Sports
Blue Jackets blast Kraken, extend point streak to 12 games
Mar 21, 2026; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets goalie Elvis Merzlikins (90) makes a stick save against the Seattle Kraken during the first period at Nationwide Arena. Mandatory Credit: Russell LaBounty-Imagn Images Cole Sillinger had a goal and two assists and Zach Werenski had three helpers as the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the visiting Seattle Kraken 5-2 on Saturday.
Mathieu Olivier had a goal and an assist and Danton Heinen, Damon Severson and Kent Johnson also scored for Columbus (37-21-11, 85 points), which won its fourth in a row and extended its point streak to 12 games (8-0-4). Goaltender Elvis Merzlikins made 15 saves.
Kaapo Kakko had a goal and an assist and Vince Dunn also tallied for Seattle (31-29-9, 71 points), which lost its third straight. Joey Daccord stopped 23 of 27 shots.
The Blue Jackets outshot Seattle 13-7 in the first period while taking a 3-1 lead.
Heinen opened the scoring at 2:48 as his wrist shot from between the top of the faceoff circles deflected off Kraken forward Jacob Melanson and over Daccord’s shoulder.
Severson made it 2-0 at 8:58 on a slap shot from the top of the right faceoff circle that found its way inside the far post. Daccord claimed he was obstructed, but the Kraken did not challenge the goal.
Olivier extended the advantage at 15:16 after Sillinger’s pass to the top of the crease from the left wing went off Kraken defenseman Ryan Lindgren’s stick. Olivier located the loose puck, spun and slid it inside the right post.
The Kraken responded on Dunn’s blistering slap shot from the top of the left circle at 16:17 after taking a pass from Kakko in the right-wing corner.
Seattle pulled within a goal on the power play at 8:31 of the second as Kakko beat Merzlikins with a sharp-angled wrister from low on the right wing.
The Blue Jackets responded quickly with a 3-on-2 rush at 9:33. Conor Garland drove the puck to the goal line on the left wing before sending a backhand pass to Johnson for a snap shot from just outside the top right of the crease.
Sillinger clinched the victory with an empty-netter at 17:34 of the third.
Kraken forward Jared McCann, the franchise’s career scoring leader, was a late scratch after suffering a lower-body injury in pregame warmups.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Alex Ovechkin becomes 2nd NHL player with 1,000 career goals
Mar 20, 2026; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) reacts after defeating the New Jersey Devils at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Amber Searls-Imagn Images Washington Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin became just the second player in NHL history with 1,000 career goals, including regular season and playoffs, with a power-play goal on Sunday to join Wayne Gretzky.
Ovechkin, 40, eclipsed Gretzky for the most regular-season goals in league history on April 6, 2025, with goal No. 895.
On Sunday, Ovechkin reached the milestone mark in the third period against the visiting Colorado Avalanche, ripping a slap shot past goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood to tie the game at 2 with 5:43 left in regulation. Colorado rebounded to win 3-2 in overtime.
The Russian legend has 26 goals and 27 assists in 70 games this season, his 21st in the NHL — all with the Capitals, who made him the No. 1 overall pick in 2004. For his career, Ovechkin has 1,676 points (923 goals, 753 assists) in 1,562 regular-season games. In the postseason, he has 147 points (77 goals, 70 assists) in 161 games.
Among the numerous awards he has accumulated over his brilliant career, Ovechkin is a three-time Hart Memorial Trophy winner as league MVP, a 12-time All-Star and a Stanley Cup champion with Washington in the 2017-18 season.
–Field Level Media
Sports
South Korea's Sungjae Im maintains Valspar lead for third straight day
Mar 21, 2026; Palm Harbor, Florida, USA; Sungjae Im putts on the sixth green during the third round of the Valspar Championship golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images South Korea’s Sungjae Im sank a 13-foot putt on the final hole to shoot 2-under-par 69 and stretch his lead to two strokes through the third round of the Valspar Championship on Saturday at Palm Harbor, Fla.
Im had gone nine holes without a birdie on Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club’s Copperhead Course before sinking his last birdie attempt. He enters Sunday’s final round at 11-under 202 in search of his first PGA Tour win since the 2021 Shriners Children’s Open.
Brandt Snedeker posted 67 to pull into a share of second place with David Lipsky, who turned in an erratic 70.
Snedeker’s bogey-free round — beginning with three birdies on the first four holes — gave him a score that matched the best rounds of the day.
England’s Marco Penge and England’s Matt Fitzpatrick shot matching 68s to hold a tie for fourth place at 8 under. That’s two shots clear of South Korea’s S.H. Kim and Belgium’s Adrien Dumont de Chassart, a duo that shared the day’s best round with Snedeker.
Lipsky moved into a share of the lead with a birdie on No. 15 before giving it back with a bogey — his third of the back nine — on the next hole. His round included five birdies and four bogeys.
Im, who hadn’t led through 36 holes of a PGA Tour event since 2021, finished at 69 for the second day in a row. He saved par on No. 16 after a tee shot settled on a cart path.
Penge was at 2 over for the round after a double-bogey 6 on No. 6, but he played the backside bogey-free at 4 under.
Fitzpatrick was steadier. He fashioned nothing but pars — save a three-hole stretch of birdies on Nos. 10-12.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Ryan Odom strives for another shining moment as Virginia faces Tennessee
Mar 20, 2026; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Virginia Cavaliers guard Jacari White (6) takes a jump shot during the second half against the Wright State Raiders during a first round game of the men’s 2026 NCAA Tournament at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images PHILADELPHIA — Ryan Odom engineered a massive one-year turnaround at Virginia. Seven years removed from the program’s only national title, Odom has his players visualizing their own shining moment.
The third-seeded Cavaliers are on the verge of the Sweet 16 but first must handle Ja’Kobi Gillespie and sixth-seeded Tennessee in a Midwest Region second-round matchup on Sunday.
Virginia (30-5) officially doubled its win total from last season when it pulled out an 82-73 win over Wright State in Friday’s opener. The Cavaliers hadn’t won an NCAA Tournament game since the 2019 national final.
Odom — the same coach who pulled off UMBC’s historic 16-over-1 upset of Virginia once upon a time — said afterward that he’d shown his players a montage of their season set to “One Shining Moment,” the tournament’s unofficial theme song.
After being hired from VCU last March, Odom had to assemble a new team quickly and primarily through the transfer portal. He has gotten his players to buy into Virginia’s history and the part they can play in writing a new chapter.
“When he brought us here, he emphasized the importance of what it is we’re actually playing for and not just ourselves, and playing for the university and trying to continue the legacy that was left behind by the players before,” said Virginia senior guard Jacari White, who transferred in from North Dakota State. “And so we honor that and take pride in that, and I feel like that shows in our play.”
Virginia’s 3-point marksman off the bench, White scored a season-high 26 points to propel the Cavaliers past the upset-minded Raiders. The first five of his six 3-pointers either tied the game or put Virginia in front.
“He’s one of the best shooters in the country when he’s locked and loaded there and feeling it,” Odom said. “You have to see that first one go in on game day, and he did, and then he was kind of on from there.”
Tennessee (23-11) is familiar with countering 3-point specialists after it held Eian Elmer to 0-for-7 shooting and Brant Byers to 1-for-6 in Friday’s 78-56 win over Miami (Ohio). Elmer shot 42.9% from deep for the year and Byers was at 39.2%.
“It’s similar. They put up around 30 threes a game or something like that,” Tennessee guard Bishop Boswell said of Virginia. “They’re also doing a (good) job attacking it early if they have the open three, so I think kind of just the same thing as we kind of did last game, just being in gaps early and playing out, guarding the 3-point line as best we can, but they’re balanced so just trying to take away as much as we can.”
Gillespie racked up 29 points and nine assists to carry Tennessee on a day where star freshman Nate Ament went scoreless in 18 minutes. Ament has been battling a high ankle sprain, yet had a 27-point showing and a double-double in the final two games of the SEC tournament last week.
“Last night, we could tell he was struggling with it,” coach Rick Barnes said Saturday. “That’s why we didn’t put him back in the game. …
“We need Nate. He knows it, but he will give us everything that he can, and that’s really all I can say about it. If it’s up to him, he would play every minute if he could. We’ll see game time.”
Ament averages 17.0 points and 6.5 rebounds while Gillespie leads Tennessee with 18.3 points and 5.6 assists per game.
Belgian freshman Thijs De Ridder tops Virginia at 15.4 points and 6.2 rebounds per contest.
–Adam Zielonka, Field Level Media
Chuck Norris Trashed After Death As Dangerous And Immoral
Cursor admits its new coding model was built on top of Moonshot AI’s Kimi
