Sports
Quinton Byfield, Kings look to fluster Flyers again
Dec 28, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Kings right wing Quinton Byfield (55) celebrates his goal scored against the Edmonton Oilers for the overtime victory with goaltender Darcy Kuemper (35) at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images After a pleasant return home from a challenging pre-Christmas road trip, the Los Angeles Kings will search for consecutive victories for the first time in nearly three weeks when they host the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday.
The Flyers also will be in the hunt for consecutive victories after they weathered a 1-4-0 stretch that included a 7-3 home loss to the Kings on Dec. 19.
The Kings’ seven-goal outburst against the Flyers represents their highest scoring game of the season.
While Los Angeles did earn points in five of seven games on its recent trip (3-2-2), stringing together wins proved challenging.
The Kings started the frequent-flyer bonanza with a 3-1 victory over the New York Islanders on Dec. 10 that came at the tail end of a recent six-game winning streak. Overtime losses at Pittsburgh (Dec. 17) and Nashville (Dec. 21) prevented back-to-back wins for Los Angeles.
On Saturday at home, the Kings finally conquered overtime in a 4-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers. Quinton Byfield scored in overtime to cap his two-goal, one-assist performance, and Warren Foegele also had three points (one goal, two assists).
Byfield has eight goals on the season, with five coming in his past six games.
“We’ve been using our speed the last couple games and using our size, and we’re just wearing them down and getting pucks to the net,” Foegele said. “It’s a pretty simple recipe, but we’re sticking with it, and credit to the guys for playing the right way.”
In their victory at Philadelphia, the Kings received goals from Byfield, Foegele and Tanner Jeannot, as well as two each from Kevin Fiala and captain Anze Kopitar.
The Flyers enter off their own victory in Southern California after they got past the Anaheim Ducks 3-1 on Saturday. Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee each scored a third-period goal, while Samuel Ersson made 32 saves.
Noah Cates scored in the first period to extend his goal-scoring streak to five games. He has seven total goals in 32 games.
“I feel like I’ve been playing good hockey for a while,” Cates said. “It’s been going in (the net) for me, but I’ve got to keep playing the same way, playing smart, just playing the right way. That momentum and that positive karma comes to you later on, or whenever, during the season.”
The Flyers have won a game at Los Angeles in each of the past two seasons and have a victory against the Kings in each of the past five campaigns.
Travis Konecny leads Philadelphia with 16 goals and 25 assists for 41 points but does not have a goal in his past four games, starting with the home loss to the Kings. Konecny played in his 600th career game Saturday and had a single shot on goal in 20:17 of ice time.
Philadelphia rookie forward Matvei Michkov has 11 goals and 16 assists but no points in seven games.
“It’s just been a struggle, energy,” Flyers coach John Tortorella said of Michkov, who was benched for the third period on Saturday. “The skating, energy, it’s just not there.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Matt Fitzpatrick catches break en route to 63, takes RBC Heritage lead
Apr 17, 2026; Hilton Head, South Carolina, USA; Matt Fitzpatrick putts on 16 green during the second round of the RBC Heritage golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images Matt Fitzpatrick of England shot a spotless, 8-under 63 to vault into the lead halfway through the RBC Heritage on Friday in Hilton Head Island, S.C.
Fitzpatrick climbed to 14-under 128 at Harbour Town Golf Links, while Norway’s Viktor Hovland came close to tying him at the end of the day but settled for a 65 and second place at 13 under.
Harris English sits third at 10 under following a 68, and first-round leader Ludvig Aberg of Sweden made three back-nine bogeys on his way to 70, slipping into a tie at 9 under with Patrick Cantlay (64) and Austrian Sepp Straka (67).
There is no 36-hole cut at the post-Masters signature event with a $20 million purse. Justin Thomas, last year’s champion, will be grateful to see the weekend as he’s fallen to dead last in the 82-man field following rounds of 76 and 75 (9 over).
Fitzpatrick, 31, won the Heritage in 2023 in its first year as a signature event. With the course comfortability came a lucky break at the par-3 14th on Friday.
His tee shot flew far left of the green, but his ball appeared to bounce off a tree and a cart path to come back to the green with some speed. It nearly rolled all the way off into the water, but a sprinkler head helped bring it to a stop. The head allowed Fitzpatrick a free drop for relief, and from just off the green he drilled a 33-foot putt for birdie.
Akshay Bhatia matched Fitzpatrick for the round of the day, shooting 63 and tying a tournament single-round record with 11 birdies. After a poor first round, he moved up to 6 under on the leaderboard.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Kyle Larson looks to defend title at Kansas' AdventHealth 400
Apr 12, 2026; Bristol, Tennessee, USA; Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson (5) at Bristol Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-Imagn Images Through eight Cup Series races, five different drivers have been the first to the checkers and positioned their teams nicely at the top of the standings.
Reigning series champion Kyle Larson is hoping it’s his turn to join that list Sunday at the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan.
In its effort to crown a championship by creating more competition in every race instead of a Game 7 scenario for just four drivers, NASCAR scrapped its system and revisited the “Chase” format reminiscent of 2004’s Chase for the Nextel Cup, which had 10 drivers competing in a 10-race playoff.
Some variations made their way into the new 16-race postseason, but the most significant is the 55-point reward to each race winner, a 15-point bump from 2025.
Though five drivers have won a race so far, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick has been victorious in half, owning four total victories to give him a 62-point advantage over second-place Ryan Blaney.
Winning mattered a lot in 2025. First, it was a “win and you’re in” the playoffs, then it was tacking on postseason points with another. Finally, winning in the final three stages advanced a driver to the next one.
However, winning matters even more now and can create a gap from the pack from Race 1 to Race 36, even after a lone 26-race reset that favors the points leader.
Win a lot and a hot shoe can be in Reddick’s perch, sitting pretty in the catbird seat.
Denny Hamlin, Bristol first-time victor Ty Gibbs and Chase Elliott occupy third through fifth, which leads to the first non-winner in sixth place, Larson.
Hamlin arrives at Kansas as one of the betting favorites, but Larson appears on a quest because the Hendrick Motorsports pilot has yet to end a race as the top dog on a Cup Series Sunday.
It’s been a minute since grabbing the checkers.
Larson finds himself in a unique position Sunday: It marks the final time this regular season where he is a defending race winner. The Elk Grove, Calif., product also won at Homestead-Miami (this season’s finale) in March of 2025 and Bristol last spring.
“I feel like we’re really close, like we could have won four to five races in this time span of not winning, maybe even more,” said Larson, who has 260 points and is second to Blaney with 72 stage points. “It’s kind of wild to think it’s been almost a year since I’ve won because I don’t feel like we’re that bad. … It just hasn’t happened.”
Larson, 33, said last November’s championship in the Arizona desert made his current 32-race winless streak seem like no big deal, saying, “Ultimately, celebrating the championship in Phoenix felt like a win in a lot of ways.”
The two-time series champ does not lead single-digit laps at Kansas. Larson runs the point in chunks and is usually the guy being chased at the leaderboard’s perch.
Larson led 221 laps a year ago in his last victory and is a three-time winner at the 1.5-mile track in the past nine races.
Since 2021, his No. 5 Chevy has paced 761 circuits there, more than double that of Hamlin (337), the next highest leader.
But just leading the final one Sunday will be fulfilling.
–Field Level Media
Sports
WTA roundup: Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek both upset at Stuttgart
Elena Rybakina hits a shot against Aryna Sabalenka during the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., March 15, 2026. Top-seeded Elena Rybakina escaped in a third-set tiebreaker while No. 2 Coco Gauff and No. 3 Iga Swiatek were upset victims to Karolina Muchova and Mirra Andreeva, respectively, in Friday’s quarterfinals of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany.
No. 7 Muchova saved 12 of 15 break points during a 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 victory that marked her first win over Gauff in seven career meetings. The Czech will next face No. 4 Elina Svitolina after the Ukrainian delivered a 7-6 (2), 7-5 win over Czech Linda Noskova.
No. 6 Andreeva of Russia rallied for a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 win to defeat Swiatek of Poland for the third consecutive time. Andreeva saved 9 of 14 break points while winning in two hours, 36 minutes.
Andreeva next faces Rybakina, who staved off a second match point against Canada’s Leylah Fernandez as part of winning the final three points to score a 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-6 (6) victory. Rybakina had a 7-6 edge in aces and hit 51 winners while winning in three hours, two minutes.
Rouen Metropolitan Open
Teenage qualifier Veronika Podrez of Ukraine reached the semifinals in her first main-draw tournament by rolling to a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Brit Katie Boulter in Rouen, France.
Podrez, 19, had 28 winners against 11 unforced errors while finishing off Boulter in 78 minutes. Podrez’s semifinal opponent will be second-seeded Sorana Cirstea after the Romanian registered a 7-6 (2), 6-2 victory over Anna Bondar of Hungary.
Top-seeded Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine and Tatjana Maria of Germany will meet in the other quarterfinals. Kostyuk ousted Ann Li 6-0, 6-7 (4), 6-3, while Maria beat Belarus’ Iryna Shymanovich 7-6 (5), 6-2.
–Field Level Media
Matt Fitzpatrick catches break en route to 63, takes RBC Heritage lead
Kyle Larson looks to defend title at Kansas' AdventHealth 400
