Alexandar Georgiev had a career-high 55 saves to lead the Rangers past the Maple Leafs, 4-1. Mika Zibanejad, Jimmy Vesey and Adam McQuaid scored against Toronto as New York ended up 2-2-1 on its five-game homestand. Kasperi Kapanen scored for the Leafs, who had their four-game winning streak snapped.
Devon Toews scored the game-winner early in the second period and Thomas Greiss stopped 26 shots to send the Islanders past the Wild, 2-1. Anthony Beauvillier ended an 11-game goal drought and New York won for the 19th time in its last 25 games to open a five-point lead over Washington atop the Metropolitan Division. Minnesota has dropped five of six.
The Jets had dropped three straight before Blake Wheeler's redirect produced the tiebreaking goal with 3:55 left in Winnipeg's 3-1 win over Buffalo. Andrew Copp also scored, Mark Scheifele added an empty-netter and Connor Hellebuyck made 35 saves to help the Jets end their longest winless streak of the season. Jack Eichel scored and Carter Hutton had 26 saves for Buffalo, which is 2-2-1 on its seven-game homestand.
The Bruins ran their point streak to seven games by beating Colorado, 2-1 on Brad Marchand's goal at 4:03 of overtime. John Moore also scored and Jaroslav Halak made 35 saves for Boston, which moved to 4-0-3 in its last seven and sent the Avalanche to their seventh consecutive loss. Nathan MacKinnon scored his 29th goal for Colorado.
Marcus Johansson scored twice and Keith Kinkaid made 32 saves as the Devils nipped the Hurricanes, 3-2. Nico Hischier set up all three goals to help New Jersey end Carolina's three-game winning streak. Dougie Hamilton and Teuvo Teravainen scored for the Hurricanes, who remain one point behind Pittsburgh for the second Eastern Conference wild-card berth.
Elsewhere on NHL ice, Vladimir Tarasenko and the St. Louis Blues remain hot after completing a home-and-home sweep of the Nashville Predators. The Blues squandered leads of 3-1 and 4-3 in the third period before Tarasenko completed a hat trick to give them a 5-4 overtime win at Nashville. He scored four times during the home-and-home sweep to help St. Louis run its winning streak to six games. Blues netminder Jake Allen made 40 saves in his first appearance since Jan. 17. The hot streak puts St. Louis in a tie with Minnesota for the first wild-card berth in the Western Conference. Viktor Arvidsson scored twice for the Predators, who are two points behind the Central Division-leading Winnipeg Jets.
Nikita Kucherov scored the first and last goals in the Lightning's 5-2 win over the Panthers. Brayden Point notched his team-high 32nd goal and had an assist as the league-leading Lightning handed Florida just its third loss in nine games. Steven Stamkos also had a goal and an assist for Tampa Bay, while Louis Domingue stopped 25 shots.
The surging Blackhawks won their seventh in a row as Dominik Kahun had two goals and an assist in a 5-2 decision over the Red Wings. Dylan Strome had a goal and two assists, and Alex DeBrincat extended his career-best point streak to eight games with three assists. Patrick Kane scored an insurance goal and had an assist to run his point streak to 14 games.
In NHL news, the Anaheim Ducks have made a coaching change after dropping seven straight games and 19 of their last 21. General manager Bob Murray has dismissed Randy Carlyle and will take over as interim coach the remaining of the season. The rough stretch has dropped the Ducks into a last-place tie with Los Angeles in the Western Conference at 51 points. Carlyle is the winningest coach in Ducks history and led the franchise to the 2007 Stanley Cup and three appearances in the conference finals. He went 384-256-96 in 736 games for Anaheim, reaching the playoffs in seven of his eight full seasons with the franchise.
NBA
The Philadelphia 76ers produced a basketball exhibition on Sunday that caused Hall of Famer Magic Johnson to say, "The East better watch out. This is a stacked team." Joel Embiid had 37 points and 14 rebounds as the Sixers blasted Johnson's Los Angeles Lakers, 143-120 in Philadelphia. Tobias Harris scored 22 points and JJ Redick added 21 points for the Sixers, who are 2-0 since acquiring Harris and four others at the NBA trade deadline. Jimmy Butler finished with 15 points in helping the Sixers move one game ahead of Boston for the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference. The 76ers had no trouble withstanding Kyle Kuzma's 39 points for the Lakers. LeBron James had 18 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists for Los Angeles. Philly swept the two-game season series by a combined 39 points.
Checking out Sunday's other NBA action, Kevin Durant poured in 39 points and DeMarcus Cousins made two free throws with 5.4 seconds to complete the Warriors' comeback from a 19-point deficit in a 120-118 victory against the Heat. Golden State also wasted an eight-point lead in the fourth quarter and trailed 118-115 until Durant drained a 3-pointer with 51.5 seconds to play. Klay Thompson scored 29 points and Stephen Curry added 25 in the Warriors' 15th victory in 16 games.
Luka Doncic scored 28 points and the Mavericks closed on a 21-5 run to pull out a 102-101 win against the Trail Blazers. Tim Hardaway Jr. had 24 points for Dallas, which trailed 96-81 early in the fourth quarter before improving to 20-8 at home. Damian Lillard scored 21 of his 30 points in the last half of the third quarter to help the Blazers build their double-digit lead.
Marvin Bagley III scored a career-high 32 points and had six rebounds off the bench in the Kings' fifth victory in six games, 117-104 against the Suns. Buddy Hield finished with 18 points, while De'Aaron Fox had 17 points and nine assists as Sacramento moved within a half-game of the Clippers for the final Western Conference playoff berth. Phoenix dropped its 14th straight despite Devin Booker's 27 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
All-Star Nikola Vucevic scored 19 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in leading the Magic to a 124-108 victory over the Hawks. Jonathan Isaac and Evan Fournier each had 17 points for Orlando, which didn't arrive in Atlanta until 2:30am after beating the Bucks in Milwaukee on Saturday. Alex Len led the Hawks with 16 points, despite picking up four fouls in the first half.
In NBA news, free agent guard Wesley Matthews has officially signed with the Indiana Pacers to help fill the void left when All-Star guard Victor Oladipo suffered a season-ending knee injury late last month. Matthews averaged 12.8 points and 2.3 assists in 45 games for the Mavericks this season before going to the Knicks in a trade that sent Kristaps Porzingis to Dallas last week. He was dropped by the Knicks before clearing waivers on Saturday.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
In men's basketball, Siena beat Rider, 59-57, Iona topped Niagara, 79-76, and Memphis University defeated UConn, 78-71.
In women's basketball, Syracuse took down Boston College, 96-69.
In top-25 basketball, the 12th-ranked Houston Cougars have now won eight in a row since suffering their only loss of the season. DeJon Jarreau scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half of the Cougars' 65-58 victory over No. 25 Cincinnati. Jarreau scored 11 consecutive Houston points in the second half, including six straight to give the Cougars a 63-58 lead with 3 ½ minutes left. Jarreau added eight rebounds and five assists as the Cougars improved to 23-1 overall and 10-1 in the American Athletic Conference. Corey Davis Jr. also had 16 in Houston's 32nd consecutive home win.
In Sunday's other top-25 final, No. 20 Iowa stormed back from a 13-point deficit and beat Northwestern, 80-79 on Jordan Bohannon's 3-pointer with 0.3 seconds left. Bohannon scored his first points with 5:28 to go on a jumper and finished with 15 points with 3-for-4 shooting from 3-point range for the 19-5 Hawkeyes. Freshman Joe Wieskamp scored 21 points including a 3-pointer that was part of Iowa's comeback with less than six minutes remaining.
NASCAR
A familiar number will start from the pole for the season-opening Daytona 500, but not a familiar name. William Byron was the fastest in Sunday's qualifying at Daytona International Speedway, driving the Chevrolet with the No. 24 made famous by four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon. Byron reached a top speed of 194.304 mph in the final round of qualifying, nearly two-tenths of a second faster than teammate Alex Bowman. The 21-year-old Byron started all 36 races for Hendrick Motorsports last year, producing four top-10 finishes but nothing higher than a sixth-place performance at Pocono Raceway. He was 23rd at last year's Daytona 500. Former Hendrick driver Casey Mears and Tyler Reddick secured two of the remaining spots in the Daytona 500. They posted the top speeds of the six drivers vying for four open spots in NASCAR's season opener. The rest of the 40-car lineup will be set by two qualifying races Thursday. Thirty-six of those spots are already filled because of NASCAR's charter system.
Also at Daytona on Sunday, NASCAR ejected the car chiefs for Chase Elliott, Ty Dillon and Austin Dillon through the Daytona 500 for repeated inspection failures before qualifying for the race. The drivers of those cars were docked 15 minutes from the final Cup practice before next Sunday's race.
Jimmie Johnson won the rain-shortened exhibition Clash after triggering a wreck that wiped out nearly the entire field at Daytona. Paul Menard led 51 laps and controlled the race until Johnson turned Menard and started a chain-reaction accident that left cars sideways and smoking behind the No. 48 Chevrolet. The seven-time Cup Series champion failed to win a race last season for the first time in his career.
PGA
Phil Mickelson has put himself on the brink of a fifth victory in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Mickelson turned a three-shot deficit into a three-shot lead when a wild day of weather kept him from finishing. He was bogey-free with six birdies, and he made his big run starting with a 9-iron to a foot behind the cup on the par-4 ninth. That was part of a five-hole stretch in which Mickelson made three birdies and Paul Casey had two bogeys. Mickelson is at 18-under par through 16 holes. Casey is at 15 under and tied with Scott Stallings, who closed with a 66.
Bernhard Langer closed with a 7-under 65 at The Old Course at Broken Sound for a five-stroke victory in the PGA Tour Champions' Oasis Championship. The 61-year-old German star birdied five of the first seven holes in a bogey-free round. Langer finished at 19-under 197 for his 39th victory on the 50-and-over tour. He also won the 2010 event and finished second last year. Marco Dawson was second after a 69.
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Five days after crashing in super-G, Lindsey Vonn bounced back to win the bronze medal in the final race of her career, the world championship downhill. Vonn becomes the first female skier to win medals at six different world championships. It's also her fifth downhill medal at worlds, matching the record established by Annemarie Moser-Proell and Christel Cranz.
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