The Washington Capitals have regained sole possession of first place in the NHL's Metropolitan Division, thanks to a little help from video review and the Philadelphia Flyers. Alex Ovechkin was credited with a goal in the fourth round of the shootout to lead the Capitals to their fourth straight win, 3-2 over the Rangers in New York.
The league's top goal-scorer was skating to his right when Rangers goaltender Alexandar Georgiev threw his stick at the puck, knocking it away from the star winger. Ovechkin was credited with the goal after a review. Carl Hagelin and Andre Burakovsky scored in the first period for the Caps, who haven't had the outright division lead since mid-January.
The Flyers did Washington a favor by beating the Islanders, 4-1. Brian Elliott was outstanding at times in stopping 29 shots to help Philadelphia win for the 16th time in 21 games. Elliott blanked New York until Adam Pelech scored with 4:45 left. Travis Konecny, Travis Sanheim, Scott Laughton and Sean Couturier scored against the Islanders, who are 1-3 on their five-game homestand.
Elsewhere on NHL ice, Blake Wheeler scored three of his four goals in the third period and Connor Hellebuyck finish 40 saves to carry the Jets past the Blue Jackets, 5-2. Sami Niku also tallied for Winnipeg, which kept its one-goal lead over Nashville in the Pacific Division. Columbus lost its second straight and stayed below the wild-card line in the Eastern Conference.
The Predators kept pace with the Jets by getting shootout goals from Ryan Ellis and Ryan Johansen in a 3-2 verdict over the Wild. Minnesota had a 2-1 lead until Filip Forsberg scored with 4:19 left in regulation. The Wild gained a point to move into a tie with Dallas for the two Western Conference wild-card berths.
San Jose's 5-2 win over the Blackhawks puts the Sharks within three points of the Pacific Division-leading Flames. Marcus Sorensen broke a 2-2 tie 4:27 into the third period before Melker Karlsson added a pair of goals. Tomas Hertl notched his 29th goal of the season and Timo Meier contributed his 23rd as the Sharks sent Chicago to its fourth loss in five games.
Marc-Andre Fleury earned his second straight shutout by handling 19 shots in the Golden Knights' 3-0 victory over the Canucks. Max Pacioretty, Ryan Carpenter and Reilly Smith did the scoring as Vegas won its fourth in a row.
Jakob Silfverberg contributed a goal and an assist as the Ducks downed the Avalanche, 2-1 to snap a five-game losing streak. Cam Fowler also tallied and John Gibson made 25 saves for his first victory since Jan. 19.
The Senators' seven-game losing streak is over after Rudolfs Balcers scored the tiebreaking goal in the second period of their 3-2 win against the Panthers. Brian Gibbons and Zack Smith also scored and Anders Nilsson stopped 30 shots as Ottawa dealt Florida its fourth consecutive loss.
NBA
The Houston Rockets received another big performance from James Harden in their fifth straight win. Harden had 42 points before fouling out late in the fourth quarter of the Rockets' 115-104 victory at Boston. Harden made six 3-pointers and scored 40 or more points for the 24th time this season. Eric Gordon added 32 points and had eight 3-pointers for Houston, which is one game behind Oklahoma and Portland for third place in the NBA's Western Conference. Kyrie Irving led the Celtics with 24 points, nine rebounds and six assists, but Boston fell for the fifth time in six games.
Larry Shamet and Danilo Gallinari combined for 27 points while the Clippers built a 38-20 lead through one quarter of a 128-107 thumping of the Knicks. Shamet hit six 3-pointers in the opening period and shot 7-for-11 from beyond the arc in scoring 21 points. Gallinari finished with 20 points for Los Angeles, which led 82-46 at halftime.
Checking out Sunday's other NBA action, Andre Drummond made two free throws to break a 107-all tie with 46.1 seconds left in the Pistons' 112-107 overtime victory against the Raptors. Blake Griffin scored 27 points to help Detroit withstand Kyle Lowry's season-high 35 points. Lowry had the Raptors' first seven points in overtime, but Toronto lost for only the second time in 11 games.
Rodney Hood provided 27 points and Jusuf Nurkic added 26 with 15 rebounds in the Trail Blazers' sixth win in seven games, 118-108. Damian Lillard chipped in 23 points for Portland, which remains in a tie with Oklahoma City for the third seed in the Western Conference. Jeremy Lamb had 23 points and Kemba Walker had 18 points and a season-high 12 assists for the Hornets, who are still tied with the Magic for the eighth and final playoff spot in the East.
The Thunder rallied from a 13-point deficit in the final seven minutes to defeat the Grizzlies, 99-95. Russell Westbrook scored 12 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter to help Oklahoma City end a four-game losing streak. Dennis Schroder added 17 points and a career-high 11 rebounds, and Steven Adams had 13 points and 22 boards for the Thunder.
Jordan Clarkson scored 18 points and the Cavaliers pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat the Magic, 107-93. Kevin Love had 16 points and 14 rebounds after sitting out Cleveland's previous game. Nikola Vucevic scored 28 points on 13 of 16 shooting and grabbed 13 rebounds for Orlando, which was coming off wins over Golden State and Indiana.
The Wizards knocked off the Timberwolves, 135-121 as Bobby Portis had 26 points and 12 rebounds. Bradley Beal and reserve Jabari Parker each scored 22 points for Washington, which had lost five of six.
Alex Len drained five 3-pointers and scored a season-high 28 points as the Hawks held off the Bulls, 123-118. Rookie Trae Young scored 18 before getting ejected early in the third quarter for taunting Chicago's Kris Dunn.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
In men's basketball, Siena beat Niagara, 72-65, Rider defeated Marist, 75-64, and UConn took down South Florida, 60-58.
In women's basketball, Syracuse downed Boston College, 76-59.
In top-25 basketball, Marquette became the fourth and final top-10 team to lose this weekend, joining Kentucky, Michigan State and Houston. Creighton came into Milwaukee with a 6-9 record in the Big East before Martin Krampelj scored 19 points and Ty-Shon Alexander added 14 to lead the Bluejays' 66-60 victory over the 10th-ranked Golden Eagles. Marcus Zegarski capped a 10-0 run with a steal and layup to put Creighton up 60-54 with 2:16 remaining. The Bluejays preserved the victory with six free throws in the final minute. Markus Howard had a game-high 33 points for Marquette, which committed 22 turnovers that were turned into 18 points.
Ignas Brazdeikis scored 21 points and ninth-ranked Michigan improved to 15-4 in the Big Ten by holding off No. 17 Maryland, 69-62. Jon Teske had 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Wolverines, who trailed 43-41 in the second half before holding the Terrapins without a field goal for more than a seven-minute stretch. Michigan clinched a double-bye in the conference tournament and still has a chance to catch Purdue for the Big Ten regular-season crown.
Jaylen Nowell scored 13 points and Noah Dickerson added 12 to help No. 25 Washington nip Stanford, 62-61. Cardinal star KZ Okpala was held to six points and missed an off-balance 3-pointer at the buzzer.
NASCAR
The reigning NASCAR Cup champ has his first victory of the season. Joey Logano held off teammate Brad Keselowski to win Sunday's race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It's Logano's 22nd career victory and first in 11 starts at Vegas, although he won an Xfinity Series race at the track in 2017. Keselowski drove up from 19th to take the lead with 27 laps left, but his hopes for back-to-back victories were dashed when Logano passed him while getting held up by lapped traffic. Third-place finisher Kyle Busch was unable to recover from a mid-race speeding penalty in the hometown driver's quest for the third three-race weekend sweep in NASCAR history. The first race under NASCAR's full new rules package produced a caution-free event that still had some exciting action up front, including a couple of wild restarts after the two segment breaks.
GOLF
Keith Mitchell sank a 15-foot birdie putt on the final hole to win The Honda Classic for his first PGA Tour victory. Mitchell closed with a 3-under 67 to finish at 9-under 271 at PGA National, a stroke ahead of Brooks Koepka and Rickie Fowler. Mitchell was tied for the lead after 36 holes, and was tied for second going into Sunday. He birdied four of his final seven holes for his first win as a pro, including stints on the Web.com and Latinoamerica tours. Ryan Palmer fired a 63 to finish in a fourth-place tie with Lucas Glover at minus-7. Vijay Singh settled for sixth after starting in the final group on Sunday. The 56-year-old Singh was trying to become the oldest winner on the PGA Tour.
Mark O'Meara claimed his first PGA Tour Champions victory in more than eight years by finishing four shots ahead of four others in the Cologuard Classic in Tucson. O'Meara had a one-shot lead going into the final round and stretched it to four going to the back nine. At 62 years, 1 month and 17 days, he's the fourth-oldest winner on the history of the 50-and-over tour. Darren Clarke holed a 50-foot birdie putt on the 18th for a 68 to tie for second with Willie Wood, Kirk Triplett and Scott McCarron
In the LPGA, Sung Hyun Park rallied to win the HSBC Women's World Championship in Singapore, her sixth LPGA title. The world No. 2 birdied five of her first seven holes and added four more on the back nine for an 8-under 64 and a two-stroke victory over Minjee Lee. Park began the round four strokes behind No. 1 Ariya Jutanugarn, who shot a 75 to fall into a tie for eighth.
In golf news, the USGA says it will meet with Justin Thomas in the coming days, in response to his criticisms over some of the game's newest rules changes. The world's No. 3 player and the USGA engaged a bit over Twitter during the weekend, and then chatted offline as well. USGA senior managing director of championships John Bodenhamer says he has arranged a meeting with Thomas. This week's Honda Classic provided a plethora of rules-related issues, some of them involving Thomas.
WAKE FOREST
Wake Forest athletic director Ron Wellman will retire on May 1 and be replaced by former Tennessee AD John Currie. Wellman is the longest-tenured AD in Division I, leading Wake Forest's athletic department since 1992. The school has won five national championships under his watch, including men's tennis in 2018. Currie is a Wake Forest alumnus who was Kansas State's AD from 2009-17. He spent much of 2017 at Tennessee before he was suspended in the midst of the search to replace football coach Butch Jones.
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