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Senators seek strong finish against struggling Maple Leafs

NHL: New York Islanders at Ottawa SenatorsMar 19, 2026; Ottawa, Ontario, CAN; Ottawa Senators left wing Brady Tkachuk (7) and goalie James Reimer (47) share a moment forllowing their win against the New York Islanders at the Canadian Tire Centre. Mandatory Credit: Marc DesRosiers-IMAGN Images

The Ottawa Senators will hope to jumpstart their playoff hopes when they host the reeling Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night.

Embroiled in an ultra-competitive Atlantic Division, the Senators (35-24-9, 79 points) have a tall task ahead of them as they aim to get a leg up with the season dwindling down. A strong end to the season could clinch them their first consecutive playoff berths since 2011-12 and 2012-13.

“High pressure moments and big games are what’s fun,” goaltender James Reimer said after a statement win against the New York Islanders on Thursday. “That’s what you dream of when you’re seven years old playing street hockey, you know, you dream of Game 7 in the finals.”

It was captain Brady Tkachuk who scored with 11.1 seconds remaining in regulation, pouncing on a rebound to flip the puck over a sprawling Ilya Sorokin to seal a 3-2 victory for the home team.

Tkachuk appeared revitalized after a dismal showing the night before in Washington in which he failed to register even a single hit. He opted to change that on Thursday, dropping the gloves with Islanders captain Anders Lee off the opening draw.

“I felt like I wasn’t great last night in a big game, and I just know I needed to be a lot better today to help this team,” Tkachuk said.

Trade deadline acquisitions in Warren Foegele and Jordan Spence also aided Ottawa’s third-period comeback. Foegele tied the game early in the final frame while Spence floated the point shot on net that led to Tkachuk’s winner. The Senators averted what would have been their first consecutive losses in nearly two months.

They will want to seize the opportunity to claim both points against the hobbled Maple Leafs (29-28-13, 71 points), who have been in abominable form since returning from the Olympic break. Toronto heads to Ottawa for the second game of a back-to-back after dropping a 4-3 overtime decision to the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday.

Rookie defenseman Alexander Nikishin ended that game just 41 seconds into overtime with a wrist shot from the face-off circle that sailed past goaltender Joseph Woll. The Leafs have dropped 11 of 13 games since the Olympics and have been outshot in all but one of those contests.

“We’ve got to shoot more. We didn’t shoot enough. And there’s more opportunities to get more shots on net,” head coach Craig Berube said after the game. “The first goal is a great example of just a nothing shot. It’s a rebound. You put it in, right? It’s just that mindset of getting more pucks to the net.”

The shot in question came off the stick of Bo Groulx before Dakota Joshua slapped in a rebound to open the scoring. Groulx has been a rare bright spot in the Leafs’ bottom six since he was called up from the minors earlier this month. The assist made it five points in six games for the 26-year-old center who has not seen NHL action since the 2023-24 season.

“They’ve been good,” Berube said of his makeshift third line of Groulx, Joshua and Mattias Maccelli, whom he gave the game’s opening shift. “I thought Groulx had another strong game.”

The two teams met at the end of February, where Ottawa prevailed 5-2. The Senators have won three of their last four games.

-Field Level Media

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Hot start helps Hyo Joo Kim take 5-shot lead at Fortinet Founders Cup

LPGA: The Chevron Championship - Final RoundApr 27, 2025; The Woodlands, Texas, USA; Hyo Joo Kim of Korea hits a tee shot on the first hole during the final round of The Chevron Championship golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Erik Williams-Imagn Images

South Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim improved her grip on the lead to five strokes with a 6-under-par 66 on Saturday at the Fortinet Founders Cup in Menlo Park, Calif.

Kim, a seven-time winner on the LPGA Tour and the 2015 Founders Cup champion, led by two shots after the opening round and four through Friday’s play. The 30-year-old shot 6 under for the first six holes on Saturday and is 17-under 199 after three rounds at Sharon Heights Golf & Country Club, which is hosting the event for the first time.

World No. 2 Nelly Korda, competing for the first time since winning the weather-shortened Tournament of Champions to open the 2026 season, is five strokes back at 12 under after she matched Kim’s 66.

Kim, ranked No. 8 in the world, had an adventurous round with only seven pars. She started on fire with birdies at Nos. 1, 3 and 4 before an eagle at the par-5 fifth hole to get to 16 under for the tournament. Another birdie followed at No. 6, then the first of her three bogeys on the day to make the turn in 31 shots.

“The start up to hole 6, I believe, was unbelievable golf and I can’t even believe it,” Kim said. “I had a lot of birdies and (an) eagle, too. But I did also have some bogeys I shouldn’t have done. The start felt like almost a game.”

The back nine included birdies at Nos. 10 and 13 sandwiched around two bogeys and her seventh birdie of the round at the par-4 No. 16.

Kim hit eight of 14 fairways and 14 of 18 greens in regulation on Saturday.

Korda carded 33 on both the front and back nines in her bogey-free round. Birdies came at Nos. 2, 7, 8, 10, 16 and 18.

“It’s nice to have a clean scorecard wherever you play,” Korda said. “Doesn’t matter. With kind of how tough it is off the tee and into the greens, just really happy with my round today.”

She needed only 27 putts in hitting 10 of 14 fairways and 15 of 18 greens in regulation.

China’s Ruixin Liu (66 on Saturday) and Mexico’s Gaby Lopez (65) are tied for third at 11 under.

World No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand, who leads the Race to CME Globe standings, is tied for fifth at 9 under with three others: Australia’s Karis Davison (69), Japan’s Erika Hara (67) and South Korea’s Hye-Jin Choi (69).

–Field Level Media

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Fresh off historic blowout, No. 1 Florida takes aim at No. 9 Iowa

NCAA Basketball: NCAA Tournament First Round-Prarie View A&M at FloridaMar 20, 2026; Tampa, FL, USA; Florida Gators center Olivier Rioux (32) dunks the ball in the second half against the Prairie View A&M Panthers during a first round game of the men’s 2026 NCAA Tournament at Benchmark International Arena. Mandatory Credit: Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images

Florida began pursuit of a second straight national championship by trouncing Prairie View A&M by a whopping 59 points, the second-largest winning margin in NCAA Tournament history.

That margin of victory couldn’t have been comforting for Iowa.

The ninth-seeded Hawkeyes take aim at a major upset when they face the top-seeded Gators on Sunday night in a second-round South Region game at Tampa, Fla.

“They’re talented at all five positions for Florida,” Iowa star guard Bennett Stirtz said on Saturday. “Yeah, our hands are going to be full, but we’re going to take full advantage of the opportunity, and to be the best you’ve got to beat the best.”

Iowa (22-12) registered a 67-61 first-round victory over eighth-seeded Clemson on Friday for its first NCAA tourney win since 2021. The Gators (27-7) romped 114-55 over Prairie View A&M with only Loyola Chicago’s 111-42 win over Tennessee Tech in 1963 representing a worse beatdown.

In other words, Florida plays a much-faster pace than the Hawkeyes, who are more comfortable in halfcourt sets.

Iowa coach Ben McCollum isn’t paying much attention to whether the game is slowed down or resembles a track meet.

“If it’s slow or fast is irrelevant, it’s just a matter if we can put the ball in the basket more than they do,” McCollum said of the pace. “I don’t think we probably focus on it as much as most people think. I think it just naturally happens.”

Meanwhile, the Gators will have a pro-Florida crowd in Tampa for the second straight game and coach Todd Golden is certainly relishing that aspect.

“It’s a great advantage of finishing where we did and being able to stay close to home and playing in Tampa and something that we definitely don’t take lightly,” Golden said.

Last season, the Gators squeaked out a 77-75 win over two-time defending national champion UConn in the second round. It was one of four victories by six or fewer points in the title run, including a 65-63 victory over Houston to win the national title.

Golden said this season’s Gators are more ready to battle their way through the tournament than last season’s edition.

“I believe we’re more prepared this year, obviously going through last year’s tournament,” Golden said. “Just the ups and downs that we had earlier on in the season. We’ve been able to get through some adversity and get back to playing together, playing the right way, having really good success.

“So, coming into the Tournament, I feel like we’re more comfortable, better prepared. I believe our guys had a great mentality after this week’s practice going into the game (Friday) night and played with great purpose and intent. I expect to try to do that again against a really good Iowa team.”

The Gators were ready for their first game, shooting 64.3% from the field and outrebounding the Panthers 54-20. Seven Florida players scored in double digits.

Florida knows the task will be tougher Sunday. The players are focusing on Stirtz, the honorable mention All-American who was just 4-of-17 shooting while scoring 16 points in Iowa’s win over Clemson.

“Bennett is a great player,” Florida guard Boogie Fland said. “Just got to contain him, no threes, and all team defense.”

McCollum, who is coaching Stirtz for the fourth straight season at a third different school, is expecting a bounce-back from Stirtz.

“They’re paying attention to him pretty heavy and it’s pretty contested,” McCollum said. “I’m not overly concerned with it. Obviously, he’s going to have to be able to score for us to win to a certain level, but he doesn’t need to go have 30 points for us to do that.”

–Field Level Media

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Sixers close trip with late spurt, knock off Jazz

NBA: Philadelphia 76ers at Utah JazzMar 21, 2026; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Jabari Walker (33) goes up for a shot against Utah Jazz guard John Konchar (55) during the first half at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-Imagn Images

Quentin Grimes scored 25 points and VJ Edgecombe added 22 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Philadelphia 76ers to a 126-116 victory over the Utah Jazz on Saturday night at Salt Lake City.

Trendon Watford added 20 points off the bench for the 76ers (39-32), who won for the fourth time in the last five games. Cameron Payne added 16 points and seven assists off the bench and Adem Bona also scored 16 points for Philadelphia, which played without star Joel Embiid (oblique) for the 12th straight contest.

Ace Bailey had 25 points and seven rebounds and Kennedy Chandler scored a career-best 19 points off the bench for Utah (21-50), which sewed up its third straight 50-loss campaign. Chandler made his team debut after being signed to a 10-day contract due to the Jazz being short on players. Utah suited up eight on Saturday.

Cody Williams and Elijah Harkless scored 15 points apiece and Bez Mbeng had a career-best 13 points for the Jazz, who have lost five of their last six.

Utah shot 40.6% from the field, including a shaky 9 of 40 from 3-point range.

The 76ers, who won two of three on a trip out west, connected on 50% of their attempts and also struggled from deep (6 of 27).

Grimes scored six points during a decisive 12-2 run turned a two-point deficit into a 118-110 lead with 2:35 remaining in the game.

When Utah crept within six, Grimes banked in a short floater to make it 122-114 with 1:36 left and Philadelphia closed it out.

Bailey and Chandler scored 13 points apiece as Utah led 70-64 at halftime. Edgecombe and Grimes each had 12 in the half for Philadelphia.

The 76ers used a 13-2 burst early in the third quarter to take a 77-74 lead on Watford’s basket with 7:26 left in the third quarter.

Edgecombe later buried a tiebreaking 3-pointer to give Philadelphia a 95-92 lead with 41.9 seconds left in the period.

The 76ers took a 95-94 edge into the fourth quarter and later led by four before Utah went on a 10-4 run. John Konchar’s three-point play gave the Jazz a 108-106 lead with 6:43 to play.

–Field Level Media

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