Sports
Rangers' post-Panarin era begins with streaking Canes
Feb 8, 2025; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Hurricanes left wing Jordan Martinook (48) celebrates his empty net goal with center Seth Jarvis (24) against the Utah Hockey Club during the third period at Lenovo Center. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-Imagn Images The Carolina Hurricanes have led the Metropolitan Division most of the season and their recent hot streak has hoisted them within striking range of the President’s Trophy.
The Hurricanes attempt to earn a point in a season-high 10th straight game Thursday night when they visit the last-place New York Rangers — who traded Artemi Panarin to the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday — in the final game for both teams before the Olympic break.
Carolina has gone 7-0-2 since a 3-0 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Jan. 13. That left them 14 points behind the Colorado Avalanche in the race for the most points in the NHL, but the Hurricanes entered Wednesday’s action just five points back with 26 games left.
The Hurricanes are outscoring opponents 37-20 during this streak, though three of their past four wins are by one goal. The latest was Tuesday’s 4-3 home win over the Ottawa Senators when the Hurricanes blew a two-goal lead for the third straight game. They allowed two power-play tallies before Jordan Staal scored with 5:07 left in the third period.
“We’ll take wins any way we can, right?” said Carolina’s Sebastian Aho, who scored for the third straight game.” That’s what we’re trying to do here: win hockey games, get some points and get to the playoffs. As of late, we’ve done a pretty good job on that.”
Seth Jarvis added two goals and has 10 points (four goals and six assists) during the past nine games.
“You don’t want to sit on a loss for three weeks,” Jarvis said. “You don’t want to sit on a bad game. Just coming in with the mindset of keeping this thing rolling, grinding one more out, and leaving it on the ice, and you’ve got three weeks to recoup.”
Rookie goaltender Brandon Bussi has started seven games during the hot streak and boasts a 22-3-1 record. But Thursday could be another milestone for him as the Long Island native can make his first appearance at Madison Square Garden.
The Hurricanes are 6-1-0 in the past seven meetings with the Rangers, whose 46 points are the fewest in the Eastern Conference.
The Rangers will play their first game of the post-Panarin era, though they have a sense of how things might go. While they held him out to facilitate a trade, the Rangers went 0-3-0 while getting outscored 13-8.
New York received forward Liam Greentree, a conditional third-round pick in the upcoming draft and a conditional fourth-round selection in the 2028 draft in exchange for Panarin, who piled up 205 goals and 402 assists in 482 regular-season games over not quite seven years with the Rangers.
In the Rangers’ most recent game, they trailed 5-1 at Pittsburgh before scoring four goals in the final 10-plus minutes as Alexis Lafreniere scored twice and Vincent Trocheck scored to go along with two assists.
Mika Zibanejad added an assist, giving him 11 goals and 23 points over his past 15 games. If the Rangers make numerous trades, Zibanejad and J.T. Miller might be among the veterans on a roster with younger players such as Gabe Perreault and waiver claims such as defenseman Vincent Iorio getting long looks.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Miko Rantanen, Stars double-up Penguins
Mar 28, 2026; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Dallas Stars center Wyatt Johnston (53) and Pittsburgh Penguins center Ben Kindel (81) fight for the puck during the second period at PPG Paints Arena. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images Miko Rantanen scored in his first game in nearly two months, and the Dallas Stars tallied three unanswered second-period goals to end a four-game skid and defeat the host Pittsburgh Penguins 6-3 on Saturday.
Rantanen and Jason Robertson each had a goal and an assist for Dallas (44-18-11, 99 points), which had gone 0-3-1 in its last four. The Stars trailed 1-0 and 2-1 in this contest before exploding for three goals, two on the power play, in the second.
Rookie Justin Hryckowian, Lian Bichsel and Mavrik Bourque also scored for the Stars, who swept the two-game season series with Pittsburgh after winning in Dallas in December.
Erik Karlsson had a goal and two assists for Pittsburgh (36-21-16, 88 points), which was playing without both Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby due to lower-body injuries.
Anthony Mantha and Noel Acciari also scored for Pittsburgh, which lost its third game at PPG Paints Arena in the past week. The Penguins were outscored 17-6 in those three home contests.
Mantha redirected a Karlsson slapshot to put Pittsburgh in front on a power-play goal just over two minutes into the game.
Hryckowian evened the score for Dallas early in the second period, capitalizing on a broken play that left him wide open in front of the net with the puck.
Karlsson answered for the Penguins 48 seconds later with a wrister for his 13th goal of the season. In the process, he broke two franchise records for defensemen.
The goal was his ninth in March, the most in a single month by a Penguins blueliner. This was also his ninth multi-point game in March, which broke Randy Carlyle’s mark, set in December 1980, for most multi-point games in a single month by a defenseman.
The Stars responded over the next few minutes. Robertson scored on the power play 7:12 into the period to even the game. It was Robertson’s 40th goal, tying him with Wyatt Johnston for the team lead.
Three minutes later, Rantanen, who had missed 15 games in a row with a lower-body injury, tallied his 21st of the season on another power-play opportunity.
Bichsel doubled the Stars’ advantage less than 90 seconds later on a strange sequence. He went behind the goal, stapled to Karlsson, proceeded to throw the Swede’s stick to the floor with no whistle, and then scored what turned out to be the game-winner.
Jake Oettinger improved to 7-1-0 in his career against Pittsburgh. He allowed three goals on only 12 shots, as Pittsburgh posted four, five and three shots over the three periods. Stuart Skinner made 20 stops for the Penguins.
Dallas, which entered with the fourth-best road record in the league, improved to 22-8-7 away from home.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Tobias Harris sparks Pistons to road win over Timberwolves
Mar 28, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Detroit Pistons forward Tobias Harris (12) dribbles the ball as Minnesota Timberwolves forward Julius Randle (30) and guard Terrence Shannon Jr. (1) defend during the second half at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images Tobias Harris scored 18 points on 7-for-10 shooting, and the Detroit Pistons pulled away for a 109-87 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday afternoon in Minneapolis.
Ronald Holland II and Daniss Jenkins chipped in 13 points apiece for Detroit (54-20), which won for the sixth time in its past seven games. Paul Reed added 12 points off the bench, and Jalen Duren notched a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds.
Donte DiVincenzo led Minnesota (45-29) with 22 points and made five shots from beyond the arc. Rudy Gobert finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds, and Julius Randle notched 11 points despite missing 11 of 13 shots from the field.
Detroit outscored Minnesota 60-43 in the second half to seal the victory.
The Pistons opened the second half on a 7-1 run to go ahead by double digits. Ausar Thompson made a layup to finish the run and put Detroit ahead 56-45 with 9:53 to go in the third quarter.
By the start of the fourth quarter, Detroit increased its lead to 14 points. Caris LeVert knocked down a pullup jump shot from 15 feet to make it 74-60 in favor of the Pistons.
The TImberwolves trailed by double digits for the duration of the fourth quarter. They fell behind by 20 points when Harris made a free throw with 6:04 to play.
The Pistons held on to a 49-44 advantage at the half.
Detroit led by as many as 13 points before the break. Duren made a pair of free throws to put the Pistons on top 37-24 with 9:40 remaining.
Minnesota responded with a 15-6 run to cut the deficit to 43-39 late in the half.
Both teams played without their top players. Anthony Edwards remained out for the Timberwolves because of inflammation in his right knee, and Cade Cunningham remained out for the Pistons as he recovers from a collapsed lung.
The Timberwolves also played without Jaden McDaniels (knee) and Ayo Dosunmu (calf). Terrence Shannon Jr. made his second career start in the backcourt.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Tobias Harris sparks Pistons to road win over Timberwolves
Mar 28, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Detroit Pistons forward Tobias Harris (12) dribbles the ball as Minnesota Timberwolves forward Julius Randle (30) and guard Terrence Shannon Jr. (1) defend during the second half at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images Tobias Harris scored 18 points on 7-for-10 shooting, and the Detroit Pistons pulled away for a 109-87 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday afternoon in Minneapolis.
Ronald Holland II and Daniss Jenkins chipped in 13 points apiece for Detroit (54-20), which won for the sixth time in its past seven games. Paul Reed added 12 points off the bench, and Jalen Duren notched a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds.
Donte DiVincenzo led Minnesota (45-29) with 22 points and made five shots from beyond the arc. Rudy Gobert finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds, and Julius Randle notched 11 points despite missing 11 of 13 shots from the field.
Detroit outscored Minnesota 60-43 in the second half to seal the victory.
The Pistons opened the second half on a 7-1 run to go ahead by double digits. Ausar Thompson made a layup to finish the run and put Detroit ahead 56-45 with 9:53 to go in the third quarter.
By the start of the fourth quarter, Detroit increased its lead to 14 points. Caris LeVert knocked down a pullup jump shot from 15 feet to make it 74-60 in favor of the Pistons.
The TImberwolves trailed by double digits for the duration of the fourth quarter. They fell behind by 20 points when Harris made a free throw with 6:04 to play.
The Pistons held on to a 49-44 advantage at the half.
Detroit led by as many as 13 points before the break. Duren made a pair of free throws to put the Pistons on top 37-24 with 9:40 remaining.
Minnesota responded with a 15-6 run to cut the deficit to 43-39 late in the half.
Both teams played without their top players. Anthony Edwards remained out for the Timberwolves because of inflammation in his right knee, and Cade Cunningham remained out for the Pistons as he recovers from a collapsed lung.
The Timberwolves also played without Jaden McDaniels (knee) and Ayo Dosunmu (calf). Terrence Shannon Jr. made his second career start in the backcourt.
–Field Level Media
Miko Rantanen, Stars double-up Penguins
Tobias Harris sparks Pistons to road win over Timberwolves
