighth. Even with a disheartening result, Johnson won’t rule out another run at the Daytona 500.
MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Jamal Shead had 26 points, including 20 in the second half, and No. 2 Houston took sole possession of first place in the Big 12 with a 73-65 win over No. 6 Iowa State. Emanuel Sharp added 20 points for the Cougars, who won their 20th consecutive home game — the longest active streak in the country. They hold a one-game lead over the Cyclones with five games remaining in the regular season for both teams. Shead shot 5 of 7 from the field and 8 for 9 at the free-throw line in the second half. He finished 6 of 10 from the floor and added six assists. Houston, which never trailed, turned 16 Iowa State turnovers into 20 points. Keshon Gilbert had 17 points for the Cyclones.
UConn became the first unanimous No. 1 in The Associated Press men's college basketball poll this season, earning all 62 votes from a national media panel. The Huskies picked up the 16 that went to Purdue last week after the Boilermakers lost to Ohio State. Houston was second, with Purdue, Arizona and Tennessee rounding out the top five. San Diego State returned to the poll at No. 19 and Washington State entered at No. 21 to end a 302-week poll drought. Colorado State, Texas Tech and Florida also entered the poll at the expense of Virginia, Wisconsin, Florida Atlantic, Indiana State and Oklahoma.
WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
UConn 73 Creighton 53
Southern California has climbed three spots to No. 7 in The Associated Press women’s basketball poll while South Carolina remains a unanimous No. 1. USC swept Oregon and then-No. 11 Oregon State over the weekend. The Trojans moved into a tie for second place in the Pac-12. The six teams in front of USC didn’t change, with South Carolina leading the way as it has since the regular season began. The Gamecocks received all 35 votes from a national media panel. Ohio State was right behind South Carolina, marking the first time in seven weeks that a No. 2 team held its place for two consecutive polls. Stanford, Iowa, Texas and North Carolina State followed the Buckeyes.
A former Nebraska women’s basketball player alleges coach Amy Williams and athletic director Trev Alberts did not take appropriate action when her sexual relationship with an assistant coach became widely known. Ashley Scoggin filed a civil lawsuit in federal court describing how Chuck Love allegedly took a special interest in her and how the relationship turned sexual and caused Scoggin to fear retaliation if she refused to engage in it. In addition to Williams and Alberts, the lawsuit names the university’s Board of Regents and Love as defendants. The university said it disagreed with the allegations and would defend itself. Williams declined to comment. Alberts and Love did not immediately reply to messages seeking comment.
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