NFL
Two men have been charged with murder in last week’s shooting after the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade. Court documents released Tuesday say the men were strangers who pulled out guns and began firing within seconds of starting an argument. Missouri prosecutors said at a news conference that Lyndell Mays, of Raytown, Missouri, and Dominic Miller, of Kansas City, Missouri, have been charged with second-degree murder and several weapons counts. The shooting left one person dead and roughly two dozen others injured. Mays and Miller were shot in the melee and have been hospitalized since.
NHL
Igor Shesterkin made 41 saves and the New York Rangers beat the Dallas Stars 3-1 for their eighth straight win. Adam Fox, Kaapo Kakko and Vincent Trocheck scored for the Rangers on Tuesday in the matchup of division leaders. Miro Heiskanen scored for Dallas, which lost its third straight game. The Stars lost to the Bruins 4-3 on Monday in a shootout. The Rangers are 9-1-1 in their last 11 contests. They were coming off a dramatic 6-5 overtime win against the Islanders in an outdoor game on Sunday at MetLife Stadium. Scott Wedgewood made 23 saves for the Stars.
Adam Pelech beat Alex Nedeljkovic 57 seconds into overtime to lift the New York Islanders past the skidding Pittsburgh Penguins 5-4. Pelech’s winner was his first goal since last April as the Islanders recovered in the extra period after squandering a late lead. Brock Nelson scored his 24th goal of the season for New York. Mathew Barzal, Simon Holmstrom and Mike Reilly also scored for the Islanders. Valtteri Puustinen and Drew O’Connor scored 54 seconds apart in the third period as the Penguins erased a two-goal deficit to salvage a point in the standings.
Alex Ovechkin and Connor McMichael each scored twice to help the Washington Capitals beat the New Jersey Devils 6-2. The loss is a badly timed blow to the Devils in their pursuit of a playoff spot. New Jersey remains four points back of the second and final wild card in the Eastern Conference. Dylan Strome also scored his 21st goal of the season. The Capitals moved two back of the Devils with the win thanks to 37 saves by Charlie Lindgren. Alexander Holtz and Erik Haula scored the Devils' goals in defeat.
Anton Lundell scored 1:36 into overtime and the Florida Panthers beat the Ottawa Senators 3-2 to jump over the idle Boston Bruins and into the top spot in the Eastern Conference. Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour also scored while Sergei Bobrovsky made 28 saves in the Panthers’ sixth straight victory. Thomas Chabot and Tim Stutzle scored for the Senators while Joonas Korpisalo stopped 31 shots in Ottawa’s third loss in its past four games. Ekblad, who missed Saturday’s 9-2 Panthers win against the Tampa Bay Lightning with a lower-body injury, scored 19 seconds into the game.
Gabriel Vilardi scored twice and added an assist to lift the Winnipeg Jets to a 6-3 victory over Minnesota on Tuesday, ending the Wild’s six-game point streak. Kyle Connor had a goal and pair of assists, while Mason Appleton, Sean Monahan and Nino Niederreiter also scored for the Jets. Adam Lowry and Dylan DeMelo each contributed a pair of assists. Laurent Brossoit made 36 saves for Winnipeg in his 14th game of the season. Marco Rossi scored twice and Kirill Kaprizov notched a goal and assist for the Wild. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 24 shots for Minnesota.
Ryan Johansen broke out of a scoring slump with two goals, Alexandar Georgiev stopped 24 shots and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Vancouver Canucks 3-1. Johansen tied the game in the second period and scored the go-ahead goal early in the third for his first goals since Dec. 29. Artturi Lehkonen sealed it on an empty-net goal with 27.6 seconds remaining. Nathan MacKinnon had an assist on Lehkonen’s goal, giving him at least a point in all 27 home games this season. J.T. Miller had a goal for a Canucks team that’s dropped three in a row for the first time this season.
Tommy Novak scored his fourth goal in five games and the Nashville Predators defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 5-3. Luke Evangelista, former Knight Cody Glass, Cole Smith and Gustav Nyquist also scored for the Predators. Roman Josi and Ryan McDonagh each had two assists for Nashville. In his first start since Jan. 27, Kevin Lankinen stopped 23 shots. The victory marked the first time the Predators have won consecutive games since Jan. 12 and 13. Alex Pietrangelo, William Karlsson and Michael Amadio scored for the Golden Knights.
Quinton Byfield had a highlight-reel goal, Pierre-Luc Dubois had his second two-goal game of the season and the Los Angeles Kings extended their winning streak to four with a 5-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets. Drew Doughty had a goal and an assist during the last five minutes of the third period, giving him his 14th career 30-point season. Kevin Fiala also scored for the Kings, who have won five of six since Jim Hiller took over as interim coach. Cam Talbot stopped 33 shots and has won his last two starts. Adam Boqvist scored for Columbus and Elvis Merzlikins made 31 saves.
MLB
There are still some premium free agents available in baseball as the calendar nears March. Two-time Cy Young Winner Blake Snell, six-time All-Star J.D. Martinez and former MVP Cody Bellinger are among the players who haven't found a home. Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said the game is at its best when the best players are on the field and he hopes they sign soon. But the sport's general managers don't seem particularly concerned with the stalemate.
The Oakland Athletics probably won't be in Oakland a whole lot longer. The franchise is set to move to Las Vegas in a stadium that the team hopes is ready for the 2028 season. But the next few years could be rocky. The franchise's uncertain future was enough of a topic that manager Mark Kotsay addressed the issue in a team meeting on Monday. He wants to make sure players know his office is open if there are questions, even though he doesn’t have many answers. It’s unclear whether the franchise will play its 2025 home games in Oakland, Sacramento, San Francisco or a minor league stadium in Las Vegas.
Rafael Devers is looking for some help — from the front office of the Boston Red Sox. With the Red Sox ramping up at the start of spring training, Devers made it clear that he felt the franchise should have done more to improve the roster over the winter. Devers batted .271 with 33 homers and 100 RBIs in 153 games last year, but Boston finished last in the loaded AL East with a 78-84 record. The 27-year-old third baseman finalized a 10-year contract with the Red Sox in January 2023 that is worth $313.5 million.
Aaron Judge’s big toe is more than a footnote for the New York Yankees. Judge missed 42 games after tearing a ligament in his right big toe when he crashed into the right-field fence at Dodger Stadium last June 3, a big reason the Yankees fell from postseason contention. Judge says “it’s going to be I think a constant maintenance I think the rest of my career. Anything with injuries like that, you just got to stay on top of it so it doesn’t flare up again.”
GOLF
Talk about a tale of two tours. One golf shop had TVs showing LIV Golf and the PGA Tour at the same time. That's what golf looks like at the moment, and it isn't likely to change any time soon. The only place to find the best players in the world on the same stage is at the majors. The majors have always been the most important in golf. It seems now more than ever they're all that matter since players are scattered among two tours. But as time goes on, even the majors will be lacking all the best.
SPORTS STREAMING
Streaming service FuboTV has filed an antitrust lawsuit against ESPN, Fox, Warner Bros. Discovery and Hulu, which are planning to launch a sports-streaming venture in the fall. The lawsuit has been filed in the Southern District of New York. FuboTV is seeking a jury trial. FuboTV not only wants the proposed joint venture shut down, but it is seeking cash damages. If the court does not rule to do either, FuboTV is seeking restrictions on the joint venture so that competition remains in the marketplace. The streaming services declined to comment. The Wall Street Journal was the first to report on the lawsuit.
SOCCER
An international soccer academy called Right to Dream is coming to the United States as the academy under San Diego FC, which will join Major League Soccer as the league’s 30th team in 2025. Right to Dream is unique in MLS in that its reach is international, with academies in Ghana, Denmark and Egypt. It is owned by Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Mansour, owner of San Diego FC along with the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation. The academy becomes part of a player development system in MLS that is seeing growing success in fostering world-class players.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
The field for the 12-team College Football Playoff will comprise five conference champions and seven at-large selections after the university presidents who oversee the CFP voted unanimously to tweak the format. The move to decrease the number of spots reserved for conference champions from six to five was prompted by realignment, including the demise of the Pac-12. The original plan for the 12-team format was to have the six highest-ranked conference champions, with the top four receiving first-round byes, and six at-large selections.
MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Creighton 85 UConn 66
Steven Ashworth scored 16 of his 20 points in the first half as Creighton built a double-digit lead, and the No. 15 Bluejays knocked off UConn 85-66 for their first win over a No. 1-ranked team. Creighton led by 23 points with 10 minutes left but saw its lead cut to 10 before holding the Huskies scoreless on five straight possessions, rebuilding their cushion and prompting students to leave their seats to prepare for their court storming. UConn had its 14-game win streak end three days after it beat then-No. 4 Marquette by 28 points for one of the most impressive victories of the season.
Syracuse 87 NC State 83
UMass 74 VCU 52
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