NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Alex Ovechkin scored his record-breaking 895th career goal, but the New York Islanders beat the Washington Capitals 4-1. Marc Gatcomb had two goals, Bo Horvat and Jean-Gabriel Pageau also scored, and Kyle MacLean had two assists for the Islanders, who won their second straight after losing six in a row. Ilya Sorokin stopped 28 shots. Charlie Lindgren finished with 18 saves for the Eastern Conference-leading Capitals, who lost for the fifth time in seven games.
Ovechkin scored on countryman Ilya Sorokin for the first time, doing it a power play with 12:34 left in the second period. The 39-year-old Russian superstar did it even after missing 16 games in November and December because of a broken leg. Sorokin became the record-extending 183rd different goaltender Ovechkin has beaten during his two-decade career in the league.
Tage Thompson had a hat trick, Jason Zucker scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and the Buffalo Sabres beat the Boston Bruins 6-3 on Sunday night for their fourth straight victory. Thompson extended his scoring streak to four games with his first goal in the second period after the Bruins took an early 2-0 lead. Thompson scored again on a breakaway early in the third period, and got his 43rd goal of the season into the empty net in the final minute. Alex Tuch and Rasmus Dahlin each had a goal and an assist. Peyton Krebs and Bowen Byram each had two assists. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 18 saves. Boston lost for the 11th time in 12 games.
Ilya Mikheyev scored twice, Frank Nazar added a goal and Spencer Knight stopped 28 shots as the Chicago Blackhawks snapped a five-game skid with a 3-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Rickard Rakell scored and Alex Nedeljkovic made 28 saves for the Penguins, who have lost five of their last seven games.
Marco Rossi scored on a power play 58 seconds into overtime as the Minnesota Wild stopped a four-game losing streak by beating the Dallas Stars 3-2. Matt Boldy drew a tripping penalty on Jason Robertson to give the Wild a 4-on-3. Boldy scored early in the third period and assisted on Marcus Foligno’s go-ahead goal less than two minutes later. Minnesota leads Calgary by six points for the second wild card spot in the Western Conference playoffs. Robertson’s 34th goal of the season gave Dallas an early lead. The Stars are three points behind Winnipeg for the Western Conference lead.
Linus Ullmark made 30 saves for Ottawa’s second straight shutout and the Senators moved to the brink of their first playoff appearance since 2017, beating the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-0 on Sunday for their third straight victory. With five games left, Ottawa holds the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference — five points ahead of Montreal. The Canadiens won at Nashville on Sunday night. Adam Gaudette and Nikolas Matinpalo — with his first NHL goal — scored early in the first period in the opener of a home-and-home set. David Perron and Shane Pinto, into an empty net, also scored, and Thomas Chabot had two assists. Columbus has lost three straight.
Alex DeBrincat and J.T. Compher scored in the second period and Cam Talbot finished with 32 saves to help Detroit keep its fading playoff hopes alive with a 2-1 win over the Florida Panthers on Sunday night. The Panthers put their goaltender on the bench to add an extra skater and Anton Lundell scored with 39.9 seconds to pull them within a goal. Detroit has six games remaining in the regular season to rally into a wild card to end a nine-year postseason drought. The defending champion and short-handed Panthers have lost five straight for the first time since 2017.
Cole Caufield and Patrik Laine scored in the second period to rally the Montreal Canadiens to a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators on Sunday night. Jakub Dobes turned back 36 shots for the Canadiens, who extended their winning streak to five games after a five-game skid. Steven Stamkos scored and Juuse Saros made 15 saves for Nashville, which was scoreless on four power plays and lost its sixth straight and for the seventh time in eight games.
Victor Olofsson broke a tie with 3:14 left off William Karlsson’s nifty feed from behind the net and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 on Sunday night. Vegas increased its Pacific Division lead over Los Angeles to five points, with the Golden Knights playing one more game than the Kings. Vancouver is eight points out of a playoff berth with four games to go. Ivan Barbashev and Nicolas Roy also scored for the Golden Knights, and Adin Hill stopped 19 shots. Nils Hoglander and Aatu Raty replied for the Canucks, and Kevin Lankinen stopped 32 shots. Both teams won Saturday, with Vegas edging Calgary 3-2 in overtime, and Vancouver beating Anaheim 6-2.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
UConn is back on top of women’s basketball, winning its 12th national championship by routing defending champion South Carolina 82-59 behind Azzi Fudd’s 24 points. Sarah Strong added 24 points and 15 rebounds while Paige Bueckers had 17 points in her final game at UConn. She capped her stellar career with the Huskies’ first championship since 2016, ending a nine-year title drought for the team. That was longest for coach Geno Auriemma and his Huskies since the team won its first championship in 1995. Dawn Staley’s South Carolina team was trying for a third title in four years and fourth overall.
This time, Azzi Fudd was healthy. And she made a big difference for UConn. Fudd was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four after leading the Huskies to the program’s 12th national championship. The dynamic guard scored 24 points during UConn's 82-59 victory over South Carolina in the title game. UConn also reached the Final Four last season, but Fudd was sidelined by a torn meniscus and anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee. She could only watch as the Huskies were eliminated by Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the semifinals. Fudd was ready to go this time around. She scored 19 points in Friday’s 85-51 victory over UCLA.
Geno Auriemma has accomplished more than just about anyone in college basketball. The 71-year-old UConn coach passed former Stanford women’s basketball coach Tara VanDerveer as the winningest coach in Division 1 earlier this season. He won his 12th NCAA title on Sunday, 30 years after winning his first one. He has done it all in his 40 years at UConn, and while celebrating his latest championship gave no indication that he he’s slowing down just yet.
Top seeds Florida and Houston play for the men’s championship at 8:50 tonight.
Whoever said there were no great underdog stories left in March Madness, or that the title would go to whoever spends the most money — or amasses the best collection of big names from the transfer portal — clearly never checked out Houston. Coach Kelvin Sampson’s squad of defenders and deniers face Florida for the national title Monday night. They wrap up a front-runner’s Final Four that featured all No. 1 seeds but left the two top ones — Auburn and Duke — sitting at home.
MLB
David Peterson's outing for the New York Mets against the Toronto Blue Jays was interrupted by nausea. He grimaced after walking Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with a full-count curveball in the fifth. Peterson said his vision “just went blurry” and he felt like he ”got punched in the stomach and was going to throw up.” Peterson remained in the game for two more batters and, after being checked by a team doctor, said he thought the issue wasn’t anything major. The Mets held on to beat the Blue Jays 2-1 for their first series sweep of Toronto since 2001, extending their winning streak to four.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Toronto Blue Jays agreed to a $500 million, 14-year contract that starts in 2026, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press, a deal that removes what would have been the biggest star from next offseason’s free-agent market. The person spoke on condition of anonymity earty Monday because the agreement had not been announced. Guerrero agreed in January to a $28.5 million, one-year contract that avoided arbitration and the four-time All-Star first baseman had said he wouldn’t negotiate after he reported to spring training in mid-February. Still, talks continued well into the regular season.
Tommy Pham’s RBI single in the bottom of the 11th inning lifted the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 5-4 victory over the New York Yankees for just their second win in eight games. The Yankees scored three runs in the ninth off Ryan Borucki to tie the game at 4. Oswald Peraza doubled in a run with two outs and Trent Grisham followed with a two-run single after hitting two homers in Saturday’s 10-4 win. Jack Suwinski stole third with one out in the 11th. Pham hit a drive off the left-field wall against Devin Williams for his fifth career walk-off hit.
Alex Bregman hit a three-run homer and tied a career high with six RBIs, Rafael Devers went 4 for 4 and drove in three runs, and the Boston Red Sox rolled to an 18-7 rout for a doubleheader sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals. Wilyer Abreu added three RBIs for Boston, which finished with a season-best 22 hits and won its fifth straight. Hunter Dobbins gave up two runs over five innings to win his major league debut. St. Louis starter Miles Mikolas gave up nine runs and 11 hits in 2 2/3 innings. In the opener, Abreu singled off the Green Monster to drive in the winning run in the bottom of the 10th as the Red Sox rallied for a 5-4 victory.
Nick Castellanos hit a grand slam, and the Philadelphia Phillies rallied with two runs in the seventh inning to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 8-7. The Phillies took two of three from the World Series champion Dodgers, a series that might not mean much by October but put a little juice into an early April weekend. Teoscar Hernández homered twice and had five RBIs for the Dodgers, whose only two losses this season came in this series.
Chase Dollander won his major league debut with five solid innings, and the Colorado Rockies beat the Athletics 12-5 on Sunday, snapping a six-game skid. Dollander gave up a two-run homer to Tyler Soderstrom in the first inning but worked out of a jam in the fourth. Brenton Doyle homered, doubled, singled and drove in four runs and Ezequiel Tovar tied a career-high with four hits and had three RBIs to help the Rockies salvage the finale of the three-game series.
Wilmer Flores hit an RBI single in the ninth and the San Francisco Giants beat the Seattle Mariners 5-4 to sweep the three-game series. Mike Yastrzemski hit a three-run homer for the Giants, who are 8-1 and off to their best start since 2003. Randy Arozarena tied it at 4 for the Mariners in the ninth with an RBI double after Seattle was down to its last strike against Giants closer Camilo Doval Flores’ hit came after Mariners right fielder Victor Robles was carted from the field after making a terrific catch in the netting in foul territory to snag a fly ball by Patrick Bailey.
Spencer Torkelson smacked a two-run double to cap Detroit’s three-run rally in the ninth inning and give the Tigers a 4-3 win over the Chicago White Sox. Torkelson’s one-out hit off Jordan Leasure followed a bases-loaded walk by Andy Ibáñez. John Brebbia got the win with one inning of scoreless relief. Javier Báez had three hits and drove in a run for the Tigers. Andrew Vaughn had an RBI single and Matt Thaiss and Jacob Amaya drove in runs with sacrifice flies for the White Sox, who have lost five straight. White Sox designated hitter Andrew Benintendi left in the fifth with left adductor tightness.
Kris Bubic took a shutout into the seventh inning and the Kansas City Royals won their first series of the season with a 4-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. Bubic allowed five hits, walked one and struck out eight in 6 2/3 innings. His streak of 12 shutout innings was snapped when Ryan Mountcastle tripled to lead off the seventh and scored on Bubic’s wild pitch one out later. Bobby Witt Jr. had three of the Royals’ 13 hits, falling a home run shy of the cycle. Carlos Estévez earned his second save with a hitless ninth for the Royals.
Jonah Heim’s walk-off single with two outs in the ninth inning to center field scored Josh Smith and the Texas Rangers beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 for their fifth consecutive win. Smith had a two-out double down the left-field line, his third hit to match a career high, off Edwin Uceta. Smith and Heim, hitting seventh and eighth in the order, combined for five of Texas’ seven hits.
Jose Altuve drove in the go-ahead run with a single in the 10th inning after Yordan Alvarez tied it with a two-run homer in the ninth and the Houston Astros rallied from an early six-run deficit to beat the Minnesota Twins 9-7. Altuve’s single off Louis Varland scored automatic runner Brendan Rogers from third base. Jake Meyers then stole home on a double steal to make it 9-7. Josh Hader retired all six batters he faced to earn the victory. The Twins led 7-1 after four innings, but the Astros came all the way back by scoring twice in the ninth off Twins reliever Griffin Jax to tie it at 7.
Logan O’Hoppe homered in his fourth consecutive game, and Jorge Soler hit a tiebreaking shot in the sixth inning of the Los Angeles Angels’ 6-2 victory over the Cleveland Guardians. Kyren Paris also went deep for the Angels, who have won six of eight after taking two of three from Cleveland in their only home series during the first three weeks of the season. Kyle Manzardo homered for the Guardians, who finished 3-6 on their season-opening trip after losing five of the last six in Southern California. Kenley Jansen recorded his 1,225th strikeout as a reliever, matching Lee Smith for fifth in baseball history.
Alex Call and Paul DeJong each had two hits and drove in a run and Trevor Williams struck out six over five innings as the Washington Nationals beat the Arizona 5-4 and handed Diamondbacks ace Corbin Burnes his first loss. Washington took two of three from Arizona, winning a series from the Diamondbacks for the first time since 2021. It was the Nationals’ first home series victory over Arizona since 2017. Burnes yielded four runs while throwing 89 pitches over five innings in his second start since signing a six-year, $210 million deal in December.
Jackson Chourio homered twice and matched a career high with five RBIs as the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Cincinnati Reds 8-2. Chad Patrick allowed one run and two hits over 5 1/3 innings for his first major league win. Since starting the season 0-4, the Brewers have won five of six. Spencer Steer went deep for the Reds, who have dropped five of six. Chourio hit a sacrifice fly in the third to open the scoring, and Christian Yelich had an RBI single. Chourio then capped a five-run fourth with a three-run homer that made it 7-0. He added a solo shot in the seventh.
Luis Arraez had four hits, Fernando Tatis Jr. scored the go-ahead run in the ninth inning when first baseman Justin Turner couldn’t make the catch to finish a double play, and the San Diego Padres beat the Chicago Cubs 8-7. The Padres’ Gavin Sheets singled off Porter Hodge to tie it in the eighth. Jackson Merrill homered for the Padres, who had lost two straight after opening the season with seven consecutive victories for the best start in franchise history. Kyle Tucker homered and drove in three runs and Nico Hoerner added three hits for the Cubs.
Torpedo bats are all the rage this season, and Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred says he believes all that chatter is good for the game. In a Q&A published by The New York Times, Manfred also praised the testing of robot umpires during spring training. He said he’d like to see their use expanded to the regular season by 2026. Torpedo bats drew attention recently when the New York Yankees hit a team-record nine homers in one game. With several players using a strikingly different model in which wood is moved lower down the barrel toward the label, shaping the end a little like a bowling pin, the bat has become baseball’s latest fad.
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Rookie Jonathan Mogbo tied his career highs with 17 points and 11 rebounds as the Toronto Raptors beat the Brookyn Nets 120-109. Mogbo also had a season’s best seven assists for the Raptors. Ochai Agbaji added 15 points as Toronto snapped a three-game skid. RJ Barrett and AJ Lawson each scored 13, Cole Swider and Jamison Battle each had 12 points and Jared Rhoden 10. Reece Beekman led eight Nets in double figures with 14 points. Toronto snapped a three-game skid and took the season series 3-1 from Brooklyn for the first time since 2020-21.
OG Anunoby scored 19 of his 32 points in a perfect third quarter to keep up the best scoring stretch of his career, even with Jalen Brunson returning to New York’s lineup, as the Knicks beat the Phoenix Suns 112-98. Brunson had 15 points and six assists after missing 15 games with a sprained right ankle that he sustained exactly a month earlier. The Knicks didn’t need much from their All-Star guard, especially while Anunoby was going 7 for 7 in the third quarter, 5 for 5 from 3-point range. The Knicks improved to 50-28, giving them consecutive 50-win seasons for the first time since having four in a row from 1991-92 through 1994-95.
Luke Kornet scored 13 points with 14 rebounds and Al Horford scored 11 with 10 boards as the Boston Celtics ran away from the undermanned Washington Wizards to win 124-90. Derrick White scored 19 points for Boston, making five of the team’s 24 3-pointers. The Celtics had a season-high 62 rebounds. Justin Champagnie scored 15 points with 13 rebounds and Alex Sarr scored 16 for the Wizards. Washington listed six players as inactive and rested four others, including Malcolm Brogdon and Marcus Smart.
Luka Doncic scored 30 points and the Los Angeles Lakers routed the league-leading Oklahoma City Thunder 126-99. Austin Reaves scored 20 points and LeBron James added 19 points and seven assists for the Lakers, who have won four of five. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 26 points and Jalen Williams added 16 for the Thunder. Oklahoma City remained two games ahead of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the race for the league’s best record with five games to play. The Thunder lost consecutive games for just the second time this season. The teams will meet again Tuesday in Oklahoma City.
Onyeka Okongwu had 27 points and 12 rebounds, Trae Young added 23 points and 15 assists and the Atlanta Hawks beat the Jazz 147-134, extending Utah’s losing streak to nine games. Caris LeVert scored 21, Dyson Daniels 19 and Vit Krejci made five 3-pointers and finished with 17 points on 6-of-6 shooting for the Hawks. Keyonte George led the Jazz with a career-high 35 points, including seven 3s. Collin Sexton added 27 points and Isaiah Collier scored 17 with 12 assists. The Jazz gave up 81 first-half points to the Hawks, the second consecutive half in which Utah’s opponent scored at least 80.
Zach LaVine scored 37 points, including 11 in the decisive fourth quarter, and the Sacramento Kings remained in position for a play-in spot with a 120-113 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday night. DeMar DeRozan scored 28 points and Domantas Sabonis added 27 points and nine rebounds for the Kings. They moved into ninth place in the Western Conference with their second straight win. Ty Jerome led Cleveland with 20 points and Donovan Mitchell added 19. The Cavaliers had a three-game winning streak snapped and will have to wait at least one more game to wrap up the top seed in the Eastern Conference. They dropped to 62-16.
Toumani Camara had 23 points and 11 rebounds and the Portland Trail Blazers held off a late rally by the San Antonio Spurs for a 120-109 victory. Both teams were mathematically alive for a play-in spot going into the game Sunday night but were eliminated by Sacramento’s 120-113 victory over Cleveland. Stephon Castle finished with 22 points for the Spurs. The Spurs trailed for most of the game, but Chris Paul’s layup and free throw got San Antonio within 108-102 before Camara made a 3-pointer to end the threat.
The reeling Denver Nuggets lost their fourth straight game, 125-120 to the Indiana Pacers despite getting 41 points from Nikola Jokic. Obi Toppin scored 22 points in his second start of the season for Indiana, which was without star Pascal Siakam, who was out with an elbow injury. The Nuggets began the day in fourth place in the Western Conference but were just one game ahead of eighth-place Memphis. Denver's Jamal Murray missed his fifth consecutive game due to a pulled right hamstring.
Gary Trent Jr. scored a season-high 29 points, and the Milwaukee Bucks improved their hold on fifth place in the Eastern Conference by defeating the New Orleans Pelicans 111-107. Milwaukee rested Giannis Antetokounmpo after he played 43 minutes — and had 36 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists — in a 121-115 overtime victory at Miami a night earlier. Brook Lopez had 20 points and 12 rebounds for the Bucks, who won their fourth straight. Kevin Porter Jr. scored 20 points, while Ryan Rollins added 14 points and 10 assists. Rookie Antonio Reeves scored 23, and fellow rookie Yves Missi had 18 points and 12 rebounds for New Orleans, which lost its third straight.
Alperen Sengun had 19 points and 14 rebounds, Dillon Brooks scored 24 points and the Houston Rockets snapped the Golden State Warriors’ five-game winning streak with a 106-96 win in a matchup of Western Conference powers. Stephen Curry was held to three points on 1-for-10 shooting — missing seven of eight 3-pointers — for his lowest total this season in a game he was healthy. Curry scored two points Dec. 19 at Memphis but suffered a pelvic contusion in a hard fall.
Coby White scored 37 points, shooting 6 of 8 from 3-point range, Josh Giddey added 23 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists and the Chicago Bulls defeated the Charlotte Hornets 131-117 for their third straight win. Nikola Vucevic contributed 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Bulls, who entered one game behind the Atlanta Hawks for the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference. Mark Williams had 22 points and nine rebounds for the Hornets, who have lost 10 of 12 games. White has averaged 30.5 points per game in his last four games at the Spectrum Center.
MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER
Tani Oluwaseyi scored for the fifth time this season, Wil Trapp scored for the fifth time in 328 appearances and Minnesota United beat New York City FC 2-1 at Yankee Stadium. Minnesota United (4-1-2) — unbeaten in six straight — jumped in front early when Oluwaseyi used assists from Joaquín Pereyra and Kelvin Yeboah in the 2nd minute to score his fifth goal of the season. Pereyra set up Trapp’s first goal of the season to make it 2-0 in the 29th minute. NYCFC (2-3-2) had a chance to pull within a goal at halftime, but Alonso Martínez had a penalty kick bounce off the crossbar in the eighth minute of stoppage time. NYCFC made things interesting when Keaton Parks scored for the first time this season in the 89th minute.
Josef Martínez found the net in the second minute of second-half stoppage time to polish off a league-record seventh hat trick, leading the San Jose Earthquakes to a 6-1 romp over D.C. United and moving him into the No. 6 spot on the league’s all-time goals list. Martínez scored in the 16th minute after Cristian “Chicho” Arango scored in the 8th to give the Earthquakes (3-3-1) a 2-0 lead. Martínez made it 4-1 in the 81st minute. He capped the scoring after substitute Amahl Pellegrino found the net in the 90th. Martínez went six years, 259 days between hat tricks — the second longest streak in league history behind Dwayne De Rosario (7 years, 313 days). Martínez has 120 goals in 190 career appearances since joining the league in 2017.
Lionel Messi scored for the third time in four Major League Soccer matches this season, helping Inter Miami get a 1-1 tie with Toronto FC. It was Messi’s 40th goal across all competitions since joining Inter Miami, extending his franchise record. The goal Sunday was a left-footed volley from the top of the 18-yard box about five minutes into first-half stoppage time. The tie left Inter Miami (4-0-2) one point behind Columbus in the Eastern Conference, with one match in hand. Messi’s goal tied the match, three minutes after Federico Bernardeschi opened the scoring for Toronto (0-4-3).
NASCAR
Denny Hamlin took his last lead out of the pits right before an overtime finish and then held off William Byron to win the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway on Sunday. Hamlin got his chance when Kyle Larson spun out after Ryan Blaney had taken the lead with three laps left to force the extra laps. Hamlin came out of the pits in front then took off on the restart for his fifth career win at Darlington and second straight after winning at Martinsville a week ago.
GOLF
Brian Harman is a winner for the first time since the British Open in the summer of 2023. He had to battle the chill and the wind at the Texas Open. Harman shot a 75 in the final round and still won by three shots. He had a couple of birdies on the back nine that gave him some breathing room over Andrew Novak. Harman still only had a two-shot lead with two holes to play but made it easy on himself two pars. Ryan Gerard shot 69 and was runner-up. Novak and Maverick McNealy tied for third.
Madelene Sagstrom ended more than a five-year LPGA Tour victory drought, overcoming the loss of a four-hole lead at difficult Shadow Creek in a 1-up victory over Lauren Coughlin on Sunday in the T-Mobile Match Play final. Sagstrom took the lead for good with a par at the par-5 16th hole. Coughlin made a double bogey on the hole. Perhaps it was a fitting when the world’s top-ranked players fell one after another at the picturesque but demanding course that a ranked 67th claimed the $300,000 winner’s share. The Swede’s other win came in 2020 at the Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio. The final match reached the 18th green for the first time in the 5-year-old event.
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