Sports
Riding four-game skid, Flames try to cool off red-hot Devils
Oct 30, 2024; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; New Jersey Devils forward Jesper Bratt (63) and forward Stefan Noesen (11) and forward Jack Hughes (86) and forward Nico Hischier (13) celebrate Jack Hughes’ goal against the Vancouver Canucks during the third period at Rogers Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Frid-Imagn Images Goals have come fast and furious for the New Jersey Devils in their past two games, and they will look for more when they continue their western Canada road trip on Friday at the Calgary Flames.
The Devils, who sat atop the Metropolitan Division entering Thursday, arrive in Calgary after a dominant 6-0 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday to kick off a three-game road trip.
New Jersey opened the scoring in the first minute and never looked back. The Devils surrendered only 20 shots on goal while goaltender Jacob Markstrom – acquired from Calgary over the summer — posted his first shutout of the season.
“We were full marks for all three periods,” coach Sheldon Keefe said. “All four lines, special teams, goaltending, everything was good. … It’s a low-event hockey game, but the fact our guys were comfortable in that I love as well, especially once we got the lead. … A ton of good things we can bottle up and take with us.”
The Devils snapped a four-game winless skid (0-2-2) when they beat the Anaheim Ducks 6-2 in their previous game before heading west.
Plenty of Devils are holding hot offensive hands. Jesper Bratt is riding a six-game point streak (one goal, six assists) and both Jack Hughes and Dawson Mercer netted one goal and one assist at Vancouver. However, the hottest player is Nico Hischier, who has five goals over a four-game goal streak and led the NHL with 10 tallies entering Thursday.
“Riding a wave right now a bit,” Hischier said. “It’s going in, and in my career, I have had some places where they weren’t going in, so I’ll just keep riding the wave.”
The Flames are on the other end of the spectrum. After a 5-1 road loss to Utah on Wednesday, Calgary has lost four consecutive games and five of six (1-4-1).
“You could say we’re in a pit of doom right now, but we’ve got to climb ourselves out of it,” said captain Mikael Backlund, who played his 1,000th career game in Salt Lake City and will be lauded prior to puck drop on Friday. “It’s up to us, 23 players here. We’ve got to turn this around. It’s been two tough games from us.”
The Flames opened the season 5-0-1, the best start for the team since relocating to Calgary for the 1980-81 campaign, but have lost their swagger. Calgary was outscored 10-1 during a two-game road swing that started in Las Vegas.
“The last two games, for me, there’s a little pushback with how we have to play,” coach Ryan Huska said. “If we’re going to try to do things on our own, or play a fancy, cute game, it doesn’t work for us. It’s something that hopefully the room recognizes, understands that the last two games, the work ethic hasn’t been where it needs to be, and for me, that starts right at the top and it works its way right down.”
Backlund intends to relay that to his teammates.
“We’ve all got to be better, as individuals and as a team. We’ve got to play more for each other,” he said. “Before this road trip we were playing hard and aggressive, that’s what we’ve got to get back to, we got away from that. It starts next game, first 10 minutes, every puck’s got to get in and we’ve got to go to work.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Jordan Eberle leads Kraken past woeful Canucks
Feb 28, 2026; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Kraken right wing Jordan Eberle (7) scores a goal past Vancouver Canucks goaltender Kevin Lankinen (32) during the second period at Climate Pledge Arena. Mandatory Credit: Blake Dahlin-Imagn Images Jordan Eberle had two goals and an assist and Chandler Stephenson had a goal and two assists as the Seattle Kraken opened a six-game homestand with a 5-1 victory against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night.
Vince Dunn and Matty Beniers also were credited with goals for Seattle, which snapped a two-game skid. Goaltender Joey Daccord made 27 saves. Daccord nearly scored into an empty net, but his attempt rolled just wide left of the net.
Liam Ohgren scored and Kevin Lankinen stopped 20 of 24 shots for the Canucks, who have lost five in a row and are 2-15-4 in their past 21 games.
It appeared Eberle completed a hat trick with an empty-netter at 17:00 of the third period, with headwear raining down on the ice.
But fans were unaware the official scorer had changed Eberle’s apparent power-play goal at 11:56 of the period and gave the goal to Beniers, as Eberle’s stuff shot glanced off the toe of Beniers’ skate.
The Kraken opened the scoring at 7:36 of the first period as Dunn took a pass from Stephenson and put a wrist shot from the top of the left faceoff circle past a screened Lankinen.
Stephenson doubled the advantage at 10:20 of the period. Adam Larsson’s shot from the left point deflected off the back of the leg of Vancouver’s Marcus Pettersson as he tried to clear traffic from the top of the crease and the puck fell to Stephenson, who swiped it into the open left side of the net.
The Canucks got on the scoreboard at 8:28 of the second as Ohgren’s turnaround slap shot from the top of the left faceoff circle beat a screened Daccord.
The Kraken restored their two-goal at 13:47 of the second as Eberle blocked defenseman Elias Pettersson’s shot from the left point and raced down ice on a breakaway, lifting a backhander past Lankinen.
The Canucks, in last place in the league’s overall standings, sat defenseman Tyler Myers for a second straight game for roster management purposes as he’s likely to be dealt before Friday’s NHL trade deadline.
–Field Level Media
Sports
LA Galaxy blitz Charlotte with 3 goals in first 13 minutes
Feb 28, 2026; Carson, California, USA; Charlotte FC forward Idan Toklomati (9) and Los Angeles Galaxy defender Jakob Glesnes (5) battle for the ball during the first half at Dignity Health Sports Park. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-Imagn Images Joao Klauss continues to be exactly the offensive piece the Los Angeles Galaxy needed, scoring a pair of goals in the opening 13 minutes of a 3-0 victory over Charlotte FC on Saturday at Carson, Calif.
Lucas Sanabria also scored an early goal for the Galaxy (1-0-1, 4 points), who have allowed just one goal over their first two MLS matches and two goals in four matches when including a pair of CONCACAF Champions Cup games.
Novak Micovic made one save for Los Angeles, which is integrating 2022 MLS Defender of the Year Jakob Glesnes into the back line after he was acquired from the Philadelphia Union in the offseason.
Kristijan Kahlina made eight saves for Charlotte FC (0-1-1, 1 point), who have scored just one goal through two regular-season contests. Charlotte has played twice on the road to start the season and now will play five consecutive home matches..
After leading Charlotte FC with 11 goals last season, forward Idan Toklomati does not have a shot on target in two games this season.
Sanabria gave the Galaxy a 1-0 lead in the eighth minute when he scored on a rebound off the left post after a shot from distance by teammate Gabriel Pec.
In the 11th minute, Pec created more offense on a centering pass from the right side that Klauss slotted into the net for a 2-0 lead.
Klauss made it 3-0 in the 13th minute when he forced a Charlotte turnover and moved to the top of the penalty area where he scored past Kahlina.
After scoring 25 goals in three seasons with St. Louis City, Klauss now has three goals in two games for the Galaxy after he was acquired in a cash-for-player trade in January.
Los Angeles, which did not earn its first victory until their 17th game last season, had a minus-20 goal differential a year ago, second-worst in the Western Conference.
Klauss played 63 minutes after playing 90 on Wednesday against Sporting SM of Panama on Wednesday and 88 minutes in Los Angeles’ MLS opener last Sunday against New York City FC.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Saint Mary's tops No. 9 Gonzaga, earns share off WCC regular-season title
Feb 28, 2026; Moraga, California, USA; Gonzaga Bulldogs Mario Saint-Supery (17) dribbles the ball against the St. Mary Gaels during the first half at University Credit Union Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Lee-Imagn Images Mikey Lewis established career highs of 31 points and seven 3-pointers and Saint Mary’s clinched a share of the West Coast Conference regular-season title with a 70-59 victory over No. 9 Gonzaga on Saturday night at Moraga, Calif.
Joshua Dent added 14 points and made four 3-pointers for the Gaels (27-4, 16-2 WCC), who have won or shared the title in each of the past four seasons. Saint Mary’s shared the regular-season crown with Gonzaga in 2023 and won the league outright each of the past two seasons.
Mantas Juzenas had 12 points on four treys as the Gaels defeated the Bulldogs for the seventh time in the past 13 meetings. Saint Mary’s outscored the Zags 41-23 in the second half en route to its eighth consecutive victory.
Graham Ike scored 17 points before fouling out with 3:44 remaining for the Bulldogs (28-3, 16-2), who previously clinched a share of the crown and will be the No. 1 seed in the upcoming WCC postseason tournament. Saint Mary’s will be the No. 2 seed.
Adam Miller scored 14 points and Tyon Grant-Foster added 13 points and three blocked shots for Gonzaga, which had a six-game winning streak halted.
This was the final regular-season meeting between two programs that first played in 1955. Gonzaga is moving into the rebuilt Pac-12 next season.
Saint Mary’s shot 34.8% from the field, but was a solid 16 of 33 from 3-point range.
The Bulldogs made 39.3% of their attempts and were 5 of 17 from behind the arc. Gonzaga shot just 29.6% in the second half.
The score was tied at 44 before Saint Mary’s ripped off 10 consecutive points.
Lewis drained a 3-pointer and Paulius Murauskas added a layup for a five-point lead. Lewis made two free throws before Murauskas buried a trey to give the Gaels a 54-44 lead with 8:51 remaining.
Two baskets by Ike pulled Gonzaga within 56-50 with 6:04 remaining.
Saint Mary’s responded with 11 straight points on Andrew McKeever’s tip-in, Dent’s 3-pointer and Lewis’ two treys to make it 67-50 with 4:09 remaining.
Lewis later drained his seventh trey to make it 70-56 with 1:29 remaining as Saint Mary’s closed it out.
The Gaels trailed by seven at halftime but scored the first eight points of the second half and 15 of 17. Dent made two treys to cap the 8-0 burst to give Saint Mary’s a 37-36 edge.
Lewis scored the next seven Gaels’ points to make it 44-38 with 14:25 remaining.
Grant-Foster’s authoritative dunk allowed Gonzaga to knot the score at 44 with 11:09 to play.
Ike scored 13 first-half points as Gonzaga led 36-29 at the break.
–Field Level Media
Jordan Eberle leads Kraken past woeful Canucks
LA Galaxy blitz Charlotte with 3 goals in first 13 minutes
