FIGURE SKATING
Two young figure skaters, two of their parents and two highly-regarded Russian figure skating coaches were among those killed after an American Airlines flight collided with an Army helicopter and crashed into the frigid waters of the Potomac River. Doug Zeghibe, the chief executive at the Skating Club of Boston, said Thursday that skaters Jinna Han and Spencer Lane were among those killed, along with coaches Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov. U.S. Figure Skating previously confirmed that several skaters, coaches and family members were on the commercial flight after attending a development camp that followed the national championships, which wrapped up Sunday in Wichita, Kansas.
Olympic figure skating great and authoritative commentator Dick Button has died at age 95. Button's son, Edward, says he died Thursday and did not provide a cause. Button won two Olympic gold medals and was the most accomplished men's figure skater in history. He also was the voice of his sport and one of its greatest innovators. He promoted skating and its athletes, transforming a niche sport into the showpiece of every Winter Olympics. His impact on his sport began in the 1940s and lasted until his death.
NHL
Ilya Sorokin made 23 saves for his third shutout of the season, Marc Gatcomb scored his first NHL goal and the New York Islanders won their sixth straight game with a 3-0 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers. Simon Holmstrom and Kyle Palmieri also scored for the Islanders, who leapfrogged the Flyers and the idle New York Rangers in the Metropolitan Division standings and are three points out of a wild-card spot. It was the 21st career shutout for Sorokin, who won his fifth straight game. The Flyers were blanked for the second consecutive game. Ivan Fedotov made 25 saves for Philadelphia.
Mark Scheifele scored his 30th and 31st goals of the season and the Western Conference-leading Winnipeg Jets beat the Boston Bruins 6-2. Vladislav Namestnikov had a goal and assist. Nikolaj Ehlers, Parker Ford and Kyle Connor also scored for the Jets. Connor Hellebuyck stopped 27 shots. It was the fifth straight win for the Jets, who take the season series after beating Boston 8-1 in December. Brad Marchand and Elias Lindholm had goals for Boston. Joonas Korpisalo finished with 21 saves. The Bruins have lost two straight games.
Marc-Andre Fleury made 19 saves for his first shutout of the season in likely his final game in Montreal, helping the Minnesota Wild beat the Canadiens 4-0 on Thursday night. The 40-year-old Fleury, from Sorel-Tracy about 50 miles northeast of Montreal, is retiring after the season. He has 76 career shutouts — three at Bell Centre, where more than 100 friends and family cheered him Thursday. Liam Ohgren and Devin Shore each scored their first goal of the season. Marco Rossi had a goal and an assist and Frederick Gaudreau added an empty-netter. The Wild improved to 3-0 on their five-game trip. They beat Chicago 4-2 on Sunday night and topped Toronto 3-1 on Wednesday night.
Mikko Rantanen scored his first goal with Carolina, helping the Hurricanes beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2. Seth Jarvis and Jaccob Slavin also scored for the Hurricanes, who won for the sixth time in seven games. Pyotr Kochetkov made 18 saves. Connor Bedard and Ilya Mikheyev scored for Chicago. Arvid Soderblom stopped 24 shots. The Hurricanes got Rantanen from Colorado as part of last weekend’s three-team trade that also involved Chicago. He picked up an assist in Tuesday night’s 4-0 win at the Rangers.
Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 28 shots, Brandon Hagel scored two goals and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Los Angeles Kings 3-0. Anthony Cirelli scored his fourth short-handed goal of the season for the Kings. The shutout was Vasilevskiy’s second this season and 37th of his career. David Rittich finished with 30 saves for Los Angeles, which has lost four straight. The Kings were shut out for the second consecutive game and fell to 2-7-1 in the past 10 games. Cirelli scored an empty-net goal with 1:17 left.
Alex Ovechkin moved within 19 goals of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record, scoring on a late power play in the Washington Capitals’ 5-4 overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night. Ovechkin scored his 23nd goal of the season to push his career total to 876. Gretzky scored 894 goals in the NHL. Ovechkin pulled the Capitals to 4-3 on a long wrist shot with 6:59 left. The 39-year-old Russian star then set up Dylan Strome’s tying goal with 5:29 remaining. Thomas Chabot scored for Ottawa at 1:46 of overtime. Josh Norris scored for Ottawa on a second-period penalty shot and Ridly Greig, Shane Pinto and Jake Sanderson added goals. Anton Forsberg made 31 saves. Stromme scored twice and Connor McMichael also scored for Washington.
Matt Coronato had two goals and an assist, Dustin Wolf made 30 saves and the Calgary Flames beat the Anaheim Ducks 4-1 on Thursday night. Coronato set up Ben Coleman’s goal that gave Calgary a 2-1 lead with 44 seconds left in the second period. Coronato doubled the lead with 3:50 left, scoring off goalie John Gibson’s turnover, and added an empty-netter with 2:23 to go. Frank Vatrano opened the scoring for Anaheim midway through the first period. Adam Klapka tied it 15 second into the second. Gibson stopped 26 shots. After the game, the Flames traded left wings Andrei Kuzmenko and Jakob Pelletier to Philadelphia for center Morgan Frost and left wing Joel Farabee.
Dylan Larkin tied it in the second period and scored in a shootout to help the Detroit Red Wings beat the Edmonton Oilers 3-2 on Thursday night. Lucas Raymond also scored for the Red Wings in the tiebreaker, while Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins failed on their chances against Alex Lyon, who made 45 saves in regulation and overtime. Edmonton took a 2-0 lead in the first period. Leon Draisaitl scored his 36th goal of the season and Jeff Skinner also connected. Michael Rasmussen scored at 9:59 of the second and Larkin tied it with 8:13 left in the period. Stuart Skinner stopped 32 shots for the Oilers.
Cole Sillinger, who missed the previous three games because of an upper-body injury, scored on a rebound 52 seconds into overtime to give the Columbus Blue Jackets a 2-1 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights. Adam Fantilli, skating in his 100th career game, scored the other Blue Jackets goal, and Elvis Merzlikins stopped 25 shots. Tomas Hertl scored his 20th goal of the season for the Golden Knights and Ilya Samsonov made 22 saves. Columbus now has points in 10 of the past 12 games, going 9-2-1.
Brandon Montour scored two of Seattle’s four second-period goals and the Kraken pulled away for a 6-2 win over the San Jose Sharks. Chandler Stephenson, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Jaden Schwartz and Eeli Tolvanen also scored for Seattle while Joey Daccord had 26 saves. Carl Grundstrom and Tyler Toffoli scored for San Jose, which has lost six of its last seven games. Montour broke a 20-game scoreless streak with his first goal at 2:54 of the second to give the Kraken a 3-1 lead. He scored again at 7:52 to make it 5-1.
NFL
An NFL spokesman says the league will look into allegations that Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker behaved inappropriately toward massage therapists at four spas and wellness centers in the Baltimore area. The Baltimore Banner detailed the accusations in a lengthy report Thursday. The paper said it spoke to six massage therapists who recounted firsthand experiences with Tucker from 2012 to 2016. Several therapists said they ended Tucker’s sessions early or refused to work on him again, and management from two spas said they banned him from returning. Tucker posted a statement on social media calling the allegations about him in the Banner story “unequivocally false.”
NBA
Darius Garland scored 26 points and Evan Mobley had 16 points and 10 rebounds after both were named All-Star reserves, helping the NBA-leading Cleveland Cavaliers to a 137-115 win over the Atlanta Hawks. Donovan Mitchell scored 24 points and Ty Jerome added 20 points off the bench for Cleveland, which is 39-9 and has the best home record in the league at 23-3. Jarrett Allen had nine points and 15 rebounds. Hawks rookie Zaccharie Risacher, the No. 1 overall draft pick, scored 30 points and De’Andre Hunter had 25 points and made all 12 of his free throws. Atlanta has lost a season-high seven straight.
LeBron James had 24 points and 11 assists before resting for the final quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers’ 134-96 rout of the Washington Wizards. While James sat out, his son Bronny played the whole fourth quarter and scored a career-high five points. It was the 16th consecutive loss for Washington, tying a franchise record. It’s the second time this season the Wizards have dropped that many in a row. This was the Lakers' most lopsided victory of the season.
Anthony Edwards scored 16 of his 36 points in the third quarter and the Minnesota Timberwolves routed the Utah Jazz 138-113 on Thursday for their fifth straight victory and second in two nights. Added to the All-Star Game as a reserve Thursday, Edwards had 11 assists and keyed a decisive 44-22 third quarter for the Timberwolves. Minnesota was coming off a 121-113 victory at Phoenix on Wednesday. After the Jazz made a modest run in the fourth quarter, Edwards made three 3-pointers in a 1:25 span to give Minnesota a 125-97 lead with 4:34 left. Keyonte George scored 23 points for Utah on 7-for-7 shooting.
Desmond Bane had 24 points and 12 rebounds, Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 21, including game-winning free throws with 8.6 second left and the Memphis Grizzlies came back for a 120-119 victory over the Houston Rockets. Luke Kennard added 21 for Memphis, while Santi Aldama finished with 15 points as Memphis won its sixth in the last seven. Jalen Green led the Rockets with 25 points. Dillon Brooks had 22 poitns and Amen Thompson finished with 21 points an seven rebounds. The loss ended Houston’s four-game winning streak.
Scoot Henderson had 23 points, seven assists and five rebounds in the Portland Trail Blazers’ 119-90 victory over the Orlando Magic on Thursday night. Shaedon Sharpe also had 23 points and Deandre Ayton added 22 points and eight rebounds to help Portland win for the sixth time in seven games. Franz Wagner led Orlando with 24 points. Paolo Banchero had 21. Portland outscored Orlando 21-5 in fast break points and had a 12-5 edge in 3-pointers.
NBA coaches are obviously convinced: Victor Wembanyama is one of the league’s very best players. The San Antonio star and reigning rookie of the year is an All-Star for the first time, one of the 14 players announced Thursday night as members of the reserve pool for the Feb. 16 event in San Francisco. Wembanyama becomes only the fourth Spurs player to make the All-Star Game in his first or second season. The others were Alvin Robertson in 1986, David Robinson in both 1990 and 1991, and Tim Duncan in 1998.
Unusual betting patterns surrounding the play of then-Charlotte Hornets guard Terry Rozier in a game nearly two years ago are now under investigation by federal prosecutors, part of the same probe that led to the lifetime ban of Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter, the NBA confirmed Thursday. The Wall Street Journal first reported the investigation, noting that Rozier — who played for the Hornets on the date in question, and now plays for the Miami Heat — has not been charged with a crime, nor has he been accused of wrongdoing. The NBA said it looked into the matter at the time and did not find that any league rules were broken.
GOLF
Scottie Scheffler looked every bit like the No. 1 player in the world even if he didn't make a hole-in-one during the exciting start to the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Scheffler opened with a 67 in his first tournament of the year since puncturing his right hand over Christmas making ravioli. The thrills belonged to Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry. They each made a hole-in-one on different courses and each shot 66. The lead belonged to Russell Henley. He shot 64 at Spyglass Hill on what might be the last day of dry weather. Jordan Spieth shot 70 in his return from wrist surgery.
MLB
Max Scherzer is joining the Toronto Blue Jays, agreeing to a 15.5 million, one-year contract, according to a person with direct knowledge of the deal. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the agreement had not been announced and was pending a physical. The 40-year-old Scherzer was limited to nine starts with Texas last year, going 2-4 with a 3.95 ERA. The three-time Cy Young Award winner joins a rotation that is fronted by Kevin Gausman, José Berríos and Chris Bassitt.
WNBA
The chairman of the NHL’s Nashville Predators and his wife want to bring the WNBA to Music City and have teamed up with a star-filled investor group including Candace Parker, Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning and entertainers Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. The group led by Bill Haslam, who is a former Tennessee governor, submitted its bid to the WNBA on Thursday for a franchise that would start playing in 2028. The team also would be named the Tennessee Summitt in honor of late University of Tennessee coach women's coach Pat Summitt. Haslam said they see how women’s professional sports is emerging worldwide with a “void” in Tennessee.
MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Binghamton 75 Vermont 72
WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Siena 62 Marist 46
Iona 64 Manhattan 47
Vermont 53 Binghamton 40
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