Sports
Ducks blow lead, battle back to top Canadiens
Mar 15, 2026; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Anaheim Ducks left wing Cutter Gauthier (61) shoots the puck against Montreal Canadiens right wing Ivan Demidov (93) during the second period at Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images Cutter Gauthier’s goal with 2:30 left broke a tie and the Anaheim Ducks held on for a 4-3 win over the host Montreal Canadiens on Sunday night.
Leo Carlsson had two goals and an assist and Troy Terry a goal and two assists in his return after missing nine games with an upper-body injury for the Ducks, who had lost three of their previous four. Chris Kreider had two assists and Lukas Dostal made 27 saves.
Nick Suzuki had a goal and an assist and Alex Newhook and Cole Caufield also scored for the Canadiens, who lost their second straight. Jacob Fowler stopped 24 shots.
Gauthier’s winner was set up by a backhand pass from Jeffrey Viel, who was along the right boards. Gauthier took the pass in the right circle and whipped a shot past Fowler.
The game was tied 3-3 at the end of the second after five goals were scored in the middle period.
Terry tied the game at 3-3 with 4:21 left in the second period when his backhand shot from the inside edge of the right circle deflected in off the stick of Montreal’s Alexandre Texier.
After Carlsson scored the game’s first two goals — one 7:46 into the game and the other 27 seconds into the second period — Montreal scored three straight goals to take the lead.
Newhook put the Canadiens on the board 1:33 into the second, Caufield tied it a minute later and Suzuki gave Montreal a 3-2 lead with 6:54 remaining in the middle period.
Carlsson gave Anaheim a 1-0 lead 7:46 into the game.
The Canadiens twice hit goal posts a little more than a minute apart in the first period. Caufield hit the post with a little over six minutes left in the opening period and Newhook’s tip of defenseman Noah Dobson’s shot hit the post with around five minutes remaining in the frame.
Veteran defenseman John Carlson made his Anaheim debut after being acquired from the Washington Capitals. He had been sidelined with a lower-body injury.
Montreal’s Brendan Gallagher returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch for the first time in his career in Saturday night’s 4-2 home loss to the San Jose Sharks.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Ta’Niya Latson scores 28 as South Carolina blows out Oklahoma
Mar 28, 2026; Sacramento, CA, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks guard Ta’niya Latson (00) looks to shoot the ball against the Oklahoma Sooners during the second quarter in the Sweet Sixteen game of the Sacramento Regional 4 of the women’s 2026 NCAA Tournament at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images Ta’Niya Latson scored 28 points to help top-seed South Carolina beat fourth-seeded Oklahoma 94-68 in a Sweet 16 matchup Saturday in Sacramento.
Latson set the tone from the start, scoring eight points during the Gamecocks’ 10-0 run to start the game.
South Carolina will take on the winner of Saturday’s TCU-Virginia matchup Monday.
The Gamecocks (34-3) are looking for their sixth consecutive Final Four appearance.
South Carolina lost the regular-season matchup between the teams 94-82 in overtime Jan. 22.
In their NCAA Tournament matchup, though, the Gamecocks never gave the Sooners a chance for any kind of a late push.
Latson helped make sure of that, hitting a jumper on the opening possession, nailing a 3-pointer shortly thereafter, then hitting three free throws after being fouled less than three minutes into the game to put her team up 10-0.
Oklahoma briefly cut the deficit to six, but after the first quarter, South Carolina’s lead never dipped below double figures.
Latson finished 7 of 11 from the floor with five assists. The Gamecocks shot 50.7% from the floor.
Raven Johnson added 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting, and Tessa Johnson scored 14.
The Sooners (26-8) were led by freshman Aaliyah Chavez, who had 21 points. Oklahoma finished with a season-low nine assists, while South Carolina had 21 on 34 field goals.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Top teams Natus Vincere, Team Vitality clinch sports in BLAST Open Spring grand final
BLAST Premier 2022 CS:GO Team Vitality continued its dominance while Natus Vincere held strong to set up a matchup of top-seeded teams in the best-of-five grand final after wins in the semifinals of the BLAST Open Spring on Saturday at Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Both teams received byes to the semifinals after undefeated runs in group play. Team Vitality still has yet to drop a game as they defeated Aurora Gaming 2-0 to set up a clash with Natus Vincere, which downed PARIVISION 2-1.
The 16 teams in the $400,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event were split into two groups of eight that contested double-elimination brackets in Copenhagen, Denmark. The top three finishers in each bracket advanced to the six-team playoffs in Rotterdam.
The winning team will earn $150,000 along with three BLAST Frequent Flyer tokens.
Team Vitality was dominant against Aurora Gaming, claiming 13-5 victories on Inferno and Nuke. Israel’s Shahar ‘flameZ’ Shushan had a match-high 37 kills and a plus-15 K-D differential. Ali ‘Wicadia’ Haydar Yalcin had a team-best 30 kills for the all-Turkish side, but had a minus-2 K-D differential.
Natus Vincere had a tougher time with PARIVISION but still came away with the victory, winning 13-11 on Dust II and 13-7 on Mirage to clinch it after falling 13-8 on Inferno. Ukrainian Ihor ‘w0nderful’ Zhdanov paced Natus Vincere with 59 kills and a match-best plus-17 K-D differential. Dzhami ‘Jame’ Ali led the way for all-Russian PARIVISION with 50 kills and a plus-3 K-D differential.
BLAST Open Spring prize pool (cash prize, BLAST Frequent Flyer tokens)
1. $150,000, 3
2. $60,000, 1
3-4. $40,000, 1 — PARIVISION, Aurora Gaming
5-6. $20,000, 1 — Team Falcons, The MongolZ
7-8. $10,000 — FURIA, Team Spirit
9-12. $7,500 — TYLOO, NRG, 9z Team, Team Liquid
13-16. $5,000 — FaZe Clan, B8, MOUZ, Ninjas in Pyjamas
–Field Level Media
Sports
Ilia Malinin 3-peats in world championships after disastrous Olympics
Feb 21, 2026; Milan, Italy; Ilia Malinin of the United States performs in the figure skating exhibition gala during the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games at Milano Ice Skating Arena. Mandatory Credit: Amber Searls-Imagn Images Ilia Malinin has 3-peated.
The 21-year-old U.S. figure skater won his third straight world championship Saturday in Prague, scoring 329.40 points to win gold by a margin of 22.73 over Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama. Shun Sato also secured Japan a bronze medal.
Malinin becomes the first skater to win three consecutive world titles since Nathan Chen did it from 2018-2021. The 21-year-old is also the youngest to win three championships since Russia’s Alexei Yagudin in 2000, and he’s the second-youngest American to claim three after Dick Button did it at the age of 20.
Malinin’s triumph also serves as a redemption arc after being the gold-medal favorite in the Milan Olympics last month and finishing eighth. He landed five quads in the free skate as part of a routine that featured a lower degree of jump difficulty compared to his Olympic performance. Malinin also declined to attempt his trademark quad axel.
“My expectation was to leave the long program in one piece, and I definitely think that happened,” he said after the victory.
When asked if he intentionally chose a safer routine, Malinin responded: “A better answer to that question is, this has been time for me to relax and enjoy the last competition of the season.”
Malinin also enjoyed a return to his winning form after his 14-competition win streak, the longest stretch in men’s skating in decades, stalled out in Milan.
“This was probably one of the easier world championships I’ve been to, just because of the amount (of) pressure I had at the Olympics. And going into here, I felt like it was almost no pressure at all,” he said. “I completely blocked out all the expectations, all the pressure that people put on me and was really here to skate for myself and enjoy every moment of these world championships, and I think I did exactly that.”
Malinin’s success in the world championship could mean he’s destined for further redemption at the next Winter Olympics. Every U.S. men’s singles skater who’s won three-plus world titles has also won an Olympic gold, including Button (1948, ‘52), Hayes Alan Jenkins (1956), David Jenkins (1960), Scott Hamilton (1984) and Chen (2022).
–Field Level Media
Ta’Niya Latson scores 28 as South Carolina blows out Oklahoma
Top teams Natus Vincere, Team Vitality clinch sports in BLAST Open Spring grand final
