Sports
Panthers, Jets take measure of desperation into rematch
Jan 27, 2026; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers center Sam Reinhart (13) moves the puck against the Utah Mammoth during the third period at Amerant Bank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images It’s late January, but there’s still work to be done for both the Florida Panthers and Winnipeg Jets just to move into playoff position.
With each looking to rebound from their latest defeat, the Panthers host the Jets on Saturday in Sunrise, Fla.
Florida is the two-time reigning Stanley Cup champion, but currently sits eight points out of the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. Winnipeg, meanwhile, won the Presidents’ Trophy in 2024-25 and made the playoffs in seven of the previous eight seasons, but resides among the bottom four teams in the West.
With the three-week Olympic break next week, every point is vital, and there’s already little room for error when it comes to their respective playoff chances.
“Urgency is high,” Florida forward Sam Reinhart said. “You’re going to need it. These next couple of games are as important as ever.”
Florida fought back from two goals down to tie St. Louis 4-4 on Thursday, but gave up the tiebreaker in the last 10 seconds of regulation for a 5-4 loss. Matthew Tkachuk scored his first two goals of the season and added his 400th career assist for the Panthers, who have allowed nine goals in two straight losses after winning six of eight.
“It’s disappointing right now to let points slip away,” said Reinhart, who leads the Panthers with 52 points and owns three goals and two assists over the last four contests.
Tkachuk has six points in his six games this season since recovering from hernia surgery. He’s recorded 10 goals with 15 assists in 28 career games against the Jets.
Tkachuk notched his first point of the season when he assisted on Sam Bennett’s goal during Florida’s 2-1 shootout victory at Winnipeg on Jan. 22.
Though that victory should give the Panthers some confidence for this matchup, they’ve lost two straight and four of five at home.
Winnipeg, meanwhile, is 2-3-2 since winning four in a row. Following Thursday’s 4-1 loss at Tampa Bay, the Jets have been kept to one goal or less four times in the last six contests.
“You look at our goal, we got traffic in front of (Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei) Vasilevskiy with a high tip, and he didn’t see it — and that has to be consistent,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said.
“It was too far between when we did that. We (have) to do it on a consistent basis.”
Kyle Connor was credited with that tip-in, snapping a five-game goal drought. He’s totaled eight goals and seven assists in 14 career games against the Panthers, but was blanked in the meeting earlier this month.
Jets star Connor Hellebuyck stopped 19 of 20 shots versus Florida last week, but has yielded 10 goals in his last three starts. Teammate Eric Comrie has stopped 45 of 47 shots to win his last two starts.
Florida veteran Sergei Bobrovsky has endured a rather inconsistent season. He’s allowed 18 goals while losing three of his last four outings. Meanwhile, Panthers No. 2 goalie Daniil Tarasov posted a 1.22 goals-against average while winning his first four starts of the calendar year, which included saving 17 of 18 at Winnipeg, but allowed all five goals on 31 shots faced Thursday.
–Field Level Media
Sports
LYON, Cloud9 in LCS Lock-In grand final
A backlit keyboard is part of the gear online video game streamer Jordan Woodruff uses in his Gilbert home.
Jordan Woodruff
LYON knocked out Sentinels to earn a meeting on Sunday with Cloud9 in the grand final of the League Championship Series 2026 Lock-In at Los Angeles.
LYON won 3-1 on Saturday in the lower-bracket final, taking the first map in 31 minutes as Kim “Berserker” Min-cheol of South Korea posted a 7-0-1 kill-death-assist ratio. LYON won again in 37 minutes as Niship “Dhokla” Doshi, an American/Indian player, had a 7-3-6 K-D-A and Berserker a 5-0-6.
Sentinels stayed alive with a victory in 34 minutes in the third game as Ham “HamBak” Yoo-jin of South Korea recorded a 5-0-8 K-D-A.
But LYON wrapped up the match by winning the fourth game in 39 minutes on red. Berserker contributed a 6-3-7 K-D-A.
Following the eight-team Swiss stage in the League of Legends event, six teams competed in the double-elimination playoffs, with all matches best-of-five. The overall winner qualifies for the First Stand Tournament, while the second- and third-place teams will head to the Americas Cup.
Both of the latter two events will be contested in Sao Paulo.
Cloud9, which finished atop the Swiss stage standings with a 3-0 record, has moved through the playoffs by beating FlyQuest 3-0 in the upper-bracket semifinal and Sentinels 3-0 in the upper-bracket final.
LYON, who finished fifth in the Swiss stage, eliminated FlyQuest with a 3-0 victory in the lower-bracket quarterfinals, then a 3-1 triumph over Team Liquid in the bracket’s semifinal before Saturday’s victory.
2026 League Championship Series Lock-In at Los Angeles prize pool
1. TBD, qualifies for First Stand Tournament
2. TBD, qualifies for America’s Cup
3. Sentinels, qualifies for America’s Cup
4. Team Liquid
5-6. FlyQuest, Disguised
7. Dignitas
8. Shopify Rebellion
–Field Level Media
Sports
OpTic Texas moves into first place in CDL Major 2 qualifying
YMCA member Austin Manengu works the keyboard as he plays a game of Fortnite during the unveiling of the new gaming lab at the Maplewood Family YMCA in Rochester Thursday, June 20, 2024. YMCA of Greater Rochester in partnership with Metro Sports & Entertainment Group will open two gaming labs for youth and teens this year. OpTic Texas defeated Los Angeles Thieves in a battle of 4-0 teams to move to the top of the standings in qualifying for the Call of Duty League Stage 2 Major on Saturday.
In other second-day action of Week 3 competition, G2 Minnesota edged Riyadh Falcons, Toronto KOI beat Miami Heretics and Carolina Royal Ravens defeated Vancouver Surge.
The 12 Call of Duty League teams are playing a full qualifying round robin to determine seeding for the second major of the season, to be held March 27-29 in Marston Green, England, as part of the DreamHack Birmingham event.
The top six teams in qualifying head straight into the Stage 2 Major playoffs, while the teams in seventh through 10th place will compete in a play-in round.
The Stage 2 Major champion will receive $150,000 and 100 Call of Duty League points, while the runner-up will get $90,000 and 75 CDL points.
After Los Angeles Thieves claimed an opening 250-238 Den Hardpoint victory, OpTic Texas won the next three to claim a 3-1 victory. A 6-2 Exposure Search and Destroy triumph was followed by a 4-2 Den Overload win before the result was clinched with a 250-173 Colossus Hardpoint triumph.
In Saturday’s first match, G2 Minnesota won the final two games to come away with a 3-2 win. Riyadh opened with a 250-229 Scar Hardpoint victory and took a 2-1 lead with a 5-0 Scar Overload win. G2 leveled it at 1 with a 6-1 Raid Search and Destroy win, tied it at 2 with a convincing 250-134 Colossus Hardpoint victory and won the deciding Colossus Search and Destroy game 6-3.
Toronto finished a sweep of Miami with 250-182 Hardpoint, 6-4 Search and Destroy and 4-2 Overload victories, all on the Den map.
Carolina also swept Vancouver for its second victory in as many days after a 1-3 start. After opening with a 250-186 Blackheart Hardpoint win and following with a 6-2 Den Search and Destroy victory, the team closed out the win with an 8-2 Exposure Overload win.
The weekend schedule:
Sunday
–Toronto KOI vs. Paris Gentle Mates
–FaZe Vegas vs. Boston Breach
–Miami Heretics vs. Cloud9 New York
–Vancouver Surge vs. OpTic Texas
Call of Duty League Stage 2 Major qualifiers standings (match record, map differential)
1. OpTic Texas, 5-0, +11
2. Los Angeles Thieves, 4-1, +8
3. Paris Gentle Mates, 3-1, +5
4. G2 Minnesota, 3-2, +1
5. Riyadh Falcons, 3-3, +2
6. Carolina Royal Ravens, 3-3, -1
7. FaZe Vegas, 2-3, 0
8. Toronto KOI, 2-3, -2
9. Miami Heretics, 1-3, -4
10.. Vancouver Surge, 1-3, -6
11. Cloud9 New York, 1-3, -7
12. Boston Breach, 1-4, -7
–Field Level Media
Sports
Golden Knights wary of slow start vs. host Penguins
Feb 27, 2026; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Vegas Golden Knights right wing Mark Stone (61) skates with the puck as Washington Capitals center Dylan Strome (17) chases during the second period at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy has just one simple request for his team heading into Sunday afternoon’s game at Pittsburgh.
Start on time.
The three-week Olympic break did little to help the Golden Knights recharge and snap a season-long habit of poor starts. Vegas has been outscored 5-1 in the first two periods in its first two games of a five-game road trip coming out of the break.
The good news is that the Pacific Division leaders have earned a split of those two contests, scoring five goals in the third period to pull out a 6-4 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday, followed by a 3-2 setback to the Washington Capitals on Friday night.
Vegas trailed 3-0 heading into the final 20 minutes against the Capitals, managing just 13 total shots on goal during the first two periods. This despite the fact that five of its top players — center Jack Eichel, captain Mark Stone, forward Mitch Marner and defensemen Shea Theodore and Noah Hanifin — had been given Wednesday’s game off to help recuperate after playing in the Olympics. Those five players combined for just one assist, by Marner.
“They had plenty of rest, to be honest,” Cassidy said after Friday’s game when asked if the five players may have been battling fatigue after the long trip back from Italy. “They’re going to need to be better Sunday. Those are our best players, our leaders, and we expect them to play like that.
“They weren’t on time,” the coach continued. “We tried to give them rest. Hopefully, it pays off on Sunday, and next week, and whatnot. Tonight, it didn’t.”
Eichel and Hanifin had spent Tuesday at the White House with the gold medal-winning U.S. team and then stayed in D.C. for a couple of days of rest while Stone, Theodore and Hanifin spent their free time in Las Vegas before flying east on Thursday to join the team.
Cassidy, who has taken some of the blame in the past for slow starts, didn’t this time.
“We weren’t ready to play,” he said. “Coach has to prepare your team to play, but this one the players weren’t ready to play. They’re professionals. They’ve got to be ready to go. And we weren’t nearly good enough.”
Vegas had several chances down the stretch to tie the game, but Washington goalie Logan Thompson stopped a Brayden McNabb short-handed breakaway and followed that up by making a grade-A stop on a close-in try by Marner.
“We’re always going to respond,” Cassidy said. “I’ve said that many times, and we did it again tonight. Good for us to play 20 minutes. That’s the thing, right? We play 20 minutes and almost win a hockey game. Imagine if we played 40 or 45?”
Pittsburgh will be playing the second game of a back-to-back that began with a 3-2 shootout loss to the host New York Rangers on Saturday afternoon. The Penguins, who got goals from Anthony Mantha and Ryan Shea, blew a 2-0 second-period lead and fell to 1-8 in shootouts, the worst mark in the NHL among teams who have played in four or more shootouts this season.
Vincent Trocheck scored the lone shootout goal for the Rangers, with all three Pittsburgh players failing to convert.
“We’ve continued to work on it. We’ll continue to look at it,” Pittsburgh coach Dan Muse said of his team’s shootout woes. “It just hasn’t been good. It’s on all of us. We’ve got to keep looking at ways we can get better at it. We’ve tried some different guys, we’ve tried some different things, but the results are what they are.”
The Penguins, who are 8-1-2 since Jan. 19, remained in a tie for second place with the New York Islanders in the Metropolitan Division at 73 points.
“It’s a tough game, but we look (to) tomorrow, play back-to-back against Vegas, a good team, great challenge,” forward Evgeni Malkin said. “Back home. We play hard. I’m not saying anything bad tonight. We played hard.”
–Field Level Media
LYON, Cloud9 in LCS Lock-In grand final
OpTic Texas moves into first place in CDL Major 2 qualifying
