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Knights, Utah HC put early end to season series

NHL: Vegas Golden Knights at UtahNov 15, 2024; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Vegas Golden Knights left wing Tanner Pearson (70) shoots while pursued by Utah Hockey Club defenseman Juuso Valimaki (4) during the third period at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-Imagn Images

Thanks to the quirks of the NHL schedule, the Utah Hockey Club and the Vegas Golden Knights will play each other for the third time in November and also for the final time in the regular season on Saturday night in Las Vegas.

The Pacific Division-leading Golden Knights have won both of the first two meetings with their new neighbors. Vegas won the first contest 4-3 on Nov. 2 on home ice on a Brett Howden overtime goal, then rallied from a 2-0 second-period deficit 13 days later in Salt Lake City to pull out a 4-2 victory.

Both teams will be playing the second game of a back-to-back on Saturday.

Vegas, behind two goals by Howden and Ivan Barbashev, defeated NHL points leader Winnipeg 4-3 on Friday night while Utah garnered a point against the reigning Western Conference champion Edmonton Oilers with a 4-3 overtime loss.

Howden tapped in a William Karlsson crossing pass by the left post with 4:05 remaining for the game-winner as the Golden Knights improved to 9-2-0 at home this season.

The contest came just one day after Vegas returned from a season-long five-game road trip that included stops in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Philadelphia and Wednesday in Denver against Colorado. The Golden Knights, however, didn’t show any signs of jet lag in one of their best home performances of the season.

“We’ve been away from home for a long time,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “I think our guys are excited to get back here playing. I liked our energy. I thought we played really well coming off the road.”

“We’ve been playing pretty well,” added Karlsson, who played in his 700th career NHL game. “Long road trip and coming home for a back-to-back. I think we looked pretty good (Friday) and hopefully can come out the same way (Saturday).”

Vegas next will host the Oilers on Tuesday, providing a brief break.

Utah, despite blowing a 2-0 first period lead, did manage to pick up a point against the Oilers on Friday night, thanks to a Lawson Crouse goal early in the third period that tied the score 3-3. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins won it at 1:18 of overtime with a breakaway goal, beating Karel Vejmelka on his blocker side.

Edmonton scored three times in the second period, including power play goals by Leon Draisaitl and captain Connor McDavid, to take a 3-2 lead before Crouse scored his first goal since Oct. 24 in a loss to Colorado to tie it.

“Finally,” Crouse replied when asked for his reaction to scoring his fourth goal of the season. “I think it just speaks volumes to our character in our room, and there’s no quit in our team. We went right to the end.”

It was Utah’s fifth loss in the last seven games (2-4-1).

“Take the positives from this, move on and get ready for a big matchup tomorrow,” Crouse said. “We’ve got to move on quickly here. The goal is to come away with two points, not one.”

–Field Level Media

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Lenyn Sosa's late clutch hit lifts Jays over skidding Angels

MLB: Toronto Blue Jays at Los Angeles AngelsApr 21, 2026; Anaheim, California, USA; Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (27) beats the tag of Los Angeles Angels catcher Logan O’Hoppe (14) to score during the eighth inning at Angel Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

Pinch hitter Lenyn Sosa drilled a tiebreaking two-run double during a three-run eighth inning to propel the Toronto Blue Jays to a 4-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday night at Anaheim, Calif.

Eloy Jimenez had two RBIs and Vladimir Guerrero scored twice for the Blue Jays, who defeated the Angels for the second straight night and matched their season best of three straight wins.

Ernie Clement and Daulton Varsho had two hits apiece for Toronto. Louie Varland entered to induce a game-ending double play with the bases loaded for his first career save.

Oswald Peraza had two hits and a run for the Angels, who had just five hits overall. Los Angeles has scored just six runs during a season-worst four-game losing streak.

Clement’s one-out double inside the left field line got the decisive uprising going against Drew Pomeranz (0-2) in the eighth. Guerrero was walked intentionally and Sosa came up and ripped a 1-1 fastball off the wall in right to give Toronto a 3-1 lead.

Jimenez followed with a ground single through the right side to score Clement.

Mason Fluharty (1-0) retired the final two batters of the seventh and Tyler Rogers worked a perfect eighth for Toronto.

Struggling closer Jeff Hoffman started the ninth and created a jam. He struck out Zach Neto to start the inning before allowing Mike Trout’s single to left and plunking Jo Adell on the right hand and Jorge Soler on the left elbow to load the bases.

Yoan Moncada then pinch-hit for Peraza and hit an RBI single to right to bring the Angels within 4-2 and end Hoffman’s night. Varland entered and got Nolan Schanuel to hit his first pitch on the ground to Toronto second baseman Clement, who began to turn the decisive double play with shortstop Andres Gimenez’s throw to first narrowly beating the diving Schanuel.

Toronto starter Patrick Corbin allowed one run and two hits over five innings. He struck out three and walked two.

Los Angeles starter Jack Kochanowicz gave up one run and five hits over 5 2/3 innings. He walked two and struck out one.

The Angels moved ahead in the fifth when Peraza and Schanuel hit one-out singles and Vaughn Grissom followed with a sacrifice fly to score Peraza.

Toronto had a similar frame in the sixth when Guerrero and Jesus Sanchez had consecutive one-out singles and Jimenez plated Guerrero with a sacrifice fly.

–Field Level Media

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Seeking elusive win, Austin FC tasked with slowing Quakes

MLS: San Jose Earthquakes at LAFCApr 19, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; San Jose Earthquakes forward Ousseni Bouda (7) runs with the ball against Los Angeles Football Club defender Eddie Segura (4) during the first period at BMO Stadium. Mandatory Credit: William Navarro-Imagn Images

The San Jose Earthquakes are enjoying the best eight-match start in franchise history and coach Bruce Arena doesn’t want to hear any chatter about a letdown.

The destructive Earthquakes (7-1-0, 21 points) have outscored opponents 17-3 and look to inflict more damage when they host Austin FC on Wednesday night.

Austin FC (1-3-4, 7 points) is winless in their past six MLS matches (0-3-3).

“There are no trap games in this league,” Arena told reporters. “Any team can beat you on a given day in this league. We understand that. It’s going to be a difficult game on Wednesday. We played Austin last year and I think we split with them. … It’s going to be a difficult game.”

The teams split two regular-season matches last season while Austin also won a U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal matchup. San Jose is 3-2-6 in 11 all-time MLS matches against Austin.

The Earthquakes are fresh off Sunday’s 4-1 pummeling of host Los Angeles FC. Ousseni Bouda posted a brace and has a team-best four goals.

Bouda is in his fifth season with San Jose. He sees a definitive change in this season’s squad after the Quakes missed the playoffs last season.

“I think it’s the culture we set for ourselves this year,” Bouda said. “I think everybody is all bought in. We’re taking it one game at a time. It’s only about eight games in right now, so there’s a lot of games left and we want to stay consistent and continue to get better throughout the season as well.”

Austin certainly would like to collect a much-needed victory. The club led late on Saturday before host Toronto FC tallied in the 88th minute to gain a 3-3 tie.

Austin coach Nico Estevez said one key is making sure his players aren’t intimidated by San Jose.

“You can’t be afraid,” Estevez said. “You have to go and be aggressive and you have to attack them. You have to find their weaknesses that every team has and minimize their strengths.”

Austin is winless in four road matches (0-2-2) but one of those was a 2-2 tie against Inter Miami and Lionel Messi on April 4.

That showing has Austin players feeling they can give the Earthquakes a battle.

“We’ve had good performances and shown we can play against top teams in the league,” forward CJ Fodrey said. “It’s about being confident throughout 90 (minutes) and turning those good performances into results.”

–Field Level Media

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Landen Roupp, Giants claim first matchup of season with Dodgers

MLB: Los Angeles Dodgers at San Francisco GiantsApr 21, 2026; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Landen Roupp (65) throws against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the first inning at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images

Landen Roupp outpitched Yoshinobu Yamamoto, San Francisco got RBI singles from Rafael Devers and Jung Hoo Lee in a three-run first inning, and the Giants held off the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers 3-1 in the opener of a three-game series Tuesday night.

Roupp (4-1) allowed just one run on one hit in five innings, then watched five relievers combine for four innings of shutout ball, helping the Giants open a six-game homestand with a win after a 4-5 trip.

Roupp struck out seven and walked five in his first career win over the Dodgers.

Seeking his first-ever victory over the Giants, Yamamoto (2-2) went seven innings, allowing six hits and three runs, all of which scored in the first. He walked two and fanned seven.

Willy Adames got the cold night rolling for San Francisco with an infield single, after which Luis Arraez singled and Matt Chapman walked to load the bases.

Each of the next three batters delivered single runs, with Devers’ single chasing home Adames, Casey Schmitt’s sacrifice fly scoring Arraez, and Lee’s single plating Chapman.

Roupp allowed a two-out single by Hyeseong Kim in the second but no other hits until a wild spate in the fourth. He walked four of the first five batters he faced that inning, including Kim with the bases loaded to force home Teoscar Hernandez.

The right-hander got out of the one-out jam by inducing a double play grounder off the bat of Alex Call.

The Dodgers got the potential tying run on the bases with two outs in the seventh before Erik Miller struck out Kyle Tucker to retain the 3-1 lead.

Ryan Walker worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his second save.

Ryan Borucki, Matt Gage and Keaton Winn also contributed to the three-hitter in the first meeting of the season between the longtime California rivals.

Lee was the only player in the game with multiple hits, a pair of singles. The Giants out-hit the visitors 6-3, with the Dodgers’ Hernandez stroking the game’s only extra-base hit, a double.

–Field Level Media

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