Canadiens vie to halt skid vs. Panthers, stay in wild-card race
Mar 28, 2025; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Montreal Canadiens right wing Cole Caufield (13) looks on against the Carolina Hurricanes during the second period at Lenovo Center. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-Imagn Images Despite losing five games in a row, the Montreal Canadiens continue to be among a handful of teams in the hunt for the final wild-card spot from the Eastern Conference.
The Canadiens will try to keep pace when they visit the Florida Panthers on Sunday afternoon in Sunrise, Fla.
Montreal (33-30-9, 75 points) lost 4-1 to the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday in the third stop of its four-game trip. The Canadiens also lost the night before, 6-4, to the Philadelphia Flyers.
The string of losses has kept the Canadiens in a three-way tie with the Columbus Blue Jackets and New York Rangers for the final wild-card spot.
“You can’t dwell on it,” Montreal forward Cole Caufield said. “To say we’d be in this position at the start of the year, we’d grab that and do whatever it takes to be in this position. We can’t take it for granted. Every game matters. Every game counts. The next one is the most important.”
The Canadiens, who beat Florida, 3-1, in Montreal on March 15 behind 21 saves from Sam Montembeault, will turn around and host the Panthers again on Tuesday.
The Canadiens will then face three straight non-playoff teams, the Boston Bruins, Flyers and Nashville Predators.
Montreal defenseman Kaiden Guhle, who returned against Carolina after missing 21 games with a quad injury, said the team needs to get back to the style that made it successful during stretches this season.
“Our forecheck is our DNA,” Guhle said. “When we’re suffocating teams, I feel like we have the best forecheck in the league, and we have some really good skaters, some big bodies that get in there and make it really hard for their D to make clean plays, and I think that’s something that we’re struggling to get consistency with right now.”
The Panthers (44-25-3, 91 points) have won two in a row after posting a 2-1 overtime victory against the visiting Utah Hockey Club on Friday.
That win came five days after a 4-3 shootout victory against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the opener of the three-game homestand.
Florida has won seven in a row at home.
The Panthers went 4-for-4 on the penalty kill against Utah to improve to 35-for-39 this month.
“I think it’s been pretty solid the whole year,” Florida defenseman Niko Mikkola said of the penalty kill. “(Our opponents) have gotten some late goals, and that’s probably been the issue. We need the whole two minutes and to clear the puck. The last month, it’s been working.”
Brad Marchand played his first game for the Panthers on Friday since he was traded from the Bruins on March 7 and then needed time to recover from an upper-body injury. The 16-year veteran forward had the primary assist on the overtime winner by Sam Bennett.
“He hasn’t played for a month now and he steps right in and is dominating and controlling the game,” Bennett said of Marchand. “That’s tough to do in your first game back, especially on a new team. I think he’s going to fit here real, real nice.”
-Field Level Media
Sports
Strong second half by Jestin Porter powers Clemson past No. 24 Louisville
Clemson Tigers guard Jestin Porter (1) defends Louisville Cardinals guard Ryan Conwell (3) Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026, during the NCAA men’s basketball game at Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson, South Carolina. Powered by Jestin Porter’s 16 points, Clemson came away with an 80-75 win over visiting Louisville on Saturday afternoon in Atlantic Coast Conference play.
The win ended Clemson’s losing streak at four and gave the Tigers (21-8, 11-5 ACC) their second victory against a ranked opponent this season.
Porter scored all of his points after halftime and made four three-pointers.
Ace Buckner collected a season-high eight rebounds off the Tigers bench. RJ Godfrey scored 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the Tigers.
For the Cardinals (20-9, 9-7 ACC), Ryan Conwell extended his double-digit scoring streak to 22 as he scored 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting.
Louisville’s leading scorer on the season, Mikel Brown Jr., came off the bench for the second time this season due to a back injury. He scored a season-low five points on 2-of-10 shooting from the field and a season-worst 0-for-6 from three-point range.
After a driving layup in the second half, Brown grimaced coming up the court. He left the game at the 16:12 mark and returned to action at the 13:12 mark. However, he played only five more minutes after that and exited the game for good at the 8:40 mark.
Adrian Wooley started the game for Brown and scored 17 points for Louisville and made three three-pointers, tying a season-high in conference play.
To begin the second half, Clemson went on a 10-4 run to build their lead to nine points.
Louisville had held Clemson scoreless for two and a half minutes, but a Porter layup followed by an immediate steal led to a three-pointer that ended the drought and increased Clemson’s lead to 11 points as the Littlejohn Coliseum rose to its feet.
Coming into the game, Louisville was second in the ACC in free-throw percentage at 77.8 percent. They shot a season-low 58 percent from the foul line Saturday.
The Cardinals were fifth in three-point percentage at 36.1 percent and first in three pointers made per game going into Saturday’s matchup, when they went 10-for-36 from three-point range and missed 24 out of their final 28 three-point attempts after starting the game 4-for-6 from three.
In the final minute of the game, Louisville went on a quick 16-4 run to get the Clemson lead from a game-high 15 points all the way down to four. Wooley scored 11 of his 17 points during that time frame.
However, Buckner made four free throws in the final 15 seconds to keep Louisville at bay long enough for the clock to hit zero.
–Field Level Media
Entertainment
Hurdle hints and answers for March 1, 2026
If you like playing daily word games like Wordle, then Hurdle is a great game to add to your routine.
There are five rounds to the game. The first round sees you trying to guess the word, with correct, misplaced, and incorrect letters shown in each guess. If you guess the correct answer, it’ll take you to the next hurdle, providing the answer to the last hurdle as your first guess. This can give you several clues or none, depending on the words. For the final hurdle, every correct answer from previous hurdles is shown, with correct and misplaced letters clearly shown.
An important note is that the number of times a letter is highlighted from previous guesses does necessarily indicate the number of times that letter appears in the final hurdle.
If you find yourself stuck at any step of today’s Hurdle, don’t worry! We have you covered.
Hurdle Word 1 hint
Mixed metals.
Hurdle Word 1 answer
ALLOY
Hurdle Word 2 hint
A popular board game.
Mashable Top Stories
Hurdle Word 2 Answer
CHESS
Hurdle Word 3 hint
The edge of the beach.
Hurdle Word 3 answer
COAST
Hurdle Word 4 hint
Milk-based.
Hurdle Word 4 answer
DAIRY
Final Hurdle hint
A Spanish character.
Hurdle Word 5 answer
TILDE
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Sports
Youth is served again as Red Bulls slip past Revolution
Feb 28, 2026; Harrison, New Jersey, USA; Red Bull New York forward Julian Hall (16) leaps to avoid New England Revolution defender Ilay Feingold (12) during the second half at Sports Illustrated Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images Teenage breakout star Julian Hall scored his third goal in two matches, and that was enough for the New York Red Bulls to blank the New England Revolution 1-0 on Saturday in Harrison, N.J.
Hall, 17, is responsible for all three of New York’s goals this season after opening with a brace in last week’s 2-1 win at Orlando City.
His 53rd-minute header on Saturday gave the Red Bulls (2-0-0, 6 points) a deserved lead after they controlled play in the first half.
Ethan Horvath made two saves for New York, which finished with 62.5% of the possession. The Red Bulls won consecutive league matches for the first time since August and remained perfect under new head coach Michael Bradley.
Matt Turner did all he could in the second straight loss for the Revolution (0-2-0, 0 points), recording three saves and 19 clearances.
Horvath, playing his first season in MLS after a transfer from Cardiff City, did not have to make a stop until the 34th minute, when he parried Griffin Yow’s left-footed shot out of bounds.
New York broke the deadlock on a set piece.
The Red Bulls took a short corner and then crossed the ball to Adri Mehmeti. The 16-year-old headed it into the goal area, where Hall applied a header of his own and bounced the shot past Turner.
New England’s best chance of the second half came on the break in the 68th minute.
Ilay Feingold led the pack down the right sideline and the Red Bulls sprinted to get back. Feingold tapped his centering pass to Yow, who had a good angle to shoot past an out-of-position Horvath. But Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty knocked the shot over the net with a leaping header, and New York handled the resulting corner kick with ease.
The Revs missed another chance during second-half stoppage time when Carles Gil blasted a pass from the near post clear out of bounds, missing an open teammate at the far post.
–Field Level Media
Strong second half by Jestin Porter powers Clemson past No. 24 Louisville
Hurdle hints and answers for March 1, 2026
